Content Moderation Case Study: Senator Asks YouTube To Block Al Qaeda Videos (2008)

Content Moderation Case Study: Senator Asks YouTube To Block Al Qaeda Videos (2008)

3 years ago
Anonymous $rH7oE7DjRg

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210219/15363946279/content-moderation-case-study-senator-asks-youtube-to-block-al-qaeda-videos-2008.shtml

Summary: In 2008, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, chaired by then Senator Joe Lieberman, produced a report entitled: “Violent Islamist Extremism: The Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat.” The report mentions a rap video called “Dirty Kuffar” (Kuffar meaning “nonbeliever”) that, according to the report, praises Osama bin Laden and the attacks of 9/11.

A few days after the report came out, Lieberman sent a letter addressed to then Google CEO Eric Schmidt pointing to the report and asking the company to remove terrorist content from the site, including things like the named video.