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New YouTube Recruits to Monitor Online Extremist Propaganda 'Wrong Approach'

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YouTube's decision to hire 10,000 staff to monitor violent extremism on its video sharing platform is not the way to go, Dr. Gilbert Ramsay, author and lecturer in International Relations at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), told Sputnik.

Digital and social media platforms have been accused of facilitating and promoting radicalization propaganda after it emerged extremist videos on YouTube could be viewed alongside paid for banner adverts.

READ MORE: The Mod Squad: YouTube to Protect Kids With Army of Content Moderators

The company was forced to publicly apologize after a number of high profile companies withdrew their advertising contracts with the Internet giant.

​Dr. Gilbert Ramsay told Sputnik the recruitment of 10,000 people isn't necessarily the right solution.

"If you are on the way to being radicalized watching beheading videos may play a part in your radicalization — but to the average person, it's not going to do that. The most horrendous content shouldn't be accessible. It's not hard to argue a gruesome beheading video, should be available to watch. The problem isn't content, it's about context."

Bad Actors

Susan Wojcicki, chief executive of YouTube said: "bad actors are exploiting YouTube to mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm. We will continue the growth of our teams, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018."

YouTube has already said it has terminated 50 channels and removed thousands of videos and advertisements from 500,000 exploitative videos.

"This stuff is so contextual, content providers regulating it at speed is the wrong approach. We're often told the internet is a phenomenon where radicalization is rapid and unpredictable; but actually it's remarkable how rare it is for people carrying out the attacks, not to be on the intelligence radar," Dr. Ramsay told Sputnik.

​Dr. Ramsay's comments follow the recent revelation the Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi had twice been a "subject of interest" in MI5 investigations before the attack took place in May 2017. Fresh intelligence had been received on Abedi in the months leading up to the attack which killed 23 people but its "significance was not fully appreciated at the time." 

Women pay their respects to all those affected by the bomb attack, following a vigil in central Manchester, Britain May 23, 2017. - Sputnik International
Manchester Terror Attack Could Have Been Stopped, Government Report Finds

Who's to Blame?

Earlier this year Facebook announced it would hire around 4,000 more staff to address extremist content. However, Dr. Ramsay believes there needs to be a more "holistic" approach to tackling online radicalization and suggests targeting Internet giants isn't the answer.

"The Internet plays a role, social networks are crucial, but you need a holistic understanding of the issue — radicalization happens in a broader context. There is a tendency for governments to blame their own failures on companies like YouTube."

The academic believes it is a "convenient source of blame," but instead UK PM Theresa May should be more aggressive in pursuing tax avoidance and use the funds to build a "more holistic response to radicalization than her current aggressive stance towards content providers."

"Extremists can mean a lot of different groups and ideologies. The problem is it's always difficult to define what exactly extremist content is," Dr. Ramsay concluded. 

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