Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft are to share information about prohibited material. They will create a common log of unique digital fingerprints – known as hashes – for video and image content that is thought to promote terrorism. In a joint statement, the companies said this could include terrorist-recruitment videos or violent imagery.
The shared database means that if one platform flags and removes “extreme and egregious terrorist images and videos” content, the others can use the hash to identify and get rid of it from their own systems if this breaches their policies.
In the statement, Facebook said: “Throughout this collaboration, we are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and their ability to express themselves freely and safely on our platforms.
“We also seek to engage with the wider community of interested stakeholders in a transparent, thoughtful and responsible way as we further our shared objective to prevent the spread of terrorist content online while respecting human rights.”