It’s a well-known fact: Islamist radicals and terrorists recruit online, and they do it masterfully. But now that one group is making progress online against the Islamic State, YouTube is undercutting their work.
Consider Morocco: Moroccans constituted the largest single group of foreign fighters recruited into the Islamic State. Most Moroccans who joined ISIS learned about it online. They may have seen radical propaganda or sermons broadcast from France or Belgium on YouTube, and from there, they may have joined more radical chat rooms, some of which are hosted on U.S.- or Europe-based servers.
They have repeatedly moved to prevent ICSVE from uploading counter-ISIS videos. In all likelihood, YouTube is probably just using an algorithm and blindly responding to the complaints of ISIS sympathizers who recognize the effectiveness of ICSVE work. Countering objectionable content, however, should not mean countering content objectionable to radicals and terrorists.
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