Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube announce Global Internet Forum

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube are announcing the formation of the Global Internet Forum to counter the threat of terrorist content online.

The forum will work together, share best technological and operational elements of individual companies to counter the threat of terrorist content online. The forum will formalize and structure existing and future areas of collaboration between the companies and foster cooperation with smaller tech companies, civil society groups and academics, governments and supra-national bodies such as the EU and the UN.

The scope of work will evolve over time but focus will be on: Technological solutions, research, engage with smaller companies, develop best practices and counter speech.

Technological solutions: Our companies will work together to refine and improve existing joint technical work, such as the Shared Industry Hash Database; exchange best practices as we develop and implement new content detection and classification techniques using machine learning; and define standard transparency reporting methods for terrorist content removals.

Research: We will commission research to inform our counter-speech efforts and guide future technical and policy decisions around the removal of terrorist content.

Knowledge-sharing: We will work with counter-terrorism experts including governments, civil society groups, academics and other companies to engage in shared learning about terrorism.

Engage with smaller companies: We will help them develop the technology and processes necessary to tackle terrorist and extremist content online.

Develop best practices: We already partner with organizations such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Anti-Defamation League and Global Network Initiative to identify how best to counter extremism and online hate, while respecting freedom of expression and privacy.

Counter-speech: The forum we have established allows us to learn from and contribute to one another’s counter-speech efforts, and discuss how to further empower and train civil society organizations and individuals who may be engaged in similar work and support ongoing efforts such as the Civil society empowerment project (CSEP).