YouTube has designated the neoconservative think-tank the Henry Jackson Society as a “trusted flagger” when it comes to alerting the video sharing site about extremist content.
This means that videos that the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) deems to be “extremist” are more likely to taken down than if an ordinary member of the public flagged up extremist content.
YouTube’s partnership with the Henry Jackson Society was revealed this morning on a Radio 5 Live show on radicalisation.
Nikita Malik, the Director of the Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism at the Henry Jackson Society, confirmed that she had been approved by YouTube as a “trusted flagger.” This was later confirmed by a representative of YouTube.
During the programme, Malik used a recording of a Muslim denouncing democracy as an example of extremist content.
The fact that the HJS is trusted by YouTube to flag up extremist content may prove controversial because the think-tank has itself been described as extremist.
In 2015 the Spimwatch organisation released a report on the HJS which argued that it was the leading exponent of neoconservatism in the UK grounded in a transatlantic tradition deeply influenced by Islamophobia and an open embrace of the “War on Terror.”
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The report said the HJS shows “unflinching support for Israel” and promoted “increasingly Islamophobic policies, both domestically and internationally.”
HJS’s Associate Director is Douglas Murray who is a frequent critic of Islam. Murray has labelled Islamophobia a “nonsense term”, and has said that “conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board.”
On its website the Henry Jackson Society says it believes that modern liberal democracies set an example to which the rest of the world should aspire.
It says it supports the maintenance of a strong military by the United Kingdom, the United States, the countries of the European Union and other democratic powers.
And it believes that only modern liberal democratic states are truly legitimate.
