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YouTube will update its policies to remove actions that glorify videos for the purpose of inciting others or raising money, even if creators are not affiliated with terrorist groups. Amazon-owned Twitch will soon roll out new tools to help its creators improve security and limit harassment on their channels. And Microsoft is launching an online safety course for students and families in the popular game Minecraft.
Political pressure is mounting on President Biden and Vice President Harris to follow through on campaign promises to closely examine the link between social media and violence. Biden is also expected to repeat his call on Thursday for Congress to “fundamentally reform” Section 230, the legal shield that protects tech companies from lawsuits over photos, videos and other people sharing their services. It is expected to support the creation of transparency standards that allow researchers and the public to see behind the scenes of social media companies.
Biden and Harris said the tech industry “must take responsibility” for the role their services play in fueling violent extremist ideologies, according to Thursday’s meeting website.
The flurry of ads comes as tech companies are increasingly under scrutiny for their role in fueling hate and violence. The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is investigating social media companies and talking to current and former employees to find out what role technology played in the attacks.
However, Democrats’ ability to enact new policies that address these concerns is limited by the current Congress, which holds a tenuous majority in the 50-50 Senate with Harris’ tie-breaking vote. Republicans have mixed criticism of social media companies’ content moderation practices, arguing that the companies download too much content.
In the absence of action from Congress, lawmakers and advocates have relied on public pressure to force businesses to change their policies on their own. The companies will announce steps to increase public awareness of such ideologies and better research extremism. YouTube will initially launch a campaign in the United States focused on helping young people identify online scams. META will begin a collaboration with Middlebury’s Institute for International Studies on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism to study new trends in extremism.
Thursday’s meeting revolved around other recent work at the White House. In June, Harris announced a new task force to study and develop policy recommendations to address online violence.
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