Today, Google’s Jigsaw unit has announced the open sourcing of Harassment Manager, a web application that allows users to document and manage online abuse targeted at them on platforms online, beginning with Twitter. As a first implementation partner, Thomson Reuters Foundation will make the tool available to journalists within its network in June of 2022.

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Gender-based online violence is a global threat, and ultimately silences important voices from online conversations. Research from Jigsaw and the Economist Intelligence Unit, and from other organizations in this space including IWMF, ICFJ and UNESCO, shows that women in general, and female journalists in particular are most at risk: 70% of female journalists receive threats and harassment online, and more than 40% of those female journalists stopped reporting a story as a result. Users who experience online harassment navigate an unmanageably large volume of toxic content, creating barriers to documentation and making it difficult to access resources or lean on support networks.

Patricia Georgiou, Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Jigsaw, said:

“Harassment Manager is the result of several years of research, development, and cross-industry collaborations to deliver on our commitment to tackle online violence against women. Our goal was to concretely address the needs of prominent female public figures, like journalists, activists and politicians, who face disproportionate amounts of harassment online because of who they are or what they do – with severe consequences for themselves and for democracy at large. We’re grateful for Twitter, Thomson Reuters Foundation and other organizations who have partnered with us to make this technology available. We hope that our work will help reduce the personal and collective impact of online violence on women around the world, and will inspire other stakeholders to take action on this important issue.”

In June 2021, the Web Foundation released recommendations to develop solutions to online gender-based violence and abuse, after a series of roundtables with tech companies and NGOs. This was also a priority for the UN Generation Equality Forum in Paris, where tech companies including Google, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter committed to improve women’s safety on their platforms.

This ecosystem initiative, as well as Jigsaw’s extensive research on the state of online harassment, underscored the need for a tool that helps users deal with toxic comments following an incident of harassment, and document their experience.

Jigsaw worked with journalists and activists with large Twitter presences throughout the whole development cycle to build Harassment Manager, using the Twitter API. The effort also involved collaborations with several NGOs in the journalism and human rights space, including Article 19, Code for Africa, European Women’s Lobby, Feminist Internet, Glitch, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), Online SOS, Paradigm Initiative, PEN America, Right To Be (formerly Hollaback!), and others, to incorporate their perspectives regarding their community’s needs.

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Harassment Manager allows users to review, sort, and export harmful comments with trusted parties, as well as mute or block perpetrators and hide replies to Tweets.

Arielle Schwartz, Director of Business Development for Twitter’s Developer Platform, said:

“We want to make sure everyone on Twitter has the tools they need to take control of their experience on our service. Developer innovation increases the impact of the work our teams are doing to protect the public conversation by building tools that address the specific needs and preferences of people around the globe. This collaboration with Jigsaw enables NGOs and other ecosystem partners to leverage the Twitter API to build valuable tools for the communities they serve. We continue to tackle these issues collaboratively and in the open, and are looking forward to seeing the innovative solutions that come from this partnership.”

Following the open sourcing of the code, Thomson Reuters Foundation will roll the tool out to its network of journalists for use on their Twitter platforms, as part of the organization’s larger efforts to defend media freedom and protect human rights.

Antonio Zappulla, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said:

“Access to accurate, trusted and unbiased information is the cornerstone of any free, fair and informed society. While technology has enhanced global access to independent news, it has also created new risks through online violence – exposing journalists, particularly women, to harassment and attempts to discredit or silence them. For over 30 years, the Thomson Reuters Foundation has been committed to strengthening the ecosystem for independent media around the world, leveraging our expertise in the combined power of journalism and the law to enable power to be held to account and protect civil liberties. That is why we are uniquely placed to partner with Jigsaw on this exciting project.

I am immensely proud of the Foundation’s contribution in creating a bespoke tool that can change the landscape for free, fair and accurate reporting, protect journalists from harassment – and allow them to fulfill their mission that ultimately protects our fundamental human rights and freedoms.”

Tackling online abuse will require cross industry collaboration, and open sourcing the code for Harassment Manager is a step toward empowering people with tools they need. Jigsaw is continuing to work with several organizations in this space to explore how they can leverage the Harassment Manager technology to keep their communities of journalists and activists safe from online hate and harassment.

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