With the rash of terror attacks around the world, Big Tech companies aren’t taking kindly to extremist messages spread through their services. Namely, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) have begun automatically wiping extremist videos from their servers.
Reuters had the exclusive over the weekend, pointing to two sources “familiar” with the automation process:
“The technology was originally developed to identify and remove copyright-protected content on video sites. It looks for “hashes,” a type of unique digital fingerprint that internet companies automatically assign to specific videos, allowing all content with matching fingerprints to be removed rapidly.”
YouTube and Facebook are leading the charge to take down Islamic State videos and terrorist propaganda, according to the sources, but neither Facebook nor Google have confirmed such a technology.
The companies involved likely aren’t going public with this initiative for two reasons: Concerns that terrorists would learn how to manipulate the algorithm in their favor, and because there’s no easy way to “brag about censorship.”
In April, a content-blocking system was put forth by the private Counter Extremism Project (founded by Frances Townsend, former homeland security advisor to George W. Bush), which was discussed among other options in a Big Tech conference call that included Facebook, YouTube and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).
Facebook and Google do not appear to be using that content-blocking system, however, and the companies remain “wary” of outside pressure from governments. Twitter is still on the sidelines according to a representative.
If the sources are correct, the system would catch repost attempts rather than new posts, as the system could potentially refer to a database of extremist-identified videos. But with the recent debacle of Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) blocking a user’s PlayStation Network account for his real name, “Jihad,” such a system could lead to similar unintended consequences.
Right now, it appears that many companies are indeed testing the waters, as Facebook’s head of global policy management, Monika Bickert, claimed the company is “exploring with others in industry ways we can collaboratively work to remove content that violates our policies against terrorism” and a former Google employee claims the company had “long debated” with how to use its Content ID for expanded use.
FB stock was up 1.31% at closing on Monday, while GOOG stock ended the day up 1.38%.
As of this writing, John Kilhefner did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
