The State of Online Terrorist and Extremist Content Removal Policy in the United States

Summary

On March 31, 2022, the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University convened a panel to discuss the current state of online terrorist and extremist content removal policy in the United States. In particular, the event examined the respective roles of the U.S. government and technology companies in managing online terrorist and extremist content. Recent events have again resurfaced calls for the U.S. government to take a more active role in regulating online service providers’ approaches to harmful content. However, the U.S. government is not the only actor with responsibility for countering extremism and terrorism online, and a broader range of perspectives is necessary to inform its regulatory approach. To this end, this panel, moderated by Program on Extremism Senior Research Fellow Bennett Clifford, reviewed the scope of the “online radicalization” problem in the U.S. today, the current approaches of online service providers, and the experiences of countries around the world in regulating online counter-extremism policies. Speakers included:

• Joe Whittaker, Lecturer in Cyber Threats at Swansea University
• Kris McGuffie, Director of Research at Spectrum Labs
• Jacob Berntsson, Head of Policy and Research at Tech Against Terrorism