Facebook, Google and Twitter told Congress Wednesday that they’ve gone beyond screening and removing extremist content and are creating more anti-terror propaganda to pre-empt violent messages at the source.
Representatives from the three companies told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that they are, among other things, targeting people likely to be swayed by extremist messages and pushing content aimed at countering that message. Several senators criticized their past efforts as not going far enough.
“We believe that a key part of combating extremism is preventing recruitment by disrupting the underlying ideologies that drive people to commit acts of violence. That’s why we support a variety of counterspeech efforts,” said Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, according to an advance copy of her testimony obtained by CNBC.