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Extremists drop use of YouTube to spread terrorist propaganda, move to Google drive, Google Photos

Extremists drop use of YouTube to spread terrorist propaganda, move to Google drive, Google Photos

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The use of YouTube as a medium for broadcasting terrorist propaganda and conspiracy videos is gradually declining, according to reports by an intelligence group that keeps a check on online terrorism.

An analysis conducted by Site Intelligence Group, Islamic State and al-Qaeda have moved to file-sharing portals like Dropbox Inc., Google Drive, and Google Photos.

These file-hosting services became the top-used services to share countless historical documentaries, battle footage, video speeches etc.

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Once uploaded, links to this content are typically disseminated on social media platforms like Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., and Telegram Messenger to reach as wide an audience as possible.

The report by Site, which analyzed more than 27,000 web links between April 1 and August 31 this year, comes as the European Union pushes for new legislation to force internet companies to wipe terror content from their services within an hour of being notified of it. They may face fines if they fail to do so.

It was earlier reported that YouTube users were being recommended videos from extremist sources broadcasting conspiracy videos.

YouTube came under scrutiny after ads from over 300 companies were shown on channels which promoted and included content about white nationalists, Nazis pedophilia, conspiracy theories and North Korean propaganda.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had been called to testify before Congress in high-profile hearings that questioned their products, politics, and allegiances.

With nearly 2 billion unique users a month, the platform is used by 94 per cent of 18-24-year-olds regularly, and one in five members of this group go to YouTube first to get their news, according to the Pew Research Center.

With such a large audience and little oversight, many political extremists have turned to YouTube to spread their views and make money doing it.