Hany Farid, computer science professor at Dartmouth College has developed a software using funds by Microsoft, that will help in finding and eliminating extremist content online.
This software by Farid, which he developed while working with the non-profit think tank Counter Extremism Project, is capable of identifying and tracking photo, video and audio files, even if they’ve been altered. It’ll also allow websites such as Facebook to automatically catch flagged content and remove it or prevent it from being uploaded.
While talking to the press Farid said, “Many internet and social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter Inc., do have rules prohibiting posts from organizations that are involved in terrorist activity or organized crime or excessively violent, graphic content. But foul content gets posted anyway and relies on manual flagging and removal – more of a “Whack-a-Mole” approach.” This software will directly remove the content that will violate the site’s terms of use.
US President Barack Obama recently called upon these companies to help thwart the ability of extremists to use social media and the internet to recruit new members and broadcast their propaganda and demands. After meeting with top administration officials, Twitter said in February, that it suspended more than 125,000 accounts for promoting or threatening terrorism and has expanded its teams that review reports of terrorist activity.
