YouTube continues to strengthen its offense stance against terrorist and extremist agenda as it announced Thursday a new way to fight violent propaganda online using the so-called Redirect Method.
YouTube has introduced a feature taken from Jigsaw's Redirect Method to counter search on the video-sharing platform for people who might be looking for extreme propaganda influence. YouTube seeks to provide search results in a more intuitive manner through keywords used.
"When people search for certain keywords on YouTube, we will display a playlist of videos debunking violent extremist recruiting narratives", explains YouTube in a blog post.
This methodology is a feature part of the Redirect Method, a brainchild of Google technology incubator Jigsaw and its partners Moonshot CVE, Quantum Communications, and Valens Global in a comprehensive research on understanding how extremist groups take advantage of technologies to promote their cause and recruit new members.
"This early product integration of the Redirect Method on YouTube is our latest effort to provide more resources and more content that can help change minds of people at risk of being radicalized", states YouTube.
The repercussions brought by online extremism have not impacted only ordinary people but people from all walks of life. This radical movement of terrorist groups has also affected YouTube in terms of profitability.
Earlier this week, IBTimes SG reported a couple of YouTube's biggest spending clientele who have withdrawn their advertisements after finding out that their commercials were shown in extremist and offensive contents.
It was not the first time that paid-for ads were pulled out from the video-sharing platform for similar reasons. Some of the major brands who permanently stopped investing on YouTube ads include McDonald's and L'Oreal with Marks and Spencer the latest to join the ranks.
