Google is an American search engine company founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. It is a subsidiary of the holding company Alphabet Inc. Google offers a wide range of internet services and products, including search, email, online document creation, software for mobile devices, and hardware such as mobile phones.

Jigsaw is a unit within Google that explores threats to open societies and builds technology that inspires scalable solutions. We are a team of engineers, researchers, and geopolitical experts who build research and products to support free expression, safety, and access to information for all, especially in repressive societies.

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Jigsaw

ICYMI: Jigsaw CEO Yasmin Green spoke with Kara Swisher and others at The Washington Post Global Women’s Summit to discuss counterterrorism efforts and how we can fight violent extremism online. 

As extremist content becomes more prevalent, smaller platforms with fewer moderation resources are at risk of being exploited by terrorist groups. That’s why Jigsaw just announced that our digital tool Altitude – which was developed in partnership with Tech Against Terrorism – is now available for testing. Altitude helps small and medium sized digital platforms identify and eliminate harmful content on their sites, which will be integral in the ongoing fight against terrorism. https://lnkd.in/e-AUGpHr

In January, Jigsaw and Tech Against Terrorism - in collaboration with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) - announced the development of Altitude, a new tool that enables platform moderators to plug into verified databases and quickly identify and remove harmful content on their platforms.  Today, we’re pleased to share that Altitude is now available for testing, with the goal of helping smaller platforms protect their communities from violent extremist and terrorist content online.

Small- and medium-sized platforms are particularly vulnerable to being exploited by these terrorist groups given their lack of moderation resources. Altitude aims to address these vulnerabilities by giving platforms a single elevated view of potential terrorist and violent extremist content, helping them make clear and confident decisions on their own sites. 

You can find more information about the tool and sign up for testing here: altitude.withgoogle.com

For many people around the world, internet shutdowns are a daily reality. In 2022, 35 countries shut off internet access, accounting for 187 instances of internet shutdowns. One key to fighting back: making global censorship data easily accessible and useful.

How do we do that? Censored Planet Observatory, a research team at University of Michigan has been working since 2010 to shine a light on this problem. The project gathers censorship measurement data from over 120 countries every few days, so this means many files, from many sources, across many formats. 

From there, they worked with Jigsaw and Google Cloud to harness cloud technologies to transform this data into a user-friendly exploration tool. Google’s data analysis toolkit, paired with Censored Planet Observatory’s cutting-edge research, allowed us to build a global data dashboard. This kind of collaboration and data transparency is crucial for creating new ways to confront digital authoritarianism. 

You can find an in-depth summary of the process in our new blog post: https://lnkd.in/gQRvyFnb

Over the last decade, more and more governments have adopted internet #censorship techniques. This is occurring even in countries where you may not expect it.

As repression tactics get more sophisticated, developing tools to track and display censorship data for researchers has become crucial. 

Censored Planet Observatory, in partnership with Jigsaw and Google Cloud, have built a data pipeline and dashboard that lets users explore longitudinal censorship data to quickly understand censors behaviors and censorship events. Providing a useful and accessible tool for tracking censorship campaigns will empower researchers to take action.

Read more in our new blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eCzmT9qe

At Jigsaw, we're committed to enhancing resilience against online manipulation. We've found that, despite various different types of misleading claims and narratives, there are a few manipulation techniques most commonly used to spread them.

Building on this work, we launched a #prebunking video campaign in Germany this summer looking to empower German audiences by exposing these manipulation techniques.

Why prebunking? It equips individuals to preemptively identify and counter manipulation attempts, arming them with the tools to resist disinformation.

The outcome? The most successful prebunking campaign to date! Viewers were 5.4% better at recognizing manipulation techniques on average. With over 21M unique views, more than 1.1M Germans improved their ability to spot manipulation. Especially encouraging was the impact on younger audiences, with those under 34 showing a remarkable 10.8% boost in their ability to spot misinformation techniques. 

We hope this work will inspire researchers to take on similar initiatives and support internet users in building resilience against online manipulation. https://lnkd.in/d64VXvRY

Our CEO Yasmin Green shares her perspectives in this week’s edition of POLITICO's ‘The Future in Five Questions’.

Find out what she thinks is overhyped, her take on what the government should tackle in #tech, and her favorite underrated big idea. 

Check out her interview with Mohar Chatterjee here, ranging from favorite books to emerging technologies: https://lnkd.in/ejQA_gM9

New Reuters article on Russia’s plan to block VPNs next year ahead of their elections serves as yet another example of authoritarian regimes increasingly doubling down on online suppression tactics.  https://lnkd.in/erUFxrWh

VPNs can act as the primary way that people in countries living under internet censorship can communicate with each other and access the outside world. 

Our convening on digital authoritarianism last month marked the one-year anniversary of the 2022 Iranian protests. These protests saw a significant surge in VPN usage within the country as citizens turned to the internet to organize and spread their message. Moments like these provide a concrete illustration of the diverse range of applications for VPNs and underscore their critical role as a tool in accessing the open web.

At the convening, we heard from Nury Turkel, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute who shed light on the repressive tactics used by the CCP against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. 

Authoritarian governments tend to share tactics with each other, modernizing their approaches faster than those whom they’re trying to silence.

Learn more about the commonalities between authoritarians’ approaches to silencing dissent on our blog recapping our digital authoritarianism convening here: https://lnkd.in/d3se9NBR

For the last 10 years, authoritarian regimes have had the upper hand online. As they share their tactics and grow more sophisticated, it’s taken a stronger, more coordinated effort to fight back.

That’s why we held our first ever convening on digital authoritarianism – to bring together the brightest and most passionate advocates for digital freedom. Innovating together, we will lay the groundwork to break out of the long winter of authoritarian abuse of technology, and sow seeds from the coming spring. 

You can find a recap of the event, highlights, and what comes next in this blog from Jigsaw CEO Yasmin Green. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/d3se9NBR

Under Secretary Uzra Zeya sat down with Yasmin Green to discuss the Biden administration's strategies against global online censorship and authoritarian regimes, emphasizing the pivotal role of independent civil society organizations. #InternetFreedom #DigitalAuthoritarianism

Thank you, Nury Turkel, for shedding light on Beijing's digital repression in the Uyghur region, exposing the intersection of control and economic interests. #ConfrontingDigitalAuthoritarianism

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