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Tech Companies’ Fight Against Terrorism

The groups that have encouraged the recent attack in Europe are known to use the internet to do so and have been successful with their efforts. The tech companies are starting to take more heat for not policing all the content being posted. The tech companies have started to step up their efforts but there has been multiple cases, where, content or user cannot be removed because they are not directly violating the user policy. It may be time for the user policy to be overlooked, when it comes to known members of extremist groups.

Monitoring what is being posted is a huge task for the tech companies but it will be critical for them to increase their efforts. Terrorist can spread messages, recruit new members, and expose people to their messages with just a few clicks. The tech companies are struggling with some content because it falls into a gray area and is not taken down because of the companies’ promise to protect freedom of speech.

Tech companies are doing a lot to protect against terrorist using the internet but it can only filter information so fast and it does not take long for a post to be seen be a large audience. Even when the major social media platforms can remove content, the terrorist groups have been moving to small platforms, which are not monitored as closely.

The fight against terrorist’s messages will not go away but it may be time for tech companies to review their policies and adapt to this new threat. The next month is very crucial for tech companies to stop messages posted by terror groups because of the ISIS call for increased attacks during Ramadan. Some of the responsibility comes to others user, who need to report any terrorist activity or content that could promote their radical message.

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Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/online-terrorist-propaganda-still-a-challenge-for-tech-companies-1496712112   (June 6, 2017)


Want more BFT? Leave us a voicemail on our page or follow us on Twitter @BFT_Podcast and Facebook @BluntForceTruthPodcast. We want to hear from you! There’s no better place to get the #BluntForceTruth.