Google to deliver wrong search results to would-be jihadis

From The Daily Telegraph - UK

Internet giant's search engine will bring up messages which seek to combat extremism when potential jihadis look for terrorist material online

Jihadi sympathisers who type extremism-related words into Google will be shown anti-radicalisation links instead, under a pilot scheme announced by the internet giant.

The new technology means people at risk of radicalisation will be presented with internet links which are the exact opposite of what they were searching for.

Dr Anthony House, a senior Google executive, revealed the pilot scheme in evidence to MPs scrutinising the role of internet companies in combating extremism.

“We are working on counter-narratives around the world. This year one of the things we’re looking at is we are running two pilot programmes,” said Dr House.

“One is to make sure these types of views are more discoverable.

“The other is to make sure when people put potentially damaging search terms into our search engine they also find these counter narratives.”

Governments and other agencies have recognised the importance of "counter-narratives" in combating extremism online - such as propaganda videos by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as Isis - by encouraging moderate Muslims or other groups to challenge terrorist ideologies.

Dr House told the Commons’ home affairs select committee that Google removed 14 million videos from its YouTube site in 2014 for a range of reasons including terrorist content and for breaking other rules.

The company received 100,000 “flags” from members of the public about content they consider inappropriate.

Nick Pickles, from Twitter, said the micro-blogging site has taken down tens of thousands of violent extremist accounts in the last 12 months.

Twitter, which has 320 million users, employs “more than 100” people working in teams to deal with inappropriate use of the site, he said.

Keith Vaz MP, the committee chairman, asked Dr House and Simon Milner, of Facebook, how many people they employed in “hit squads” to remove terrorist and extremist material.

However, both companies declined to reveal figures publicly.

A Google spokeswoman said the pilot project referred to by Dr House would bring up counter-narrative messages in "AdWords" - the sponsored links which are returned at the top of a Google search - and not the search results themselves.

Dr House said later: "We offer Google AdWords Grants to NGOs so that meaningful counter-speech ads can be surfaced in response to search queries like 'join Isis'."