San Francisco – Social media companies have long struggled with what to do about extremist content that advocates for or celebrates terrorism and violence. But the dominant current approach, which features overbroad and vague policies and practices for removing content, is already decimating human rights content online, according to a new report from Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Syrian Archive, and WITNESS. The report confirms that the reality of faulty content moderation must be addressed in ongoing efforts to address extremist content.
The pressure on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to moderate extremist content only increased after the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this year. In the wake of the Christchurch Call to Action Summit held last month, EFF teamed up with Syrian Archive and WITNESS to show how faulty moderation inadvertently captures and censors vital content, including activism, counter-speech, satire, and even evidence of war crimes.