Thread by @reveal

1/ How does extremism spread online?

On a recent episode, @MeganSquire0, a computer scientist at @elonuniversity, explained how the Christchurch shooter’s video moved across the web – and the challenges of removing it. revealnews.org/episodes/hate-…

2/ “It’s kind of like a domino effect,'' she said.

The more versions of a video that exist, the harder it is to remove it from the internet. Researchers like Squire have also noted an uptick in radicalizations after large attacks like the one in Christchurch.

3/ Tech companies are scrambling to remove this stuff, but it’s not easy – or without ethical quandaries.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said artificial intelligence is a “scalable way to identify and root out most of this harmful content.” washingtonpost.com/news/the-switc…

4/ Also, a growing “alt-tech” movement is making it harder for the government and mainstream media to regulate hateful content.

After getting kicked off traditional social media, extremists are building their own. @MeganSquire0 explains it this way:

5/ “It’s like a replacement infrastructure for the internet as we know it.” she added.

6/ Meanwhile, people like Rob Monster, a leader of the alt-tech movement, cite free speech as their reasoning for helping build up alternative platforms.

7/ He uses a technology called the interplanetary file system, or IPFS, that distributes data among multiple hosts, making it difficult to take down media on the internet.

8/ Squire says the government, as a first step, needs to better understand how extremists are decentralizing the web.

More here: revealnews.org/episodes/hate-…