Google provides new home for jihadists
Jihadists are sharing bombmaking instructions and beheading videos on Google Drive after a crackdown on extremist content on YouTube.
Google has taken steps to remove terrorist propaganda from its YouTube video-sharing site after investigations by The Times exposed the extent of the material and advertisers withdrew millions of pounds of business.
However, experts have warned that the tech and publishing giant is failing to police its Google Drive file-storage and sharing service, which has become a key repository for terrorist propaganda, including calls for attacks in the West.
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) wrote to Google three weeks ago warning that Drive’s terms of service, which state that "we do not necessarily review content", were enabling the spread of "obscene" propaganda. It said the terms contradicted the hard line on terrorism that Google puts forward "for media consumption".
The counterterrorism organisation found hundreds of different links to terrorist content on Google Drive shared every week on 15 terrorist chat groups that it infiltrated on Telegram, the messaging app. The chat groups have a combined membership of thousands. The CEP believes more links are shared in other groups to which it does not have access.
Google did not respond to the CEP’s letter and did not remove two videos cited, which show the beheading and shooting by Isis of accused spies. The CEP’s monitoring team says there has been no reduction in the frequency of the sharing of this material since their letter.
Another video originally on YouTube contains instructions in English for building an explosive device of the type used in the Manchester bombing and urges attacks on Western targets.
David Ibsen, executive director of the CEP, said: "The continued presence of extremist content on Google Drive calls into question recent commitments by Google to enhance efforts to remove objectionable content. They certainly have the resources, what appears lacking is the commitment."
A Google spokesman said: "Google Drive has clear policies that prohibit content such as gratuitous violence, hate speech and incitement to commit violent acts, and we remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users."
Google later removed the videos cited in the CEP’s letter.