June 27, 2017: Social Media platforms altogether have come forward to disdain terror content. With this regard, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube has announced the launch of an anti-terror partnership designed at thwarting the spread of extremist content online.
Each of the Social tech giants was working separately to thwart its services from being used to encourage or spread extremist views. Facebook this month launched a series of counterterrorism measures in the wake of attacks in Manchester and London.
A joint statement published on Twitter's policy blog declared, "The spread of terrorism and violent extremism is a pressing global problem and a critical challenge for us all."
"We believe that by working together, sharing the best technological and operational elements of our individual efforts, we can have a greater impact on the threat of terrorist content online."
The new forum was developed on discussions in Europe and outcomes of recent Group of Seven (G7) and European Council, according to the founding companies. The forum is designed to work with smaller tech firms as well as civil groups, academics and governmental bodies.
The "Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism" intends to share engineering, research and knowledge to help "continue to make our hosted consumer services hostile to terrorists and violent extremists," the companies said yesterday.
"The scope of our work will evolve over time as we will need to be responsive to the ever-evolving terrorist and extremist tactics," the companies announced.
Following the warnings from UK Prime Minister Theresa May after four attacks in three months, Facebook said it would seek to edify charities and other organisations on how to fight hatred speeches, in light of the terror attacks in Britain as well as in Belgium and France.
The Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI) will act as a forum for charities and other nonprofit organisations to share their experiences of extremism and develop "best practices" to tackle the issue, both on and offline.
Earlier this year, G7 leaders had urged companies like Facebook and Google to do more to thwart extremist content online.
– prepared by Naina Mishra of Newsgram. Twitter: @Nainamishr94