The Obama administration wants Silicon Valley’s help to drown out the Islamic State’s message.
Top federal officials and major American technology firms held a summit in San Jose, California on Friday to discuss how to stop ISIS from recruiting terrorists on social media.
The White House is exploring several ideas, according to a discussion outline from Friday morning obtained by CNNMoney, and a source from one of the tech firms.
One key focus is tracking radicals. The White House wanted to discuss “techniques to detect and measure radicalization.”
Federal officials recognized the discussion “requires consideration of First Amendment protections and privacy and civil liberties concerns,” according to the outline.
A second idea centers on propaganda. ISIS is adept at sharing warfare propaganda. The government hopes tech firms will block pro-ISIS messages, photos and videos.
But the White House also wants an “increase the availability of alternative content,” according to the outline.
In a separate briefing Friday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration is seeking “ways to create, publish and amplify content… that counteracts the radicalizing messaging from [ISIS] and other extremists.”
The Obama administration has also heard from advertising executives interested helping craft those messages.
Friday’s meeting in California included President Obama’s chief of staff, a top counter-terrorism adviser, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Department of Justice officials. All the leading tech firms were there, including Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Twitter.
Facebook would not discuss the exact details of the meeting, but a company representative said the social media platform was on board to help.
“This meeting confirmed that we are united in our goal to keep terrorists and terror-promoting material off the Internet,” Facebook spokeswoman Melanie Ensign said. “Facebook does not tolerate terrorists or terror propaganda and we work aggressively to remove it as soon as we become aware of it.”
