Here’s Why Conservatives Should Be Wary of Google’s New Anti-ISIS Efforts
Google is trying to stop online radicalization of wannabe jihadists with a new, seemingly-effective program. While it could be a mild boon for counter-terrorism efforts, it also comes packaged with some reasonable suspicions — especially for conservatives.
Google is trying to combat extremist indoctrination by tinkering with its search and advertising algorithms, as well as YouTube’s video platform, to redirect would-be ISIS militants to content that counters the insurgency’s narrative — for example, sending someone looking for ISIS propaganda videos to a video testimonial by a former jihadist.
Andy Greenberg reports for Wired:
Jigsaw, the Google-owned tech incubator and think tank—until recently known as Google Ideas—has been working over the past year to develop a new program it hopes can use a combination of Google’s search advertising algorithms and YouTube’s video platform to target aspiring ISIS recruits and ultimately dissuade them from joining the group’s cult of apocalyptic violence. The program, which Jigsaw calls the Redirect Method and plans to launch in a new phase this month, places advertising alongside results for any keywords and phrases that Jigsaw has determined people attracted to ISIS commonly search for. Those ads link to Arabic- and English-language YouTube channels that pull together preexisting videos Jigsaw believes can effectively undo ISIS’s brainwashing—clips like testimonials from former extremists, imams denouncing ISIS’s corruption of Islam, and surreptitiously filmed clips inside the group’s dysfunctional caliphate in Northern Syria and Iraq. […]
The results, in a pilot project Jigsaw ran early this year, were surprisingly effective: Over the course of about two months, more than 300,000 people were drawn to the anti-ISIS YouTube channels. Searchers actually clicked on Jigsaw’s three or four times more often than a typical ad campaign. 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. And this month, along with the London-based startup Moonshot Countering Violent Extremism and the US-based Gen Next Foundation, Jigsaw plans to relaunch the program in a second phase that will focus its method on North American extremists, applying the method to both potential ISIS recruits and violent white supremacists.
Cyber radicalization is a huge problem in the global war against jihadism, as evidenced by the staggering number of terrorists in recent years who have been inspired to carry out terror attacks in the United States and Europe. Among the responses to the phenomenon have been Twitter’s efforts to shut down hundreds of thousands of ISIS-related accounts and the Obama administration’s attempts to combat online jihadist propaganda as part of its largely-failed anti-extremism agenda. Efforts like these, however, have resembled a game of online Whac-A-Mole, with extremists constantly making new social media profiles and with the Obama program being outsourced to Abu Dhabi, for example.
First off, it’s essential to remember that even if the jigsaw program works perfectly, it won’t be a catch-all for radicalization in the West. Yes, ISIS has capitalized on social media and other online platforms to recruit in ways never imagined, but person-to-person radicalization through extremist mosques and Islamic centers is still going to happen.
Regardless of whether or not this project proves to be effective brings us to the next caveat. Jigsaw could have very well produced the free market’s best response yet to addressing the jihadist threat online; however, given recent stories of leftist bias in Silicon Valley, the efficacy of the program should give conservatives at least a moment’s pause.
Depending on the platform, Google currently boasts anywhere from roughly 80 to 95 percent of the search engine market share, according to recent numbers from StatCounter. The tech giant has also been criticized in recent months for skewing search results in favor of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Analysis by the Washington Free Beacon in June shows a clear distinction between the kinds of search results produced for Hillary Clinton across different search engines.
Additionally, Facebook and Twitter have also come under fire over the past year for allegedly suppressing conservative content. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg went as far as inviting conservative media figures to his house in May after it was revealed that the site’s “Trending Topics” feed wasn’t based on a news algorithm, but rather a group of people with a bias against conservative content. Furthermore, a New York Post story from February highlights how Twitter’s ostensible efforts to crack down on online harassment have led to conservative voices being shut out.
“The power of Facebook, Google and Twitter is enormous. One could argue that they have a monopoly on the content Americans see every day. The content that people read is a way to control public opinion and voting patterns,” explains CR’s Brian Darling. “[W]e as liberty minded people need to recognize the enormous power that these companies have over the news we read every day.”
When someone develops a new, more efficient hammer, it’s good to remember that it’s still capable of hitting more than nails. What Google is creating here through Jigsaw isn’t just a market-driven solution to just one part of jihadist recruitment, it’s also a means by which Google could more effectively and surreptitiously suppress other kinds of content while redirecting readers elsewhere.
Google’s latest efforts may offer a slight hand against one of the most dangerous and pervasive threats to the civilized world, but it should also be viewed with caution and scrutiny for however else — and, against whomever else — it could be applied. (For more from the author of “Here’s Why Conservatives Should Be Wary of Google’s New Anti-ISIS Efforts” please click HERE)
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