Redirecting Googlers To Sites They're Not Searching For Can Have Benefits — And A Dark Side

In 2016, Google created “The Redirect Method,” a web programming technique created to redirect searchers looking for extremist content to opposite content — about diffusing radical ideologies.

When that campaign was over, Google released its blueprint for redirecting so that other programmers could use it. Among those was certified Google partner Patrick Berlinquette (@WarmSpeakers) who used it to successfully direct suicidal Googlers to a help hotline. He wrote about the experience in a recent New York Times opinion piece.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young talks to Berlinquette about his use of the redirect, and about the issues he says redirecting presents.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.