Organization:Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism

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Short description: Internet industry initiative
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The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) is an Internet industry initiative to share proprietary information and technology for automated content moderation.[1][2]

History

Founded in 2017 by a consortium of companies spearheaded by Facebook (now known as Meta), Google/YouTube, Microsoft and Twitter, it was created as an organization in 2019 and its membership has expanded to include 18 companies as of the end of 2021.[3] The GIFCT began as a shared hash database of ISIS-related material but expanded to included a wider array of violent extremist content in the wake of the attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand that was live streamed on Facebook.[4]

Members include Microsoft, Meta Platforms (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), YouTube, Twitter, Airbnb, Discord, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Amazon, Mailchimp, Pinterest, JustPaste.it, Tumblr, WordPress.com and Zoom.[5]

GIFCT maintains a database of perceptual hashes of terrorism-related videos and images that is submitted by its members, and which other members can voluntarily use to block the same material on their platforms.[5] The material indexed includes images, videos and will be expanded to include URLs and textual data such as manifestos and other documents.[6]

Global Network on Extremism and Technology

The Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) is described as the "academic research arm of GICFT".[7][8] It is a collaboration of several academic research centers, led by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King's College London.[9]

Criticism

GIFCT has been flagged by civil society activists and scholars as a "content cartel" similar to YouTube's Content ID,[1] and a potential tool for "cross-platform censorship".[2]

Accusations of misuse

In 2022, Facebook, Inc., a subsidiary of Meta Platforms, was subject to a subpoena about GIFCT usage as OnlyFans was alleged to have used GIFCT to harm competitors by getting their content and accounts censored on Instagram.[10] Facebook and OnlyFans have described these allegations as being "without merit".[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Evelyn Douek (2020-02-11). "The Rise of Content Cartels". https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-rise-of-content-cartels. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fri, Aug 21st 2020 12:00pm-Emma Llanso (2020-08-21). "Content Moderation Knowledge Sharing Shouldn't Be A Backdoor To Cross-Platform Censorship". https://www.techdirt.com/2020/08/21/content-moderation-knowledge-sharing-shouldnt-be-backdoor-to-cross-platform-censorship/. 
  3. ↑ "GIFCT Annual Report 2021". Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism. https://gifct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GIFCT-Annual-Report-2021-PV.pdf. 
  4. ↑ Radsch, Courtney (20 September 2020). "GIFCT: Possibly the Most Important Acronym You've Never Heard Of". Just Security. https://www.justsecurity.org/72603/gifct-possibly-the-most-important-acronym-youve-never-heard-of/. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "GIFCT Membership". https://gifct.org/membership/. 
  6. ↑ Culliford, Elizabeth (2021-07-26). "Facebook and tech giants to target attacker manifestos, far-right militias in database" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-facebook-tech-giants-target-manifestos-militias-database-2021-07-26/. 
  7. ↑ "Research" (in en-GB). https://gifct.org/research/. 
  8. ↑ GNET Official website
  9. ↑ "Partners" (in en-GB). https://gnet-research.org/partners/. 
  10. ↑ "OnlyFans accused of conspiring to blacklist rivals". BBC News. 2022-02-22. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60029508. 
  11. ↑ "OnlyFans Allegedly Bribed Meta to Put Adult Stars on Terrorist Watchlist" (in en). 2022-08-11. https://www.papermag.com/onlyfans-meta-bribe-terrorist-watchlist-2657845780.html. 

External links




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