Google is making a free moderation tool that detects and removes terrorism content for smaller websites, as the company complies with UK and EU's new legislation compelling tech giants to take action against illegal content on the internet.

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A picture taken on August 28, 2019 shows the US multinational technology and Internet-related services company Google logo application Amazon displayed on a tablet in Lille. 

Developing New Moderation Tool

Google develops an anti-terrorism moderation tool to help smaller websites remove illegal content. According to Financial Times, the research and development unit of the company Google Jigsaw, and Tech Against Terrorism collaborated to work on this project.

This will assist websites that do not have the resources to develop AI detection algorithms or even hire large moderation workers. Aside from assistance, it offers to close a gap in fighting terrorist activity online.

Especially since misinformation and extremist content have been dominating the internet and mainstream platforms for quite some time now. These are usually seen on smaller websites that can not accommodate or remove the content immediately. 

Jigsaw's Chief Executive Officer Yasmin Green stated, "There are a lot of websites that just don't have any people to do the enforcement. It is a really labor-intensive thing to even build the algorithms [and] then you need all those human reviewers."

Aside from Tech Against Terrorism that is backed by the United Nations, Engadget reported that Global Internet Forum assisted this project and offered a cross-service database of terrorist items. Two websites are expected to test the code later this year.

In 2021, the forum reported that every 10,000 posts on Facebook have six terrorist or extremist content. While on a smaller platform, the figures can go as high as 5,000 of content. This was a non-profit organization formed by tech giants Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube in 2017.

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New Legislation

Gizmodo reported that this move from internet companies is in compliance with the Digital Services Act in the EU, which took effect last November, and the Online Safety Bill that is expected to become law this year. 

If internet companies will not remove extremist content from their platforms, they will face fines and other penalties under these laws. 

This legislation has been pushed by several politicians who believe that social media companies have not done enough regarding making a safe space on their own platforms. 

Although this legislation aims no harm to everybody, the new regulation concerns smaller startups who do not have the resources to comply with this compared to tech giants, hence, why Google Jigsaw made it free for everybody.

Meta's 'Hasher-Matcher-Actioner'

Earlier in December last year, Meta announced on their website that the company will make an available free open source software tool that will help several platforms to identify copies of images and videos, and stop the spread of terrorist content on their platforms. 

Compared to Meta's moderation tool, Google's tools are more convenient. The anti-terrorism detection software of Meta will help websites match potential harmful content in the database, while Google's moderation tools will tell moderators what to do next after detecting illegal content.

Related Article: France Has a New Law That Mandates Social Media Giants to Delete Extremist Contents or Pay a Fine