Searching YouTube for ISIL propaganda now results in the opposite

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Google's YouTube launches its largest anti-terrorism experiment today. When users search for extremist videos with particular keywords, they will instead be led to videos which are against ISIL. This program is called The Redirect Method.

This method, as the program's homepage explains, uses Google's Adwords targeting tools and curated YouTube videos uploaded by people all around the world to confront online radicalization. This prevents potential ISIL recruits from being exposed to terrorist propaganda videos and at the same time doesn't violate users' privacy.

YouTube search results for "Amaq news agency", which is an ISIL supporter /YouTube screenshot

The keywords monitored by the method include slogans used by extreme Islamic believers like "Baqiyah wa Tatamadad" ("Remaining and Expanding") and "Al Dawla Al Islameyah," which includes the honorific "al-Dawla", denoting respect.

Technical methods are also in use by search engines to filter harmful and fictitious information in China. The "Radar System" Baidu developed helps it block 95 percent of such information every day.

(CGTN's intern Zhou Jingwen contributed to this story.)

Google tightens measures to remove extremist content on YouTube