YouTube Finally Gets Serious About ISIS Recruitment On The Platform, It’s About Time

While it might sound odd that YouTube, one of the biggest and most influential video sharing platforms in the world has not exactly stamped out ISIS recruitment videos yet, this is exactly the case. Somehow, there are still plenty of clips featuring extremist views getting through the filter and stirring up hatred. It seems YouTube has finally had enough and decided to start redirecting people from these extremist videos.

In the blog post by YouTube, it was noted how the platform has been working with third-party companies like Jigsaw and Moonshot CVE in order to address the growing threat of spreading radical views. In the case of the video sharing platform, the result is a tool that basically redirects users away from terrorist recruiting clips to ones that are intended to do the opposite.

“Today, YouTube is rolling out a feature using the model proven by the Redirect Method: when people search for certain keywords on YouTube, we will display a playlist of videos debunking violent extremist recruiting narratives,” the post reads.

As to how exactly the Redirect Method works, the tool’s official page explains that it makes use of AdWords to find its target videos. The method was even created with the help of defectors from the ISIS terror group.

“The Redirect Method uses Adwords targeting tools and curated YouTube videos uploaded by people all around the world to confront online radicalization,” the page description reads. “It focuses on the slice of ISIS’ audience that is most susceptible to its messaging, and redirects them towards curated YouTube videos debunking ISIS recruiting themes. This open methodology was developed from interviews with ISIS defectors, respects users’ privacy and can be deployed to tackle other types of violent recruiting discourses online.”

It's worth noting that this implementation is only in its early stages. It’s more than likely that ISIS will find a way around the filter since the terror group has proven quite tech savvy throughout its existence.