Google Should Turn Its Attention To Battling Islamophobia
14 August 2017Mohammed Sinan Siyech
Google launched its Redirect programme last year which subtly redirects
potential online Islamist terrorists to sites with existing moderate Islamic
narratives, a move emulated by other tech companies. This step should be
applied to prevent Islamophobia too.
Governmental inability to effectively halt and counter the massive online
propaganda efforts of terrorist groups such as the so-called Islamic State
(IS) has resulted in an increased reliance on private sector companies to curb
their dominance online.
To this end, Google's think-tank Jigsaw launched its Redirect programme last
year, a feature subsequently adopted by YouTube this year.
The programme, which operates much like a targeted advertising campaign,
regulated more than 1,700 key words frequently searched by Islamist extremists
to divert them to pre-existing, anti-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis)
playlists. For example, users were directed to videos of long lines of people
waiting for food in Isis-controlled territory, a subtle dig at the group's
competency, which was designed to repel vulnerable individuals from the group.
The fact that the company used available content uploaded by Syrian citizens
instead of commissioning videos specially for this purpose preserved the
credibility of these videos.
While the efficacy of Internet solutions to counter extremism is not easily
quantifiable, Jigsaw and its teams did unearth positive effects borne out by
this programme. For instance, the click rates on the suggested content were at
least three times higher than those on commercial advertisements.
Similarly, results also revealed that these users spent an average of eight
minutes on some of their videos, a statistic that is higher than the average
viewing time of regular netizens.
Such efforts were reminiscent of Google's anti-suicide redirect mechanism
which diverted potential victims to helplines instead of sites showing how to
commit suicide.
These efforts also come as part of a larger drive by influential tech
companies such as Facebook and YouTube to combat extremism and negativity
online, for which Google has been a major trendsetter.
In the past, Google's search results constantly turned up anti-Semitic and
misogynistic sites. Websites explaining how 'Jews are evil' or how 'women had
some degree of prostitution in them', were the top results of searches related
to the two broad communities resulting in hate crimes against them.
The tech giant finally set up a positive precedent last year when its ethics
committee removed these negative search suggestions and results.
Unfortunately, the same treatment has not been accorded to the results related
to Islam and Muslims, especially at a time when the machinations of Isis and
Islamist terrorists have generated five times more coverage than other
terrorists, producing negative sentiments towards the Muslim community, both
online and offline.
Research has shown that queries related to Islam, terrorism and other related
topics lead to questionable and oftentimes downright anti-Muslim propaganda
websites.
One instance is the term ''Taqiya'', falsely translated by Islamophobes as
lying to non-Muslims unconditionally (Taqiya in legal terms is the permission
given to Muslims to conceal their religious identity if their lives are
threatened on account of their faith).
Despite the presence of well researched academic content on this topic, search
results lead users to websites that are factually incorrect.
These results lead to the demonisation of the community producing real time
impacts that often go unnoticed.
The demonisation is especially present in countries with significant
Muslim-minority populations, where they are likely to be targeted and used as
scapegoats.
A study conducted by a prominent Google scientist and a big data specialist
based out of Princeton in 2015 showcased the link between the results of such
searches and anti-Islamic crimes in the United States, empirically
demonstrating that the increased occurrences of these crimes reflect the
sentiment of netizens expressed through Google searches.
Elsewhere, the impact of Facebook on real-time events was seen when fake news
that proliferated on the platform during the last US election was shown to be
a factor in Mr Donald Trump taking the presidency.
Consequently well-respected scholars, both inside and outside the Muslim
community, such as Mr Omar Suleiman, an imam based out of Texas, have
attempted to offer academically well-referenced content.
Their endeavours, however, are dwarfed in comparison to the onslaught of
misinformation posted online by trolls and dedicated activists loosely termed
as the ''Islamophobia Industry''.
In this regard, tech companies have a functional responsibility to update
search algorithms and generate less inflammatory content rather than
agenda-driven/erroneous sites.
If this responsibility is not fulfilled, the resulting Islamophobic hate
crimes and attitudes can lead to increased marginalisation, a strong push
factor towards the radicalisation of Muslims.
Singapore is also sensitive to the dangers of Islamophobia, with government
leaders publicly warning about the threat it poses to the country and its
social fabric.
As such, these tech giants with their global reach should prop up initiatives
against Islamophobia similar to those countering Islamist extremism — even in
more local contexts.
A starting point could be updating algorithms in local languages, such as
Bahasa Malay/Indonesia, Thai, Tagalog and Mandarin, apart from English.
Furthermore, Google's efforts will be aided if other tech giants (such as
Facebook and YouTube) follow suit and embrace similar steps.
As countering negative search suggestions is already a part of these
companies' agenda, taking into consideration both spectrums of extremism will
help reverse the tide of Internet hate. —TODAY
* Mohammed Sinan Siyech is a Research Analyst at the International Centre
for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, S. Rajaratnam School of
International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
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