Critics have criticized platforms like Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta Platforms’ Facebook for years, claiming that the corporations have permitted hate speech, misinformation, and violent language to flourish on their services.
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.
Critics have criticized platforms like Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta Platforms’ Facebook for years, claiming that the corporations have permitted hate speech, misinformation, and violent language to flourish on their services.
At a roundtable at the White House earlier on Thursday that featured nonpartisan local leaders, experts, and survivors, US President Joe Biden urged Americans to fight bigotry and extremism.
In order to eliminate videos that glorify violent crimes, YouTube announced it will extend its policies on violent extremism, even if the videos’ producers have no connection to terrorist organizations.
The video streaming service already forbids the encouragement of violence, but in at least some instances, the rules have not been applied to movies glorifying militia groups involved in the seizure of the US Capitol on January 6.
In a May investigation, the Tech Transparency Project uncovered 435 pro-militia videos on YouTube, 85 of which had been uploaded after the attack 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 program to show younger users how to recognize the tricks used to propagate false material.
Microsoft 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 CEOs of Facebook, Alphabet, and Twitter Inc. were questioned by Congress last year about whether their organizations shared some blame for the attack on January 6.
