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Nami LaChance writes at The Intercept that a google-incubated program that targets potential ISIS members with deradicalizing content will soon be used to target violent right-wing extremists in North America. Using research and targeted advertising, the initiative by London-based startup Moonshot CVE and Google's Jigsaw technology incubator targets potentially violent Jihadis and directs them to a YouTube channel with videos that refute ISIS propaganda. In the pilot program countering ISIS, the so-called Redirect Method collected the metadata of 320,000 individuals over the course of eight weeks, using 1,700 keywords, and served them advertisements that led them to the videos.
"I think this is an extremely promising method," says Richard Stengel, U.S. Undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs. In the ISIS pilot program, the YouTube channel pulls preexisting videos that, according to Yasmin Green, the head of research and development for Jigsaw, "refute ISIS's messaging." One video is from a woman who secretly filmed her life in ISIS-controlled Raqqa. Another shows young people in Mosul, their faces obscured by keffiyehs for their protection, talking about life under the Islamic State. "The branding philosophy for the entire pilot project was not to appear judgmental or be moralistic, but really to pique interest of individuals who have questions, questions that are being raised and answered by the Islamic State."
Ross Frenett, co-founder of Moonshot, says his company and Jigsaw are now working with funding from private groups to target other violent extremists, including the hard right in America. "Our efforts during phase two, when we're going to focus on the violent far right in America, will be very much focused on the small element of those that are violent. The interesting thing about how they behave is they're a little bit more brazen online these days than ISIS fan boys," says Frenett.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 09 2016, @07:39AM
It's OK, the UK has Brexited themselves out of Europe and become a far-right anti-immigration country.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday September 09 2016, @04:40PM
That is probably a big part of this project. Remember that while the actual voters went for Leave, the elite leadership class was almost 100% united behind Remain. Just like in the US and every other Western nation the battle lines are between the rulers and the ruled over whether we are to have nations at all. Nationalism is the new battle line, not left/right.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday September 10 2016, @07:18PM
The nationalism fight has been going on for over 500 years. You're probably American, a country created by combining various sovereign States creating a new nation, that used force to stop any of those formally sovereign States from leaving.
Europe has seen hundreds of years of small political units uniting to form larger political units, usually through violence. Look at a map of France from eg the1300's and compare to current. Same with most of the other European countries, with many only becoming nations in the second half of the 19th century.
The big difference now is that generally force is not being used to create larger countries. The UK can simply vote to leave the EU, and Scotland can simply vote to leave the UK. Even America might be getting civilized enough to allow secession.
As for the rulers, they prefer having nation states as they can play them off on each other.