Google’s Jigsaw Open Sources Altitude to Combat Extremist Content on Online Platforms

Google’s incubator subsidiary, Jigsaw, has announced the open sourcing of Altitude, a counterterrorism tool designed to assist smaller companies in moderating extremist content on their online platforms. This initiative aims to bridge the resource gap between tech giants and smaller digital entities in combating harmful content.

Addressing the Challenge

While major tech companies like Meta, X, and Google have robust systems in place for content moderation, smaller companies often lack the necessary resources. This disparity is particularly pressing in light of new regulations such as Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and other terrorism-specific content laws that demand swift removal of illicit content.

The Role of Jigsaw

Jigsaw, originally known as Google Ideas before its rebrand in 2016, focuses on developing innovative solutions to societal issues like disinformation, censorship, and extremist content. In November, Jigsaw introduced Altitude, a tool that streamlines the verification process for content moderators by allowing them to check content against multiple third-party databases simultaneously, rather than individually.

Development and Partnerships

Altitude was developed in collaboration with Tech Against Terrorism, an initiative by the United Nations’ Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). These partnerships have been crucial in creating a tool that aggregates data from trusted sources to aid in content moderation.

Transition and Open Source Availability

Nine months after its initial announcement, Jigsaw is transferring the ongoing development and maintenance of Altitude to Tech Against Terrorism. The tool’s code is now available on GitHub under an Apache 2.0 license, allowing companies to self-host and inspect the code.

How Altitude Works

Altitude leverages data from trusted sources like GIFCT and Tech Against Terrorism’s Terrorist Content Analytics Platform, consolidating “terrorist and violent extremist content” (TVEC) into a unified view. This enables moderators to efficiently review and remove flagged content, ensuring compliance with various jurisdictional requirements. It’s important to note that Altitude does not automatically remove content but flags it for human review.

Applications and Initial Feedback

While specific platforms using Altitude during its testing phase have not been disclosed, the tool is likely to be utilized by messaging apps, URL-shortening services, video-hosting sites, online forums, social networks, and pastebins.

In a recent blog post, Jigsaw shared insights from a year-long series of interviews with founders, trust and safety leaders, and TVEC content reviewers from eleven different platforms. These platforms varied in size and type, including image-sharing platforms, social media sites, URL shortening services, and file and text storage sites. The interviews revealed that preparedness to manage TVEC did not always correlate with the size of the organization, highlighting the need for accessible and effective moderation tools.

Future Enhancements

As an open source project, Altitude can be integrated into any platform, with Tech Against Terrorism offering bespoke onboarding support. Jigsaw and Tech Against Terrorism plan to expand the tool to include specialized databases and support for languages beyond English.

This strategic move by Jigsaw underscores the importance of collaborative efforts in addressing global challenges related to online extremism and ensuring that all digital platforms, regardless of size, can effectively combat harmful content.