NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress is proud to join YouTube’s Trusted Flagger Program, designed by the preeminent video platform to effectively monitor user-generated content for offensive material and to help create a safer and more tolerant digital space.
The WJC and other partners will help the internet company sort through the millions of videos uploaded every day to actively report hate speech videos and ensure that YouTube is aware of every element promoting anti-Semitism, hate, Holocaust denial and other intolerant content on its platform.
“The World Jewish Congress strongly welcomes YouTube’s initiative for a comprehensive team of partners working together to flag offensive content, and is pleased to join this critical effort to benefit our communities and all platform users,” said WJC CEO and Executive Vice President Robert Singer. “Anti-Semitism and hate speech are running rampant across social media platforms, and it is our duty as conscientious and moral consumers to work together to make these digital platforms a safer space for all."
The World Jewish Congress found in a comprehensive study last year conducted by the Israeli monitoring firm Vigo Social Intelligence that 382,000 anti-Semitic posts were posted to social media platforms over the course of 2016 – an average of more than 43.6 posts per hour, or one post every 83 seconds.
The WJC has actively engaged with social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Google to cooperate on methods of combating this phenomenon.
Earlier this year, the WJC also launched a campaign to expose and remove Arabic-language anti-Semitic content on social media platforms, beginning with YouTube.
The WJC compiled a precise list of the most prevalent materials that appeared on YouTube using the search term “Holocaust” in Arabic, finding pages of Nazi glorification, Holocaust denial, and blatantly anti-Semitic content.
The WJC brought the matter to the attention of YouTube’s director of public policy, and expressed its concerns. Within a few days, YouTube informed the WJC that every piece of anti-Semitic content it had flagged had been removed.
