FG seeks Google’s support in tackling terrorism

 The Nigerian federal government is seeking collaboration with global Internet giant, Google, in its efforts to curb the activities of terrorists in the country. 

What’s Google’s input to be? 

The government’s main concern with Google is in the area of information dissemination. Speaking yesterday during a courtesy call on him by a delegation from Google in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, urged the company to help control YouTube channels being used to spread hate speech and misinformation against Nigeria. 

Is there a list of these channels? 

While expressing delight that Google shared the government’s concern on the responsible use of social media, Mohammed stated that Google’s YouTube had become a medium of choice for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which he described as a proscribed terrorist group. “We want Google to look into how to tackle the use of private and unlisted YouTube channels and YouTube live streams by proscribed groups and terrorist organizations”, he said. 

The company’s Regional Director (Sub-Saharan Africa, Government Affairs and Public Policy), Charles Murito, said Google has introduced a program tagged “Trusted Flaggers”, through which citizens are trained to track and engage with online content in order to flag the contents of serious concern. In other areas of collaboration, Google’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Adewolu Adene, said the company was ready to work with the FG to digitize recently-repatriated artifacts, for the purpose of preserving and marketing them to a global audience through Google Arts and Culture.