The French government set a meeting with social media companies asking their help to combat militant propaganda that are circulating online. Now, the online companies are on their way of developing a strategy that could prevent online militant propaganda to post using their platforms.
Facebook, Google, and Twitter are planning the strategy quietly to avoid any perception that they are in connivance with the authorities to monitor the web. Last week, Facebook announced that their team had deactivated profiles that were believed to belong to San Bernardino shooter Tasfeen Malik. Malik was accused of killing 14 people in a mass shooting incident.
Social media companies' online policies were considered straightforward. Most of them have implemented banning policies to any type of content if found to have violated their own terms of service. Anyone can report or flag a content which is for review and possible removal.
The Reuters reported that the policies might put them in a complicated and subtle situation. According to some former employees of Facebook, Google, and Twitter, they fear that if their help towards the Western law of Enforcement agencies will come to public, the demands for similar actions from countries around the world on online security will increase.
"If they knew what magic sauce went into pushing content into the news feed, spammers or whoever would take advantage of that," said a security expert who has worked both at Facebook and Twitter.
Moreover, they are also afraid of what the people especially, their customers, might think about them. Some would perceive that they are tools of the government. According to them, spelling out how the strategy works will help technological savvy militants to learn how to beat the system.
"If they knew what magic sauce went into pushing content into the news feed, spammers or whoever would take advantage of that," added by the security expert who asks not to be identified.