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| Google calls for anti-Isis push over ‘inhuman’ beheading videos | Google calls for anti-Isis push over ‘inhuman’ beheading videos |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Google has issued a call to arms against Isis, arguing that the terror group has engineered a “viral moment” on social networks with propaganda and beheading videos that needs to be challenged. | Google has issued a call to arms against Isis, arguing that the terror group has engineered a “viral moment” on social networks with propaganda and beheading videos that needs to be challenged. |
| Two of Google’s top executives – legal chief David Drummond and policy director Victoria Grand – used the Cannes Lions advertising festival to launch an attack, and appeal, against terrorist propaganda on Google-owned YouTube. | Two of Google’s top executives – legal chief David Drummond and policy director Victoria Grand – used the Cannes Lions advertising festival to launch an attack, and appeal, against terrorist propaganda on Google-owned YouTube. |
| “Isis is having a viral moment on social media and the countervailing viewpoints are nowhere near strong enough to oppose them,” said Grand. “Isis, in particular, has been putting up footage that is inhuman and atrocious. We are still seeing about two or three of these beheadings each week. They are heeding advice from a decade before from Osama bin Laden and they are taking it to another level using social media.” | “Isis is having a viral moment on social media and the countervailing viewpoints are nowhere near strong enough to oppose them,” said Grand. “Isis, in particular, has been putting up footage that is inhuman and atrocious. We are still seeing about two or three of these beheadings each week. They are heeding advice from a decade before from Osama bin Laden and they are taking it to another level using social media.” |
| Drummond, a lead figure in the internet company’s battles with regulators globally, told the thousands of media executives in attendance that the Isis movement has been strategically astute in using social media for propaganda and recruitment purposes. | |
| “The power of community is not lost on Isis and they are using it to great effect. Right now the voice of that community is a lot larger than ours, a lot louder, there’s more out there on the web. When I say ours, I mean all of us, all of us in the room today.” | “The power of community is not lost on Isis and they are using it to great effect. Right now the voice of that community is a lot larger than ours, a lot louder, there’s more out there on the web. When I say ours, I mean all of us, all of us in the room today.” |
| While an element of Google’s presentation was undeniably an anti-regulation plug about the virtues of Google’s global operations, the Silicon Valley firm made a case for an anti-Isis push. | While an element of Google’s presentation was undeniably an anti-regulation plug about the virtues of Google’s global operations, the Silicon Valley firm made a case for an anti-Isis push. |
| “The challenge for us is to strike this balance between allowing people to be educated about the dangers and the violence of this group,” said Grand. “But not allowing ourselves to become a distribution channel for this horrible, but very newsworthy, terrorist propaganda.” | “The challenge for us is to strike this balance between allowing people to be educated about the dangers and the violence of this group,” said Grand. “But not allowing ourselves to become a distribution channel for this horrible, but very newsworthy, terrorist propaganda.” |
| Google’s talk covered a wide range of topics that the company is forced to make decisions on about censoring, from Robin Thicke’s misogynistic Blurred Lines video and a sexually explicit trailer for Lars von Trier’s film Nymphomaniac, to “prank” videos of teenagers inhaling deodorant spray cans, “how-to” euthanasia videos and police shootings in the USA. | Google’s talk covered a wide range of topics that the company is forced to make decisions on about censoring, from Robin Thicke’s misogynistic Blurred Lines video and a sexually explicit trailer for Lars von Trier’s film Nymphomaniac, to “prank” videos of teenagers inhaling deodorant spray cans, “how-to” euthanasia videos and police shootings in the USA. |
| However, arguably the most striking debate, which included the audience voting with red and green paddles about whether they would ban or approve material, involved Google’s discussion on terrorist propaganda. | However, arguably the most striking debate, which included the audience voting with red and green paddles about whether they would ban or approve material, involved Google’s discussion on terrorist propaganda. |
| Google explained its justification for allowing graphic videos of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, caught by an amateur in the aftermath of Iran’s elections in 2009, and the decision not to block the film of terrorists killing a policeman in the Charlie Hebdo massacre. | Google explained its justification for allowing graphic videos of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, caught by an amateur in the aftermath of Iran’s elections in 2009, and the decision not to block the film of terrorists killing a policeman in the Charlie Hebdo massacre. |
| “At about 4:30am on the day [the Charlie Hebdo attack] happened, we got a call from our French colleagues asking what to do,” said Drummond. “As with other moment-of-death footage, we had to consider the dignity of the victim as well as the video’s news and commentary value. We decided to leave it up, and leave it up globally, [but not France where it is legally banned]. | “At about 4:30am on the day [the Charlie Hebdo attack] happened, we got a call from our French colleagues asking what to do,” said Drummond. “As with other moment-of-death footage, we had to consider the dignity of the victim as well as the video’s news and commentary value. We decided to leave it up, and leave it up globally, [but not France where it is legally banned]. |
| “It’s important to recognise here that the filming was done by a bystander who recorded the event. It wasn’t filmed by the perpetrators, wasn’t intended to terrorise anyone. Even though it is shaky footage, it became a critical part of piecing this event together, helping us to understand an event that happened far out of the media spotlight.” | “It’s important to recognise here that the filming was done by a bystander who recorded the event. It wasn’t filmed by the perpetrators, wasn’t intended to terrorise anyone. Even though it is shaky footage, it became a critical part of piecing this event together, helping us to understand an event that happened far out of the media spotlight.” |
| Google said this kind of footage – Grand described some of the films from repressed regimes as “shining a light in places that can be pitch black” with media blackouts – was justified but that Isis’s use of YouTube was not. | Google said this kind of footage – Grand described some of the films from repressed regimes as “shining a light in places that can be pitch black” with media blackouts – was justified but that Isis’s use of YouTube was not. |
| The company criticised outlets, including Fox News, for deciding to run full footage of the death of a Jordanian fighter pilot, which Google blocked. | The company criticised outlets, including Fox News, for deciding to run full footage of the death of a Jordanian fighter pilot, which Google blocked. |
| “Like the others, the purpose of this Isis execution of a Jordanian fighter pilot is to showcase in full high definition the most brutal way to die,” said Grand. “But a handful of mainstream broadcast outlets, including many outlets in the Middle East, as well as Fox News, made the decision to show this even though they wouldn’t show the beheading [of James Foley].” | “Like the others, the purpose of this Isis execution of a Jordanian fighter pilot is to showcase in full high definition the most brutal way to die,” said Grand. “But a handful of mainstream broadcast outlets, including many outlets in the Middle East, as well as Fox News, made the decision to show this even though they wouldn’t show the beheading [of James Foley].” |
| Grand said it was a “tough call” to ban the news organisations’ reports of the death that used the full graphic footage. | Grand said it was a “tough call” to ban the news organisations’ reports of the death that used the full graphic footage. |
| “Yes, it was technically news but we decided that for some types of content, including Isis staged executions, the frame or news context put around it just can’t transform the original,” said Grand. “It was brutally violent propaganda produced by terrorists and we just don’t want YouTube to be a distribution channel for it.” | “Yes, it was technically news but we decided that for some types of content, including Isis staged executions, the frame or news context put around it just can’t transform the original,” said Grand. “It was brutally violent propaganda produced by terrorists and we just don’t want YouTube to be a distribution channel for it.” |
| However, despite raising the calculated strategy of the Isis digital onslaught, Google argued that straight blanket censorship was not the answer. | However, despite raising the calculated strategy of the Isis digital onslaught, Google argued that straight blanket censorship was not the answer. |
| “Most of us, we want to see less violence in the world,” said Drummond. “We want alternatives. For many, the answer seems to be censorship. Although we take down the worst content from our sites, at Google, given the proliferation of content online we don’t believe that censoring the existence of Isis on Google, YouTube or social media will dampen their impact really. We think there is a better way to combat the hateful rhetoric of Isis, by countering it with reason. Understand it. Standing up to it. Enforced silence is not the answer. Drowning out the harmful ideology with better messages, with reasonable messages, is the better way.” | “Most of us, we want to see less violence in the world,” said Drummond. “We want alternatives. For many, the answer seems to be censorship. Although we take down the worst content from our sites, at Google, given the proliferation of content online we don’t believe that censoring the existence of Isis on Google, YouTube or social media will dampen their impact really. We think there is a better way to combat the hateful rhetoric of Isis, by countering it with reason. Understand it. Standing up to it. Enforced silence is not the answer. Drowning out the harmful ideology with better messages, with reasonable messages, is the better way.” |
| Google put forward a challenge to the advertising and marketing executives to help populate YouTube with more content that combats Isis propaganda. | Google put forward a challenge to the advertising and marketing executives to help populate YouTube with more content that combats Isis propaganda. |
| “We used to think of terrorists as people who are hiding out in caves But now would-be terrorists are hanging out online. Technology is one of the greatest tools we have to reach at-risk youth all over the world and divert them from hate and radicalisation. We can only do that if we offer them alternatives. Only on open and diverse sites like YouTube… that we can find these countervailing points of view”. | “We used to think of terrorists as people who are hiding out in caves But now would-be terrorists are hanging out online. Technology is one of the greatest tools we have to reach at-risk youth all over the world and divert them from hate and radicalisation. We can only do that if we offer them alternatives. Only on open and diverse sites like YouTube… that we can find these countervailing points of view”. |