Security officials in the UK were given "super flagger" access to YouTube by Google, the Financial Times reported.
With this status, they would now be able to screen content immediately if they have reason to believe that it is a threat to national security. With this permission, the Home Office would not only be able to select videos singularly but would be able to "flag swaths of content "at scale," the report said.
While the flagging permission was given to the UK authorities, Google said that the final decision to take out the content or let it remain on the video platform would still stay with the search giant. The report quoted YouTube as saying, "We have a zero-tolerance policy on YouTube towards content that incites violence. Our community guidelines prohibit such content and our review teams respond to flagged videos around the clock, routinely removing videos that contain hate speech or incitement to commit violent acts. To increase the efficiency of this process, we have developed an invite-only program that gives users who flag videos regularly tools to flag content at scale."
FT reported that the special powers highlight the rising concern of governments trying to limit the spread of jihadist material because of the Syrian war. However, those who advocate for civil freedoms are most likely not going to welcome the development which Google issued as part of its answer to the call of UK security authorities for Internet service providers, social media sites and search engines to conduct their own self-check and limit content related to extremist material, the report said.
The content need not be illegal. James Brokenshire, the Security and Immigration Minister of the UK, told FT in an interview that the content "may not be illegal but certainly is unsavoury and may not be the sort of material that people would want to see or receive."
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