“谷歌计划”将如何应对ISIS招募

拯救可能成为圣战分子的人，并不是简简单单地向他们展示这种极其邪恶的生活方式的恐怖，如斩首、饥饿、压迫等。Alphabet的智囊组织Jigsaw的研发负责人雅斯明·格林用谷歌（Google）的典型方式，将这项挑战视为“信息获取问题”。Jigsaw致力于减少网络仇恨与骚扰。

格林在周三于纽约召开的《连线》杂志业务会议上分享了她的观点。她在活动开场时发表的演讲非常尖锐，因为就在上周末，伦敦遭遇恐怖袭击，这是几个月来英国第三起由极端分子实施的暴行。在伦敦恐怖袭击发生之后，英国首相特蕾莎·梅严厉批评谷歌、Facebook等大型科技公司，为这种令人讨厌的恐怖主义意识形态提供了“供其繁衍的安全空间”，这让格林的演讲变得更有意义。

格林的职责包括确定如何通过谷歌的核心业务在线广告定向投放，破坏极端分子为招募新人展开的宣传攻势。为了了解皈依者变得激进的心路历程，她曾前往伊拉克北部，采访了曾经为伊拉克和叙利亚的所谓伊斯兰国（简称ISIS）训练自杀炸弹袭击者的叛逃者。在采访过程中，她明确了制定对策时需要考虑的两个重要因素。

首先，时机很重要。格林在台上表示：“在他们购买前往伊斯坦布尔的机票时再进行干预，已经为时已晚。我们需要在他们刚刚产生共鸣但尚未完全接纳极端思想的时候介入。”

第二，信息传播很重要。简单地展示斩首视频，并不能动摇误入歧途的思想。她说道：“这就好像在烟盒的一面，向吸烟者展示肺部的图片。我也吸烟。我根本不看这些图片。这并不能让我戒烟。”

格林认为，一种更有效的策略是，对于想要成为极端分子的人们的疑问，提供有微妙差别的答案。她表示，这些人会质疑“宗教合法化、有效的治理、军事实力等。对于那些可能让他们变成极端主义的问题，我们应该给他们不同的答案。”

全社会都在努力解决这些复杂的社会问题，而产生这些问题的部分原因来自于互联网。现在我们知道全球最大的网络公司之一正在努力寻找这些问题的解决方案，这至少可以让我们安心。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

Rescuing someone who is on the brink of jihadism is not as simple as showing them the horrors—beheadings, starvation, subjugation—of that heinous lifestyle. Still, Yasmin Green, head of research and development at Jigsaw, an Alphabet think tank that aims to squelch online hate and harassment, views the challenge, in typical Googler fashion, as an "access to information problem."

Green shared her wisdom at the Wired business conference in New York on Wednesday. Her session, which kicked off the event, was distinctly poignant given last weekend's terror attacks in London, the UK's third extremist-borne atrocity in just as many months. Adding to its relevancy: In the aftermath of the recent brutality, British Prime Minister Theresa May took a swipe at big tech companies, like Google (goog) and Facebook (fb), for granting the unsavory ideology of militants "the safe space it needs to breed."

Green's job involves figuring out how to use Google's core business—online ad targeting—to disrupt extremist propaganda campaigns from luring new recruits. In order to understand the process by which converts become radicalized, she visited northern Iraq to interview defectors who had trained suicide bombers of the self-identified Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, often abbreviated ISIS. During her trip, a couple of factors important to consider when devising a counter strategy became clear.

First, timing matters. "At the time they're buying a ticket to Istanbul it is too late to intervene," Green said on stage. "We need to reach them when they're sympathetic, but not yet sold."

Second, messaging matters. Simply showing videos of decapitations will not sway the errant mind. "I kind of liken it to showing smokers on the side of a cigarette packet their lungs," she said. "I’ve been a smoker. I did not look at that. That’s not how I stopped smoking."

A more effective tactic, in Green's view, is to supply nuanced answers to would-be recruits queries. These people have valid questions about "religious legitimacy, effective governance, military prowess," she said. "Let's give them alternative answers to the questions they have that could lead them to joining."

As society grapples with these complex social issues wrought, in part, by the Internet, it's reassuring to know one of the world's biggest online businesses is seeking a solution.