EU anti-terrorism coordinator: Countries should help internet firms filter racist posts

The YouTube online video-sharing platform is so overwhelmed that it is impossible to filter all of the terrorism-related recordings posted to it. The Associated Press reports that Verity Harding, a spokesperson for the Google company, which operates YouTube, made that claim before MEPs from the liberal ALDE faction of the EP last Wednesday.

According to Harding, YouTube users are uploading about 300 hours of video material every minute, and she claimed it is almost impossible for staff to watch all of that content. She said trying to monitor the videos prior to their uploading would be the same as "trying to control telephone coversations before they take place."

Gilles de Kerchove, the EU’s anti-terrorism coordinator, called on the Member States to help internet firms filter online posts with content that is somehow extremist, racist or violent. "Every Member State should have a unit of people trained in this activity," he said.  

Ordinary YouTube users can report videos they believe violate the law or the terms of using the server. According to Kerchove, however, YouTube removes only approximately one-third of the videos reported; on the other hand, 93 % of the material recently reported by British detectives as violating the company’s internal regulations was reportedly removed by Google.