Social Media Analysis

The value of aid is increasingly undermined, with social media campaigns attacking humanitarian efforts playing a critical role in this shift.

Social media sentiment analysis helps the aid sector better understand the operating environment by analysing public discourse in conflict-affected countries, where social media plays an increasingly significant role.

Social media sentiment analysis helps aid agencies communicate with affected communities and strengthens security risk management by identifying sentiments that could escalate into real-world violence. It is especially valuable for detecting narratives that may undermine the effectiveness of public health responses.

Negative social media campaigns don’t just single out individual aid agencies; they challenge the very concept of humanitarian assistance. This broad, ideological rejection of aid makes it harder to counter criticism through traditional reputation management strategies.

Insecurity Insight has been monitoring online discourse on aid operations to help protect the humanitarian space. Our findings reveal rising hostility, particularly amid recent funding cuts. Without urgent action, this growing opposition threatens public support for humanitarian work worldwide.

Quick Links

Mailing List

Aid in Danger project

Sahel Monitoring

Aid-related SMM

Health-related SMM

Aid-related SMM (FR)

SMM for the Aid Sector

In many conflict-affected countries, concerns and hopes are increasingly also expressed on social media. While public social media predominantly reflects the opinions of the self-selected influencers and is not necessarily representative, it is becoming increasingly important to identify growing negative sentiments towards aid programmes as well as minority groups.

Adverse attitudes towards the aid sector can be expressed in the form of ‘anti-foreigner’ feelings or opposition to specific activities such as vaccinations or ‘western secular education’. It may also focus on deliberately spreading false accusations. Some of the false information may be the expression of local belief systems. In other cases, it can’t be ruled out that external parties may have an interest in supporting the spread of false information.

Social media is used by individuals who express personal opinions but also by organized groups from within and outside of the affected countries.

What we do

What we do

Insecurity Insight provides regular updates on information from social media from open platforms across the Sahel, in the Eastern DRC and some surrounding African and Asian countries with a specific focus on information related to public health emergencies and security risk management .

Projects

Sahel Monitoring

Sahel Monitoring

Since April 2024, Insecurity Insight is continuously monitoring social media narratives in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali as part of an ECHO funded project. This analysis is available in English and French. Sahel Monitoring – Insecurity Insight

Aid In Danger

Aid In Danger

Since 2020, Insecurity Insight has regularly supported the aid community with social media sentiment analysis around security incidents affecting aid operations and the safety of aid workers. This work has been affected by the stop work order issues by the US government in January 2025.

Ebola Response in Kivus

Ebola Response in Kivus

Throughout 2019, Insecurity Insight monitored violence that affected the Ebola response in the Eastern DRC. Read here an overview of the violence affecting the health response in 2019 and see recommendations and full website.

Mozambique during Cyclone Idai

Mozambique during Cyclone Idai

In March and May 2019, we tested how best to use social and local media to keep the aid sector informed about security related developments that could have affected operations with the help from Standby Task Force. Read here the threat analysis based on the examples we identified in Mozambique during the cyclone response.