The Tech Against Terrorism Mentorship | 2018 – 2020 Overview

THE TECH AGAINST TERRORISM MENTORSHIP 2018 – 2020

Interested in joining the Tech Against Terrorism Mentorship? You can reach out at contact@techagainstterorism.org

Since 2018, Tech Against Terrorism has mentored 25 tech platforms to help them tackle terrorist use of their platforms whilst respecting human rights and freedom of speech. Our mentorship programme also supports tech platforms in strengthening transparency and accountability mechanisms around their content moderation.

TAT Mentorship 2018 – 2021: Our mentees’ achievements so far

TAT MENTORSHIP – THE CORE OF OUR POLICY SUPPORT WORK

The mentorship programme sits at the core of Tech Against Terrorism’s policy support work, helping tech companies in improving and future-proofing their policies. We also assist tech companies in developing the necessary process and mechanisms to enforce their policies. All platforms engaged in the mentorship programme benefit from Tech Against Terrorism’s expertise on counterterrorism and tech policy, and we strive to ensure that our support is as tailored as possible to a platform’s specificities and the threat of terrorist and violent extremist exploitation faced.

In-depth policy review

As a first step in the mentorship process, we conduct an in-depth review of the platform’s content standards, highlighting their areas of strength and outlining where there is room for improvement. We examine all publicly available company policies relating to content moderation and counterterrorism. This review allows us to get a precise understanding of a platform’s approach to online moderation, and ensures that we can provide bespoke support.

Bespoke policy recommendations

Based on the policy review and informed by our expertise and research, we provide bespoke policy recommendations for all of our mentees. These recommendations focus on ensuring that platforms have policies in place to adequately counter terrorist and violent extremist exploitation of their services. Our recommendations also aim to ensure that policies are operationalisable and adapted to the threat each platform faces.

Our key recommendations are based on the following principles:  

• Platforms should have clear and detailed language prohibiting of terrorism or violent extremism in their content standards
• The prohibition of terrorism should ideally be inscribed in the rule of law, for example by referencing a designation list (such as the UN Security Council Consolidated List); as a basis for a publicly available list of terrorist organisations, tech companies can also refer to the Group Inclusion Policy we developed for the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP).[1]   
• Content moderation practices should respect human rights and freedom of expression, in line with the Tech Against Terrorism Pledge
• Platforms should have clear and detailed community guidelines for users to know what is expected of them, and clearly explained moderation processes for users to know what they can expect of the platforms
• Platforms should strive towards having a dedicated counterterrorism and violent extremism policy, demonstrating that the threat is considered and dealt with seriously
• Platforms should have user reporting mechanisms in place to ensure that violating content and behaviour can be reported by its user base
• Platform should have user appeal processes in place to ensure that users can seek redress if they believe their content was wrongfully actioned

Transparency & accountability

Our support programme is underpinned by our commitment increase to meaningful transparency and accountability from the tech sector. We focus on helping platforms drafting clear and precise policies and content moderation rules for users to know what is expected of them and what the platform is doing to ensure safety on its services.

All of our policy reviews also include a section dedicated to transparency and transparency reports. We assess and provide recommendations on a platforms’ general transparency efforts and, for mentees who have already published a transparency report, we conduct a complete assessment of the most recent transparency reports available.

Tech Against Terrorism has notably supported JustPaste.it and Ask.fm in publishing their first transparency reports.

“For smallest platforms with limited resources it is crucial to be time-efficient in all of their actions. Creating a first transparency report may be much easier when done with help from experienced specialists. TaT was able to provide answers to all questions regarding what should be included in such a report having in mind platform-specific requirements and how to present them to the users in a clear way. Platform can then focus on actual numbers extraction and content of the transparency report, without doing extensive research first.” 
– Mariusz Żurawek, Founder & Owner, JustPaste.it

“Tech Against Terrorism has mentored ASKfm in our research every step of the way, providing invaluable collaboration in creating our first Transparency report. We believe in the importance of reporting to our users' confidence in the security of our platform.” 
– Viktoria Moroz, Head of Moderation, ASKfm

Providing support beyond policy recommendations

Our policy support extends beyond policy recommendations to ensure that platforms have the necessary tools to implement them.  We provide mentees with various resources on policy best practices, and support with reviewing and advising on policy updates.

Knowledge-sharing

Our mentorship programme sits at the core of our knowledge sharing activities. Tech Against Terrorism works with a broad range of stakeholders to build on our understanding of the threat and evolving counterterrorism practices. The different insights and best practice we gather from our extensive networks are used to inform our policy and practical support to tech companies.

Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP): The KSP is a collection of interactive tools and resources designed to support the operational needs of smaller tech platforms. It is a “one stop shop” for companies to access practical resources to support their counterterrorism and transparency efforts. Our resources include research and analysis on terrorist use of the internet, such as the threat landscape and proscribed organisations, on global online regulation, as well as guidelines and recommendations on content standards and transparency reporting.

All of our mentees can benefit from privileged access to our different knowledge-sharing activities. Including our e-learning webinar series in collaboration with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), and Tech Against Terrorism’s own resources on countering terrorist use of the internet and understanding the threat.

Terrorist and violent extremist content alerts

Mentees are alerted of content affiliated with designated terrorist groups located on their services via our Terrorist Content Analytics Platform. We also alert of violent extremist content located by email, and can provide background information on terrorist use of the internet and specific groups upon requests.

OSINT monitoring and intelligence briefs

All of our mentees benefit from our  open-source intelligence (OSINT) capacity. Each mentee receives a bespoke intelligence brief providing an overview of the terrorist and violent extremist threat to its platform.[2] Our analysis of the terrorist and violent extremist online landscape also informs our understanding of the threat and  support to platforms. 

Continuous support and engagement with our mentees

Throughout the mentorship and membership process we strive to provide regular support to our mentees. Each mentee has a dedicated TAT point of contact responsible for overseeing the mentorship process and responding to any questions that might arise regarding the mentorship process or terrorist use of the internet generally. We also organise regular catch-up calls to ensure that we are aware of any challenges that might arise for our mentees.

TAT MENTORSHIP – A PATH TOWARS DUAL MEMBERSHIP

Our mentorship programme partially supports the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), and is designed to assist tech companies in meeting the TAT and GIFCT Memberships criteria. Throughout the mentorship process, we assist tech platforms in updating their policies and processes to meet the TAT and GIFCT membership requirements.

[1] It should be noted that this is not a comprehensive list and has been deliberately created as a small scope specifically for the TCAP.

[2] Tech Against Terrorism members receive such briefs twice a year (or more depending on the threat). Members also receive OSINT Updates every two months, providing an overview of the global terrorist and violent extremist online landscape.

Interested in joining the Tech Against Terrorism Mentorship? You can reach out at contact@techagainstterorism.org"