Google will begin showing anti-Islamic State ads to counter terrorism in North America

By Lulu Chang Updated September 8, 2016

google anti terrorism ad version 1454758538 how do i fix a flat your impulsive mobile searches are mutating — Rasulov

Not all weapons have a trigger, but that doesn’t make them any less effective. No, we’re not talking about bombs, but rather about Google’s new strategy to use its highly targeted advertising system in the battle against the Islamic State (IS). Anthony House, the senior manager for public policy and communications at Google, revealed plans to show users anti-radicalization links in response to terrorism-related searches back in February, and now, the program has grown ever more robust.

For the last year, Jigsaw, a tech incubator and think tank under Google’s wing, has been hard at work on a program known as the Redirect Method. Its goal is to combine Google’s search advertising algorithms and YouTube’s video platform to blast IS recruits with targeted ads, discouraging them for joining the extremist group.

Recommended Videos

In essence, ads that link to anti-IS videos are placed in Google results that Jigsaw believes are often accessed by potential terrorism recruits. These videos include content like negative experiences from ex-extremists and imams accusing IS of bastardizing Islam.

Earlier in 2016, Jigsaw ran a pilot program to test the Redirect Method, and found that of the 300,000 people who ultimately landed on anti-IS YouTube channels, “Searchers actually clicked on Jigsaw’s three or four times more often than a typical ad campaign,” as Wired reports. “Those who clicked spent more than twice as long viewing the most effective playlists than the best estimates of how long people view YouTube as a whole.”

So now, Jigsaw has plans to test the program again in North America, and it will target not only potential IS recruits, but white supremacists as well.

“This came out of an observation that there’s a lot of online demand for IS material, but there are also a lot of credible organic voices online debunking their narratives,” Yasmin Green, Jigsaw’s head of research and development, told Wired. “The Redirect Method is at its heart a targeted advertising campaign: Let’s take these individuals who are vulnerable to [this] recruitment messaging and instead show them information that refutes it.”

Officials are hopeful that this new plan may provide a clever tool that protects the freedom of the internet while also protecting the livelihoods of the world’s citizens. “We should get the bad stuff down, but it’s also extremely important that people are able to find good information, that when people are feeling isolated, that when they go online, they find a community of hope, not a community of harm,” said House earlier this year.

The Redirect Method helps to provide a sort of alternative narrative to those looking for information about extremism. In a statement, a Google spokesperson further explained, “What was referenced is a pilot Google AdWords Grants program that’s in the works right now with a handful of eligible non-profit organizations. The program enables NGOs to place counter-radicalization ads against search queries of their choosing.”

In addition to the counter-terrorism ads, Google is also ensuring that its subsidiary YouTube makes anti-extremism videos more discoverable, further aiding the overall efforts against IS and similar groups.

The move comes in the midst of an ongoing debate about the role and responsibility that social media groups should accept in responding to the proliferation of extremism. IS is known for leveraging sites like Twitter and Facebook for both recruitment and propaganda purposes, and a recent lawsuit against Twitter suggested that IS has only reached its current level of influence with the (albeit unintentional) help of social media platforms.

And while Google ads may not be a comprehensive solution, it will certainly help when it comes to educating those who might otherwise be interested in joining ISIS or other extremist groups. “These are people making decisions based on partial, bad information,” Green said. “We can affect the problem of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State by arming individuals with more and better information.”

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.