Internet giant Google has joined the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) by piloting a new strategy intended to protect users against extremist groups or Islamist radicals.
Anthony House, Google's senior manager for public policy and communication, disclosed the plan which he said was outlined before a committee of the British parliament dedicated to counter-terrorism.
"The idea is to provide a sort of alternative narrative to those looking for information about extremism or radicalisation links in response to terrorism-related searches,'' House said, according to Fox News.
"We should get the bad stuff down, but it's also extremely important that people are able to find good information, that when people are feeling isolated, that when they go online, they find a community of hope, not a community of harm," he added.
According to him, the programme called Google AdWords Grants is still in its pilot stages and will mainly be working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that would create and place counter-radicalisation advertisements.
Google explained that when a user searches certain keywords and phrases related to Islamic extremism, the result will be directed to an anti-ISIS advertisement that exhorts the search user to pursue a different path.
House also said Google's subsidiary, YouTube, will make anti-extremism videos more discoverable in the hope of aiding governments in their efforts against ISIS and similar groups.
Google's move to pilot test an anti-terrorism advertising comes in the midst of an ongoing debate about the role and responsibility of social media groups on the proliferation of extremism.
ISIS is known for leveraging sites like Twitter and Facebook for both recruitment and propaganda purposes. A recent lawsuit against Twitter suggested that ISIS has only reached its current level of influence with the help of social media platform, according to Fox News.
Earlier, U.S. President Barack Obama personally met with industry leaders to solicit their cooperation amid the use of the Internet as a propaganda and recruitment platform for terrorists, Digital Trends reported.
