DIGITAL STORYTELLING AS A STRATEGIC TOOL FOR COUNTERING MISINFORMATION, HATE SPEECH, AND CONFLICT ESCALATION ONLINE

Digital communication has transformed how societies produce, circulate, and interpret information, creating opportunities for participation while accelerating misinformation, hate speech, polarization, and conflict escalation. This study examines the potential of digital storytelling as a strategic communication intervention for countering harmful online narratives and strengthening conflict prevention. The study adopts an integrative analytical approach that synthesizes scholarship on digital storytelling, misinformation, narrative persuasion, strategic communication, and peacebuilding to examine the mechanisms through which storytelling may influence conflict-related attitudes and behaviours. The analysis traces how harmful narratives are produced, amplified, and interpreted through identity and emotion, and evaluates digital storytelling interventions across narrative credibility, corrective capacity, humanization, audience engagement, trusted-messenger influence, and conflict-sensitive dissemination. Particular attention is given to whether these mechanisms can reduce misinformation susceptibility and hostile stereotypes while strengthening empathy, dialogue, intergroup trust, counter-speech, information resilience, and social cohesion. The analysis also considers platform dynamics, community participation, digital literacy, algorithmic amplification, ethical risks, and unintended consequences that may condition intervention effectiveness. By linking these analytical dimensions across narrative, behavioural, community, and peacebuilding outcomes, the study assesses the conditions under which digital storytelling demonstrates potential to disrupt pathways from harmful online narratives to polarization and conflict escalation. The resulting integrated framework positions digital storytelling not as a substitute for fact-checking, moderation, or offline peacebuilding, but as a complementary strategy for strengthening information resilience and expanding credible, nonviolent alternatives within polarized digital environments.