Google vs. ISIS and Freedom of Information

A recent initiative by Google’s think tank—formerly named Google Ideas, now more ominously called Jigsaw—aims at dissuading potential ISIS recruits from joining the terrorist organization. When people search for ISIS-related terms, Google directs them away from pro-ISIS websites and toward informational websites, anti-ISIS testimonials, and fact-filled YouTube videos that expose the hypocrisy and false ideology of the Islamic State movement. Jigsaw’s head of research and development Yasmin Green said, “The Redirect Method is at its heart a targeted advertising campaign: Let’s take these individuals who are vulnerable to ISIS’s recruitment messaging and instead show them information that refutes it.” It’s hard to measure how successful the early experiments with this method have been, but Google’s analytics show that many people are watching the videos and visiting the promoted websites. The program is at the very least successful enough that Jigsaw has made plans to expand and extend it to combat the recruitment efforts of American white supremacist groups.