Google is making free anti-terrorism moderation tools for smaller websites

Meta isn’t the only tech heavyweight making tools to help root out terrorist content. The Financial Times has learned Google’s Jigsaw is developing a free tool to help smaller websites detect and remove extremist material. The project, built with the help of the UN-supported Tech Against Terrorism, makes it easier for moderator teams to deal with potentially illegal content. The effort has the assistance of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (founded by Google, Meta, Microsoft and Twitter), which offers a cross-service database of terrorist items. Two unnamed sites will test the code later this year.

As with Meta’s open source utility, Google’s tool is meant to assist sites that can’t afford to develop AI detection algorithms or hire a large moderation staff. That may be critical when the European Union’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s looming Online Safety bill will both require that site operators pull extremist content to avoid penalties.

Both Google and Tech Against Terrorism see their project as necessary to close a gap in countering online terrorist activity. Extremists and misinformation peddlers kicked off mainstream platforms frequently turn to smaller outlets that can’t always adequately police users. Ideally, this reduces the chances of terrorists finding safe havens.

There are limitations. Some social platforms have been reluctant to moderate content even when app store operators say it incites violence — Google’s tool won’t be very useful on websites that don’t want it. It also won’t stop terrorists from sharing material over well-encrypted messaging services or the Dark Web, where providers can’t easily snoop on data traffic. This might, however, make it harder to jump to online alternatives.

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Twitch says it fixed an issue that prevented people from watching streams

Twitch has fixed an issue that had temporarily prevented parts of the platform, including channels and streams, from loading properly. According to Downdetector, the outage began around 1PM ET. At one point, the website logged more than 21,000 complaints that the streaming platform wasn’t working properly. 

At 1:24PM ET, Twitch acknowledged the outage. “We are investigating an issue preventing multiple areas of Twitch from loading,” the company’s official support account said on Twitter. Less than an hour later, Twitch said it was working to deploy a fix. At 2:36PM ET, Twitch posted that things were back in working order. “We have fixed the issues impacting multiple areas of Twitch and services should be back to normal,” the company said. “If you’re experiencing an issue loading part of the site please refresh your browser tab to see if this resolves it. Thank you again for your patience.” 

It’s unclear what started causing the issues, but one member of the Engadget team noticed they could continue watching a stream as long as they didn’t refresh their browser window. Some Twitch streamers took to Discord so members of their chat could still talk with one another. We’ll update this article if Twitch provides more information about what happened.

Update 3:23PM ET: Added confirmation that Twitch resolved the outage.  

Microsoft is now the home of the video game industry’s largest union

Quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios have voted in favor of forming a union with Communications Workers of America — and ZeniMax’s parent company, Microsoft, didn’t stand in the way. Microsoft formally recognized ZeniMax Workers United/CWA alongside today’s vote results, making this the largest union in the video game industry and the first US union at Microsoft overall.

About 300 ZeniMax staff members were involved in the unionization effort, which was brewing for months before going public in early December. This was around the time QA testers at another major video game studio, Blizzard Albany, voted to unionize with CWA. The Blizzard Albany union is the second at parent company Activision Blizzard, after QA staff at Raven Software voted to organize in May 2022.

The employees behind ZeniMax Workers United/CWA argue that the union will help put an end to sudden periods of crunch, make pay more equitable, and improve communication with management, among other workplace benefits. ZeniMax Studios specializes in online experiences and is responsible for Elder Scrolls Online. The studio was absorbed by Microsoft in March 2021 as part of the broader ZeniMax Media acquisition, a $7.5 billion deal that brought Bethesda and other prominent development houses under the Xbox banner.

A Microsoft spokesperson provided the following statement regarding the ZeniMax Studios vote: “In light of the results of the recent unionization vote, we recognize the Communications Workers of America as the bargaining representative for the Quality Assurance employees at ZeniMax. We look forward to engaging in good faith negotiations as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement.”

Microsoft is currently attempting to acquire — emphasis on attempting — Activision Blizzard, which would tie all of these unionization campaigns together. Activision Blizzard has actively tried to quell organization efforts, while Microsoft in June said it would respect all unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard. The ZeniMax vote was the first big test of Microsoft’s neutrality when facing internal unionization.