On April 9 2024, the CounteR Project team conducted a virtual testing session of the CounteR Platform for external stakeholders.
The activity, moderated by the European Institute (EI) and attended by a select group of external users, was tailored specifically for law-enforcement practitioners and internet service-providers (ISPs).
Through this session, the registered participants got a first-hand experience with CounteR’s technological solutions, specifically the CounteR Platform: this is the project’s milestone result – a sophisticated tool that provides a technology-driven approach for identifying and countering radical content and the spread of extremist ideologies online.
In the introduction, Adrian Onu from Assist Software (AST) presented the project specifics and the unique features of the CounteR Platform. He stressed on the state-of-the-art technologies for the system, including NLP, Computer Vision, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Social Network Analysis and Large Language Models. The expert highlighted the reactive mode for LEA investigators through which the system can provide actionable insights on threats, networks, and risky users; as well as its proactive mode for ISPs and content sharing platforms – through it, the system can make predictions on risk levels in specific domains of radicalisation.
Next, Matteo Mastracci from ETICAS Research and Consulting (ETI) explained the privacy measures ensuring full compliance with data protection regulations such as the GDPR and the other relevant EU norms. The expert stressed on pseudonymization, anonymization, informed consent procedures, and restricted access to data.
In the next module, Andreea Danaila and Ovidiu Dimitrace from the Romanian Protection and Guard Service (SPP) conducted a comprehensive demonstration to walk participants through the system and how it is used. In addition, Ioannis Routis from NOVA made a demo of an external blog to further illustrate the platform’s capabilities in real-world scenarios.
The session’s next segment was dedicated to a gamification exercise. The organisers shared different use-case scenarios with descriptions of how to use them. As participants were given the opportunity to personally navigate through the CounteR Platform, consortium members from the tech partners remained available to offer hands-on support and guidance and answer questions as they emerged.
In the conclusive part, the moderators engaged participants in a discussion for sharing their feedback. Maria Mirada INSIKT Intelligence (INS) took the lead by exploring what participants liked from what they had seen; and in which direction the platform should evolve in their opinion. Participants provided specific suggestions for bringing the CounteR Platform from its current technology readiness level (TRL) 6 to TRL8 when it will be fully ready. To ensure that participants provide structured feedback, the organisers requested that they fill in evaluation surveys at the end of the session.
