Australian Government To Meet With Facebook, Google Reps To Help Fight Against ISIS Propaganda

The Australian government is set to hold talks with Facebook, Google and YouTube to discuss ways to stop ISIS propaganda spreading over social media and Internet. Australia is concerned about the growing number of citizens lured by ISIS to join the group.

The Attorney-General’s department will be meeting with Google and its representatives from its subsidiary YouTube in Canberra, reports news.com.au. Facebook representatives will also be invited to meet with the government next week.

The office of the Attorney-General will be using the meetings to request tech companies to take a harder stance on the issue of taking down ISIS-related propaganda materials to prevent the spread of the group’s extremist views. A spokesperson said that the government is in discussion with its private sector and international partners to remove “extremist content.” She added that key partners will include Google/YouTube and Facebook.

Though Twitter is not a part of the meetings, it is said to be in “constant dialogue” over issues involving the prevalence of radicalisation in social media. Lubna Alam, a social media expert at the University of Canberra, said there was no easy solution to fight the rise of radicalisation but the government can talk to the tech giants about building new filters to detect posts involving terrorism.

The news of the government asking help from tech companies comes after two Australian brothers were intercepted at Sydney airport. The teens, aged 16 and 17, tried to travel to an unidentified “conflict zone” in the Middle East, reports the Independent.

The brothers were arrested after border officials were alerted of suspicious objects in their luggage. The boys, whose names were withheld for they were minors, were lured by extremists over the Internet and their parents were “shocked” when officials told them of boys’ plan to join ISIS in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters that the boys were “misguided” about Australians who succumbed to ISIS propaganda. He said he was pleased the boys were prevented from leaving the country and encouraged those who are listening to ISIS to “block your ears.”

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