Redesigning a service that allows citizens to report online terrorist materials provided better intelligence to the police
The sharing of terrorist and extremist content online is a serious problem for law enforcement agencies. In 2019, The European Commission identified up to 400 online platforms that were hosting content they thought could lead to terrorist radicalisation.
The Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) is responsible for removing terrorist content from the internet. In 2020 they asked us to make improvements to an online form that allows members of the public to notify them about extremist content they find online.
They asked us to redesign the form and add new functionality to encourage users to provide better quality information.
We reviewed a years’ worth of analytics data to understand where reports originated from, which devices they used and any feedback users had given about how the form could be improved.
We also reviewed how international governments collect similar data and facilitated a workshop with CTIRU to understand their ways of working, challenges and aspirations.
Collaborative working to refine prototypesBased on the findings we created a prototype which we tested with 6 users in their own homes or a public setting to create a more realistic experience of how they’d access the service.
We included users with accessibility needs, low digital skills and those who speak English as a second language to try and ensure nobody was prevented or discouraged from reporting.
A selection of pages viewed on a mobile deviceBased on our research and findings from prototype testing we redesigned the form to work better for users.
A page of the new service on mobileChanges we made included:
The improved service was built and went live in November 2020. In feedback the client indicated they were very satisfied with our work.
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