YouTube, Meta, Others To Expand Policies, Research To Fight Online Extremism

As part of a White House summit on preventing hate-motivated violence, major tech companies pledged on Thursday to take new actions to combat online extremism by eliminating more harmful content and encouraging media literacy among young users.

For years, critics have criticised websites like Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) YouTube and Meta Platforms' (META.O) Facebook, claiming that the businesses allowed hate speech, misinformation, and violent sentiments to flourish on their platforms.

Earlier on Thursday, at a conference at the White House with academics, survivors, and bipartisan local leaders, U.S. President Joe Biden urged people to fight bigotry and extremism, Reuters reported.

YouTube announced that it will broaden its anti-violent extremism policies to delete films that glorify violent crime, even if the makers of the videos have no connection to terrorist groups.

The video-streaming service already forbids the encouragement of violence, but in at least some instances, the rules have not been applied to movies advocating militia groups involved in the seizure of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

In a May report, the Tech Transparency Project discovered 435 pro-military videos on YouTube, 85 of which had been added since the raid on January 6.

In several of the movies, training tips were provided, such as how to conduct guerilla-style ambushes.

A spokesperson for YouTube, Jack Malon, declined to comment on whether the service will modify its approach to that content in light of the new policy but noted that the move allows it to be more aggressive in its enforcement.

YouTube also said that it would start a media literacy programme to show younger users how to recognise the tricks used to propagate false material.

Microsoft (MSFT.O) announced that it will provide schools and smaller groups with a simple and more cost version of its artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to assist them in identifying and preventing violence.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook, just announced a collaboration with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism.

The senior executives of Alphabet, Facebook, Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N), and other corporations were questioned by Congress last year about whether their organisations shared some blame for the attack on January 6.