Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube are among the Big tech giants looking to target “White supremacists and far-right militias” via a huge collective database of potential threats.
Reuters reported Monday that “A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies including Facebook (FB.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias.”
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Microsoft and others will actively share information under the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), a body previously reserved for targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda content.
As is always the case, there is no definition of what “extremist content” is, or what “white supremacists” or the “far-right” are, but you can rest assured that past experiences have proven that these terms will encompass anything to do with being white, Christian, not a Marxist, and having an opinion that doesn’t jive with leftists in Silicon Valley.
In addition, The ADL announced Monday that they are partnering with PayPal “to fight extremism and hate” by coming together to analyze “how extremists leverage financial platforms to fund criminal activity.”
It will partner up with ADL to uncover and disrupt financial flows supporting White supremacists and anti-govt organizations. It will also look into anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, anti-immigrant/Black/Hispanic/Asian bigotry.
At present, the database is accessible by 14 Big tech companies – leading to fears from human rights groups that they risk overstepping their boundaries on free speech.
Reuters notes that “The initiative will be led through ADL’s Center on Extremism, and will focus on uncovering and disrupting the financial flows supporting white supremacist and anti-government organizations.”
Forsided, 27.07.2021