YouTube steps up crackdown on terrorist material, bans videos of extremist cleric

YouTube’s efforts to catch and take down terrorist videos now includes some far-reaching measures.

The New York Times has learned that YouTube recently removed and blocked all videos from Anwar al-Awlaki, a cleric who turned extremist and was killed by an American drone strike in 2011.

While it’s only his later clips that technically run afoul of YouTube guidelines, the streaming giant determined that all of them ultimately had to go.

Supporters of his terrorist cause have re-posted his moderate material in a show of support — getting rid of everything theoretically prevents these adherents from finding something to rally around.

Read also: Apple confirms acquisition of InVisage Technologies

The company hasn’t publicly confirmed that a cull took place, but it’s easy to see the effect. There were over 70,000 al-Awlaki videos earlier in the fall, the NYT said, but 18,600 now.

The “vast majority” of what’s left are news stories, rejections of extremist views, discussions of the legality of the drone strike and other videos from people besides al-Awlaki himself. While you can still find some of the banned videos on other sites, they’ll clearly be harder to find on YouTube.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now