SWC wants bomb-making videos removed
Jewish organization calls on YouTube to 'stop inadvertent online logistical support for lone wolf terrorists'
Against this backdrop, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging YouTube to immediately remove all videos that provide instructions on bomb-making.
“President Obama is right to point out the special power that social networking has in influencing our youth. But, in addition to the introduction of hate propaganda, the Internet provides a virtual library for potential terrorists,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center and an expert in monitoring hate and terrorist sites.
“The Center's Digital Terrorism and Hate Project has tracked scores of YouTube videos that provide detailed instructions on the making and detonating of explosives, including flamethrowers, C-4 plastics, napalm, car bomb detonators, cell phone detonators, time bombs, and others” he added.
Last year, Cooper and SWC researchers shared these concerns during a meeting with YouTube officials at their headquarters in California. “Unfortunately, little, if anything has been done to curb this dangerous online niche,” he said.
“Today we live in the era of ‘Lone Wolf’ terrorism, where just recently in Norway, the world saw the scope of murder and mayhem that can be inflicted by a single individual. This phenomenon extends to extremists of every ilk-- from al-Qaeda adherents to anti-Muslim fanatics,” Rabbi Cooper said, adding that Internet technologies are a key component of these “Lone Wolf” threats, providing ideological encouragement and support and virtual terrorism libraries.
“We call on YouTube and other Internet companies to stop inadvertently providing online logistical support for tomorrow's terrorists,” Cooper concluded.
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