Logo for InfluenceWatch InfluenceWatch

Donate
Person

Yasmin Green

Nationality:

American
Organization:

Alphabet

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Yasmin Green is the head of research and development of Jigsaw, a division of Alphabet. Green has been called “head international troll slayer at Google.” 1 She is closely associated with the Aspen Institute, and is a member of its controversial Commission on Information Disorder.

Green is a member of the National Task Force On Election Crises, a project of the Protect Democracy Project. 2

Early Life and Education

Yasmin Green was born in Iran in the early 1980s. Her family fled the country for London in 1984. Green played on the national United Kingdom under-16 basketball team and wanted to go professional. She returned to Iran for a trip at age 19 and felt “astounded by the level of censorship there was in the country, both offline and online.” Green earned a degree in economics from the University of College London, a Master’s degree in management from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth Schol of Business. 3 4 5

Career

Yasmin Green’s first job was as a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, where she specialized in consulting for oil and gas companies in Africa and the Middle East, including Syria, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. Green then joined Google as head of sales strategy and operations for Southern Europe, Middle East, and Africa. She also worked as Africa operations manager, and later became the head of strategy and operations for Google Ideas. 6 7

In 2012, Green co-founded Against Violent Extremism, a coalition of ex-radicals fighting against online radicalization. 8

Until 2015, Green co-chaired the European Commission’s Working Group on Online Radicalization. 9

Green is a senior advisor on innovation for Oxford Analytica, a government consulting firm. 10

Green is a board member of the Anti-Defamation League and the Tory Burch Foundation. 11

Aspen Institute

Yasmin Green has worked on many projects with the Aspen Institute, for which she is a member of the Aspen Cyber Strategy Group. 12

Green is a senior advisor for the Harvard Belfer Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project, which is a project of the Aspen Institute. 13

In January 2021, the Aspen Institute launched the Commission on Information Disorder to “develop actionable public-private responses to the disinformation crisis.” 14 Green was chosen as one of 13 commissioners, along with Katie Couric, the United Kingdom’s Prince Harry, and Skoll Foundation president Marla Blow. The group’s president is Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change. 15 The Commission seeks to revoke Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives digital platforms immunity from liability for content created by others. 16

Jigsaw

In 2006, Yasmin Green became the head of research and development at Jigsaw, which has been described as the “National Security Council of Google.” Jigsaw oversees both international cybersecurity and content moderation across Alphabet’s digital platforms. Green was the first employee hired for Jigsaw by its founder, Jared Cohen. 17 18

Green and Jigsaw have developed a machine learning system known as Perspective which tracks trolls by identifying “online toxicity.” 19

Redirect Method

Green and the team at Jigsaw regularly visit geopolitical hotspots to study radicalization. One of their first trips was to Iraq where they met with former ISIS members to learn about digital recruitment methods. 20 Green has said that ISIS was the first terrorist group to effectively use the internet for recruitment. 21 The result of Green’s visit was her best known project at Google, the Redirect Method, a process for stopping radicalization by using advertisements to redirect potential radicals toward moderate media. 22 In its first year, 300,000 individuals watched videos created by the Redirect Method. 23

uProxy

Green and Jigsaw developed uProxy, a tunnel that can be used to get around firewalls in states with restrictive internet regimes. 24

Controversy

According to Vice, Green was subject to sexist remarks from Jigsaw employees regarding her attire on trips to Muslim countries. 25

References

  1. Sullivan, Robert. “Meet the Head International Troll Slayer at Google.” Vogue. February 15, 2017. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.vogue.com/article/google-jigsaw-yasmin-green-internet-trolls-web-security.
  2. “Task Force Members.” National Task Force on Election Crises. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.electiontaskforce.org/members.
  3. Sullivan, Robert. “Meet the Head International Troll Slayer at Google.” Vogue. February 15, 2017. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.vogue.com/article/google-jigsaw-yasmin-green-internet-trolls-web-security.
  4. Giles, Martin. “MIT Technology Review. February 19, 2018. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/02/19/3355/terrible-people-have-learned-to-exploit-the-internet-yasmin-green-is-fighting-back/.
  5. “Yasmin Green.” University of Michigan. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://csmr.umich.edu/about/people/yasmin-green/.
  6. Sullivan, Robert. “Meet the Head International Troll Slayer at Google.” Vogue. February 15, 2017. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.vogue.com/article/google-jigsaw-yasmin-green-internet-trolls-web-security.
  7. “Yasmin Green.” Aspen Institute. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/our-people/yasmin-green/.
  8. “Yasmin Green.” Aspen Institute. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/our-people/yasmin-green/.
  9. “Yasmin Green.” Aspen Institute. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/our-people/yasmin-green/.
  10. “Yasmin Green.” Aspen Institute. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/our-people/yasmin-green/.
  11. “Yasmin Green.” University of Michigan. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://csmr.umich.edu/about/people/yasmin-green/.
  12. “Yasmin Green.” University of Michigan. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://csmr.umich.edu/about/people/yasmin-green/.
  13. “Yasmin Green.” University of Michigan. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://csmr.umich.edu/about/people/yasmin-green/.
  14. “Aspen Institute Launches Commission on Information Disorder to Develop Actionable Public-Private Responses to the Disinformation Crisis.” Aspen Institute. January 13, 2021. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/news/press-release/commission-on-information-disorder/.
  15. “Meet the Commissioners.” Aspen Institute. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/commission-on-information-disorder/meet-the-commissioners/.
  16. Ingram, Matthew. “What can we do about society’s ‘information disorder.” Colombia Journalism Review. November 16, 2021. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/what-can-we-do-about-societys-information-disorder.php.
  17. Sullivan, Robert. “Meet the Head International Troll Slayer at Google.” Vogue. February 15, 2017. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.vogue.com/article/google-jigsaw-yasmin-green-internet-trolls-web-security.
  18. “< Yasmin Green: How Did The Internet Become A Platform For Hate Groups.” NPR. November 2, 2018. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662627058.
  19. Giles, Martin. “MIT Technology Review. February 19, 2018. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/02/19/3355/terrible-people-have-learned-to-exploit-the-internet-yasmin-green-is-fighting-back/.
  20. [1] Giles, Martin. “MIT Technology Review. February 19, 2018. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/02/19/3355/terrible-people-have-learned-to-exploit-the-internet-yasmin-green-is-fighting-back/.
  21. “< Yasmin Green: How Did The Internet Become A Platform For Hate Groups.” NPR. November 2, 2018. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662627058.
  22. Sullivan, Robert. “Meet the Head International Troll Slayer at Google.” Vogue. February 15, 2017. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.vogue.com/article/google-jigsaw-yasmin-green-internet-trolls-web-security.
  23. Dreyfus, Emily. “Hacking Online Hate Means Talking to the Humans Behind It.” Wired. June 8, 2017. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.wired.com/2017/06/hacking-online-hate-means-talking-humans-behind/.
  24. Paul, Kari. “Censorship and the Future of the Internet According to Yasmin Green.” Vice. June 16, 2016. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.vice.com/en/article/ez453m/censorship-and-the-future-of-the-internet-according-to-yasmin-green-id-en.
  25. Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo. “Google’s Jigsaw Was Supposed to Save the Internet. Behind the Scenes, It Became a Toxic Mess.” Vice. July 2, 2019. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://www.vice.com/en/article/vb98pb/google-jigsaw-became-toxic-mess.
  See an error? Let us know!