Google Ideas has declared war on online harassment. And from the looks of the Twitter feed, they are engaged in battle.
The think tank that is Google Ideas supports freedom of expression and designs products that foster that mission, especially for those who do not have it due to violence, oppression, and harassment.
The organization tweeted this:
Fighting online abuse w/ @FeministaJones @TheQuinnspiracy @roseveleth @randileeharper @jamiaw @CCRInitiative @femfreq pic.twitter.com/5xPp3jVL0T
— Google Ideas (@googleideas) September 23, 2015
Let’s just say the internet had a reaction. Replies included awful sentiments, personal attacks, sexist remarks, etc. I will not dignify their hatred with quotations. Google Ideas’
reply? Why this, of course:
The replies to our last tweet are precisely why we are exploring ways to combat online harassment.
— Google Ideas (@googleideas) September 23, 2015
Some of the women pictured in the original Tweet are no strangers to internet harassment. Google has climbed on board with combating the venom by removing “Revenge Porn” (Someone’s private pictures that have been placed on the internet to embarrass or cause harm to a person). Search engine Bing has also joined this fight. While Google openly tries to provide a comprehensive snapshot of what is contained on the web, it sees no place for Revenge Porn:
Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging and serve only to degrade the victims — predominantly women. So going forward, we’ll honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google Search results. This is a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures, that may surface in our search results.
Google does provide a way for users to get information that is harmful to them (bank account numbers, signatures, sexually explicit material) off the their search engine.
It is easy for people to talk big when they are behind their computer screens and they do not have to see the actual person they are attacking. Kudos to Google and all those who step up to the plate to end internet harassment.
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