Google vows to step up fight against online extremism

Google has vowed to intensify its fight against online extremism, acknowledging that "more needs to be done." The tech giant pledged to take four additional steps which it believes will help combat terrorist content.

The company announced its plans in a blog post on Sunday, stressing that "there should be no place for terrorist content on our services."

"While we and others have worked for years to identify and remove content that violates our policies, the uncomfortable truth is that we, as an industry, must acknowledge that more needs to be done. Now."

Google went on to share four steps it plans on taking to combat online terrorism.

First, it will be increasing its use of technology "to help identify extremist and terrorism-related videos." This includes applying its "most advanced machine learning research" to train new "content classifiers" that will be able to determine if a violent video is, for instance, news footage or an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) propaganda clip.

The company noted, however, that technology alone "is not a silver bullet," and vowed to increase the number of independent experts in YouTube's Trusted Flagger program, noting that reports from "trusted flaggers" are accurate over 90 percent of the time.

"Machines can help identify problematic videos, but human experts still play a role in nuanced decisions about the line between violent propaganda and religious or noteworthy speech," Google wrote.

The company also vowed to take a "tougher stance" on videos which do not explicitly violate Google's policies, including those which contain "inflammatory religious or supremacist content."...
  rt.com
19/6/17