Google’s big experiment in digital counter-terrorism begins rolling out today. Collaborating with its own in-house think tank, Jigsaw, the new effort seeks to bury ISIS-related propaganda on YouTube. Now, when a potential ISIS recruit searches for known extremist content using a predefined set of keywords, they’ll instead be redirected to videos that deconstruct and confront the terrorist group. The project is called the Redirect Method.
As the Redirect Method homepage explains:
“The Redirect Method uses Adwords targeting tools and curated YouTube videos uploaded by people all around the world to confront online radicalization. It focuses on the slice of ISIS’ audience that is most susceptible to its messaging, and redirects them towards curated YouTube videos debunking ISIS recruiting themes. This open methodology was developed from interviews with ISIS defectors, respects users’ privacy and can be deployed to tackle other types of violent recruiting discourses online.”
