This week we look at The Guardian’s article reporting that the online community might be the best way to combat propaganda.
Two weeks ago, Silicon Valley’s leading executives came together to collaborate with America’s most senior security staff and law enforcement officials to help with the pursuit to destroy the Islamic extremism. Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, stated yesterday that social media might be the best platform to stop Isis recruitment.
Many extremist groups have used Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter to find willing volunteers to join them. Sandberg hopes to create “a ‘like’ attack” on Facebook to defeat Isis. Her plan is similar to a German Facebook effort that encouraged users to “like” the Facebook page of the neo-Nazi party and then post positive messages on the page.
“The best thing to speak against recruitment by Isis are the voices of people who were recruited by Isis, understand what the true experiences is, have escaped and have come back to tell the truth…Counter-speech to the speech that is perpetuating hate we think by far is the best answer.” – Sheryl Sandberg, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 20
American tech firms who are believers of the right to free speech have not done much about inappropriate posts in the past. Sandberg’s remarks suggest these previous hesitations have disappeared and companies are using social media for good.
Read The Guardian’s original article here.
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