For prominent journalists and activists today, especially those covering controversial topics or living under autocratic governments, online harassment is a constant challenge. The threats loom larger for women and can range from nuisances to matters of life and death. …

As the world has contended with the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years, there has been a proliferation of vaccine misinformation. This online trend has had dire, real life consequences. Belief in vaccine misinformation is associated with lower vaccination rates and higher vaccine resistance: a survey conducted by The…

Attack strategies used by online harassers have evolved over time, including their scale and ability to cause offline harm. Coordinated harassment — when others are encouraged to use intimidation, humiliation, or threats to purposely amplify an attack — can take many forms, and negatively impact internet users across the political…

Despite their apparent complexity, conspiracy theories often share a common, straightforward story. Conspiracies universally posit a shadowy “they” (the government, the military, the deep state, etc.), working towards a nefarious end. This common structure is key to their appeal and appears across disparate and even conflicting theories. The differences between…

It’s been five years since we launched Perspective API, Jigsaw’s free service that helps moderators manage user generated content online. Looking back on how we’ve been able to evolve and improve the tool, we’ve been lucky to receive important and productive feedback from the machine learning community. When people interact…

Last month’s Declaration for the Future of the Internet, signed by the United States, the European Union, and 32 other countries, could not have come at a more critical moment. This declaration, reaffirming the vital importance of the free, open, and global internet, comes as the assault on Ukraine and…

After a steep fall in 2020, the number of internet shutdowns grew in 2021 as several countries cut off access for the first time and others grew more aggressive in their use of the tactic. As the world slowly began to re-open in 2021, the number of documented internet shutdowns…

Jigsaw has been working to protect voices online since our inception six years ago. Core to this effort is our work to support safe online discourse without fear of harassment, regardless of dialect or language of origin. To that end, we’ve launched Perspective API’s toxicity detection in ten new languages…

Well-moderated online platforms and comment sections offer a unique forum for people to engage with and learn from one another. However, the sheer volume of content created on many of these platforms can render efforts to keep hate, harassment, and abuse at bay incredibly difficult. …