Google’s Jigsaw Team Open-Sources Harassment Manager Tool

Google’s Jigsaw unit marked International Women’s Day Tuesday by open-sourcing a new tool to help address online harassment, with assistance from Thomson Reuters Foundation and Twitter. Harassment Manager is a web application that allows users to review, sort and export harmful comments targeted toward them on social platforms with trusted parties, and it will debut on Twitter, where users can mute or block the source of the negative interaction, as well as hide replies to tweets. Thomson Reuters Foundation will make Harassment Manager available to journalists within its network in June. Jigsaw is a team at Google dedicated to exploring threats to open societies and leveraging collaborations, research and technology inside and outside of Google to develop long-term, scalable solutions. Google stressed that combating online abuse requires cross-industry collaboration and said Jigsaw would continue working with several organizations to determine how to leverage Harassment Manager and keep their communities of activists and journalists safe from online harassment and hate. Google said gender-based online violence is a global threat that ultimately silences important voices on platforms, adding that research from Jigsaw and the Economist Intelligence Unit—as well as from other organizations including the International Women’s Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists with UNESCO—shows that women in general, and female journalists in particular, are most at risk. The company added that 70% of female journalists receive threats and harassment online, and more than 40% of them stopped reporting a story as a result. Jigsaw worked with activists and journalists with large Twitter presences throughout the development cycle for Harassment Manager, using the Twitter API, and the initiative also included partnerships with NGOs such as Article 19, Code for Africa, European Women’s Lobby, Feminist Internet, Glitch, Online SOS, Paradigm Initiative, PEN America and Right to Be (formerly Hollaback!). Twitter director of business development for developer platform Arielle Schwartz said in a statement, "We want to make sure everyone on Twitter has the tools they need to take control of their experience on our service. Developer innovation increases the impact of the work our teams are doing to protect the public conversation by building tools that address the specific needs and preferences of people around the globe. This collaboration with Jigsaw enables NGOs and other ecosystem partners to leverage the Twitter API to build valuable tools for the communities they serve. We continue to tackle these issues collaboratively and in the open, and we are looking forward to seeing the innovative solutions that come from this partnership.” Jigsaw director of partnerships and business development Patricia Georgiou added, “Harassment Manager is the result of several years of research, development and cross-industry collaborations to deliver on our commitment to tackle online violence against women. Our goal was to concretely address the needs of prominent female public figures, like journalists, activists and politicians, who face disproportionate amounts of harassment online because of who they are or what they do—with severe consequences for themselves and for democracy at large. We’re grateful for Twitter, Thomson Reuters Foundation and other organizations that have partnered with us to make this technology available. We hope that our work will help reduce the personal and collective impact of online violence on women around the world and will inspire other stakeholders to take action on this important issue.” And Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO Antonio Zappulla said, “Access to accurate, trusted and unbiased information is the cornerstone of any free, fair and informed society. While technology has enhanced global access to independent news, it has also created new risks through online violence—exposing journalists, particularly women, to harassment and attempts to discredit or silence them. For over 30 years, the Thomson Reuters Foundation has been committed to strengthening the ecosystem for independent media around the world, leveraging our expertise in the combined power of journalism and the law to enable power to be held to account and protect civil liberties. That is why we are uniquely placed to partner with Jigsaw on this exciting project.”

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Google’s Jigsaw Team Open-Sources Harassment Manager Tool

Its partners at launch are Thomson Reuters Foundation, Twitter

David Cohen

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