Google is developing a free moderation tool that small websites can use to identify and remove terrorist content as new laws in the UK and EU force internet companies to do more to crack down on illegal content.
The software is being developed in partnership with the search giant’s research and development arm Jigsaw and Tech Counter-Terrorism, which is supported by the United Nations to help technology companies fight online terrorism.
“There are a lot of websites that don’t have people doing the execution. Even building algorithms is really labor intensive. [and] said Yasmin Green, CEO of Jigsaw.
“[Smaller websites] I’m not looking for Isis content there, but there is a ton of it. [them]” she added.
The move comes as internet companies are forced to remove extremist content from their platforms or face fines and other penalties under laws such as the EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s Online Safety Act, which took effect in November. It is expected to become law this year.
The law has been pushed by politicians and regulators across Europe, with big tech groups arguing it doesn’t go far enough to police content online.
But the new regulatory regime has raised concerns that smaller startups are ill-equipped to comply and that a lack of resources will limit their ability to compete with big tech companies.
“I have noticed a big change in this [leading] Forums are becoming more effective at moderating, and that’s driving terrorist content and claims of covid hoaxing. [other sites]” Green added.
In the year In 2021, the Global Internet Forum’s Counterterrorism Report found that six out of every 10,000 posts on Facebook contain terrorist or extremist content. On smaller platforms, this figure can be as high as 5,000 or 50 percent of content.
GIFCT, an NGO founded in 2017 by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube to create partnerships between multiple technology platforms, is supporting the Jigsaw project. The NGO has a database of terrorist content shared by member technology companies, which regulatory systems can use to identify existing material.
On December 13, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta launched open-source software that other platforms can deploy to match terrorist content to images or videos in its database and highlight it for immediate human review.
The Jigsaw tool aims to address the next step in the process and help human moderators make decisions about content that has been flagged as dangerous or illegal. It will begin testing at two unnamed sites at the beginning of this year.
“In our experience, we’ve found that terrorists tend to take advantage of smaller platforms where content moderation is a challenge due to limited resources,” said Tech Counterterrorism Director Adam Hadley.
Jigsaw has about 70 employees, primarily at Google’s offices in New York. Green, who became CEO in July, said the loss-making unit was not expected to be profitable.
“There is an understanding that there is a long-term business return. . . Google wants a healthy internet,” Green added. “We’re helping Google and helping the Internet in a way that’s valuable, if not financially.”
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