A study by the Henry Jackson Society think-tank is claiming that 61 offensive neo-Nazi and 60 Islamist videos, including many that have already been flagged by viewers, remain online despite pledges to the contrary by YouTube, the Independent reported Wednesdays.
In May 2016, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube signed an EU-sponsored code of conduct pledging to improve the mechanism of removing hate speech and other extremist material.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who commissioned the report, said the situation was “simply unacceptable,” referencing, among others, “Adolf Hitler was right” – a video praising Adolf Hitler whose image is superimposed over images of Jewish families being hauled to concentration camps, which was flagged on August 1 but was still available on YouTube on September 18. Likewise, a promotional material of the Taliban was flagged on August 29 and still available on September 18.
Cooper, who serves as Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, declared: “Whether that’s Islamic extremism or far Right extremism, the reality is that this material is far too easy to access. We know social media can play a role in the radicalization of young people, drawing them in with twisted and warped ideology.”
“YouTube have promised to do more, but they just aren’t moving fast enough,” she said.
The report warned that ISIS is winning the “netwar” against officials’ attempts to curb the spread of repugnant propaganda as well as instructions on carrying out terror attacks.
In YouTube’s defense, it should be noted that, as of February 2017, more than 400 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube each minute, and one billion hours of content are watched on YouTube every day. At the same time, since analysts expect YouTube to earn $13 billion in 2017, they could probably afford to hire a few extra monitors to review the flagging.