Google Agrees To Take Down 640 YouTube 'Terrorism' Videos

Terror fears: Google agreed to take down hundreds of videos apparently depicting or inciting acts of terrorism at the request of UK police chiefs (file picture of a terror video)

Google Agrees To Take Down 640 YouTube 'Terrorism' Videos After Request From UK Police Chiefs -- Daily Mail

* It also removed films containing offensive remarks about the King of Thailand
* But it refused to remove video of Canadian flushing passport down toilet after officials' appeal
* Details of such requests are detailed in internet giant's Transparency Report

Google removed 640 videos from YouTube in just six months amid fears they promoted terrorism.

Five user accounts were closed for allegedly promoting terrorist activity, following requests from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).

In the second half of last year alone, the internet giant agreed to requests that saw the 640 videos deleted.

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More News On Google Agreeing To Take Down 640 YouTube 'Terrorism' Videos

Google removes 640 videos from YouTube promoting terrorism -- The Telegraph
Police demand deletion of 640 YouTube 'terrorist' videos -- ZDNet
Google removed 640 Youtube videos for promoting terrorism last year -- Inquirer
UK Police Forced YouTube to Remove 640 Terrorist Videos in Just Half a Year -- Gizmodo
Google reveals 'terrorism video' removals -- BBC

My Comment: Only 640 videos?

After Numerous Complaints, YouTube Hires Staff To Take Down Al Qaeda Hate Videos

More than 5,000 postings featuring Awlaki's videos were available on YouTube yesterday Photo: YOUTUBE

YouTube Employing Extra Staff To Tackle Al-Qaeda Hate Videos -- The Telegraph

YouTube, the video- sharing site owned by Google, is employing additional people to help review content before and after it goes live, following a spate of al-Qaeda videos which it was forced to take down.

Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, said that the company was “adding people to do reviews of videos” as it is very hard algorithmically to monitor inappropriate comment. Talking to a small group of journalists at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, he went further and said that it was “impossible” to monitor 100 per cent of the content the site receives, which is why YouTube has to rely upon a mixture of algorithm-driven detection and its community to report inappropriate content.

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My Comment: I have trouble seeing them being able to regulate the content that is being uploaded every minute (let alone every day) .... but I wish them luck.

British MPs Urge The U.S. Government To Shut Down Videos That Promote Jihad And Hate On Youtube

More than 5,000 postings featuring Awlaki's videos were available on YouTube yesterday Photo: YOUTUBE

White House 'Must Shut Down Hate Videos On YouTube' -- The Telegraph

Ministers have urged the White House to order US websites hosting al-Qaeda videos to remove them after a student inspired by online sermons tried to murder a Labour MP.

Roshonara Choudhry, 21, became the first al-Qaeda fanatic to attempt a political assassination in Britain when she stabbed Stephen Timms at his constituency surgery in May.

After she was convicted of attempted murder yesterday, it emerged that British-born Choudhry had been radicalised by watching internet videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemen-based terrorist wanted over last week's parcel bomb plot to blow up aircraft.

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My Comment: 1rst amendment rights are sacred in the U.S., therefore any attempts to regulate speech will be met with opposition. However, I believe that since there are laws that prohibit videos like child pornography, violence and abuse, etc. .... a means to legally ban those videos that promote hate and violence can probably be legislated and upheld in the courts.

Lieberman Wants Terrorist Content Yanked From YouTube

From ABC News:

A U.S. senator has asked Google to remove videos -- produced by Islamist terrorists -- from YouTube.

In a letter to Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said, "A great majority of these videos document horrific attacks on American soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan."

Other videos, Lieberman said, "provide weapons training, speeches by al-Qaeda leadership, and general material intended to radicalize potential recruits."

Lieberman asks Google to apply its own community guidelines, which forbid graphic or gratuitous violence, and videos that show, "someone getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated."

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My Comment: YouTube receives hundreds of thousands of videos each day. While offensive videos are always removed, the problem is that it takes time from complaint to its final removal. The problem also comes from the fact that most people do not go out of their way to see these clips ..... and thereby be in a position to complain. Extremists and excited youngsters may love this crap, but average viewers like myself will not even bother going out of our way to find this stuff, let alone see it.

Therefore, Ben Venzke's comments are right on (unfortunately), when he says .....

According to terrorism analyst Ben Venzke, removing terrorist videos from YouTube would have little effect. "The core underlying issue is that, whether you take the videos off of YouTube or not, they will always be available at numerous other locations online," Venzke told ABC News.