Google denies 'monitoring agreement' with Israel
Google denies 'monitoring agreement' with Israel
Google has rejected a statement from Israel's foreign ministry that it had reached a deal with Tel Aviv to jointly monitor YouTube videos.
2 min read
Google rejected Israel's claim of a joint cooperation agreement [Getty]
Google has denied a report from Israel's foreign ministry saying it had reached an agreement to jointly monitor YouTube videos.
Google, which owns YouTube, on Monday rejected Tel Aviv's assertion that a joint mechanism had been agreed to monitor online material - including videos encouraging attacks on Israelis - after a meeting between Google executives and the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely last week.
A Google spokesman told AFP the meeting, in which Hotovely met Google's senior counsel for public policy, Juniper Downs, and YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki, was just "one of many that we have with policymakers from different countries to explain our policies on controversial content, flagging and removals".
"The Israeli ministry for foreign affairs has corrected its original announcement which, in error, suggested there had been an agreement with Google to establish a mechanism to monitor online materials," he added.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon confirmed a statement on their website had been changed but said Israel was still "extremely grateful for the good relations with Google".
"Our common objective is to remove dangerous incitement to violence on social media. We have full confidence in the Google teams dealing with this removal," said Nahshon.
Since the latest escalation of violence that erupted at the beginning of October, many people have been sharing videos depicting Israeli aggression towards Palestinians to highlight the Palestinian perspective of the conflict.
The Israeli government however has repeatedly labelled such videos as "online incitement" and blamed them for attacks against Israelis.
Over 100 Palestinians, including several children, and 17 Israelis have been killed since 1 October.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called on Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to monitor and remove such material.
The internet firms have defended their policies, saying they have sufficient protection against online incitement and rejected perceptions of political interference.
"We rely on the YouTube community to flag videos that they think violate our Community Guidelines," the spokesperson for Google said.
"Video flagged on YouTube is reviewed 24 hours a day and, if material violates our policies, it is removed quickly."
Google, which owns YouTube, on Monday rejected Tel Aviv's assertion that a joint mechanism had been agreed to monitor online material - including videos encouraging attacks on Israelis - after a meeting between Google executives and the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely last week.
A Google spokesman told AFP the meeting, in which Hotovely met Google's senior counsel for public policy, Juniper Downs, and YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki, was just "one of many that we have with policymakers from different countries to explain our policies on controversial content, flagging and removals".
"The Israeli ministry for foreign affairs has corrected its original announcement which, in error, suggested there had been an agreement with Google to establish a mechanism to monitor online materials," he added.
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Over 100 Palestinians, including several children, and 17 Israelis have been killed since 1 October. |
Foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon confirmed a statement on their website had been changed but said Israel was still "extremely grateful for the good relations with Google".
"Our common objective is to remove dangerous incitement to violence on social media. We have full confidence in the Google teams dealing with this removal," said Nahshon.
Since the latest escalation of violence that erupted at the beginning of October, many people have been sharing videos depicting Israeli aggression towards Palestinians to highlight the Palestinian perspective of the conflict.
The Israeli government however has repeatedly labelled such videos as "online incitement" and blamed them for attacks against Israelis.
Over 100 Palestinians, including several children, and 17 Israelis have been killed since 1 October.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called on Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to monitor and remove such material.
The internet firms have defended their policies, saying they have sufficient protection against online incitement and rejected perceptions of political interference.
"We rely on the YouTube community to flag videos that they think violate our Community Guidelines," the spokesperson for Google said.
"Video flagged on YouTube is reviewed 24 hours a day and, if material violates our policies, it is removed quickly."
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