BOROUGHWIDE – After pressure from Congressmember Anthony Wiener regarding the removal of content featuring Anwar al-Awlaki – an American citizen thought to have ties Al-Qaeda according to U.S. officials – YouTube has indicated that it will include a separate flag for viewers who object to a particular video that promotes terrorism specifically. Al-Awlaki has been linked to numerous terrorist plots and attackers, including three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood shooter, the Christmas Day bomber, the attempted Times Square bomber and the recent plot to plant explosive devices in cargo planes.
“This is a nice step, but it is no substitute for removing al-Awlaki’s videos,” Weiner said. “Giving citizens more tools to report toxic videos does not absolve YouTube of its responsibility to stop the ‘YouTube Terrorist’”.
Weiner sits on the Committee on Energy and Commerce and is currently the vice chair of the subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.
