{
  "id": "R-4572",
  "title": "YouTube machine-learning extremist-content flagging terminated Syrian human-rights documentation channels, 2017–2019",
  "short_title": "YouTube's automated flagging removes Syrian human-rights evidence",
  "jurisdiction": {
    "country": "United States",
    "region": null,
    "level": "national"
  },
  "domain": "content_moderation",
  "system_type": "ml_classifier",
  "system_name": "YouTube machine-learning automated flagging for violent extremism",
  "deployed_by": "YouTube (Google)",
  "year_start": 2017,
  "year_end": 2019,
  "harm_type": "collective",
  "subject_count_estimate": null,
  "subject_identification": "anonymous_collective",
  "oversight_trigger": "ngo_report",
  "oversight_date": "2019-06-03",
  "remedy_status": "partial",
  "documentation_status": "verified",
  "summary_50w": "YouTube used machine-learning automated flagging to remove extremist content and terminated thousands of Syrian channels that published videos of human rights violations, removing material usable as a public record of the conflict. A June 2019 report by EFF, Syrian Archive and WITNESS documented these removals alongside other over-broad takedowns of activism, satire and counter-speech.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Caught in the Net: The Impact of ‘Extremist’ Speech Regulations on Human Rights Content",
      "url": "https://www.eff.org/press/releases/caught-net-impact-extremist-speech-regulations-human-rights-content",
      "publisher": "Electronic Frontier Foundation",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-23",
      "is_primary": false,
      "notes": "Originating report"
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Caught in the Net: The Impact of 'Extremist' Speech Regulations on Human Rights Content (report)",
      "url": "https://www.eff.org/wp/caught-net-impact-extremist-speech-regulations-human-rights-content",
      "publisher": "Electronic Frontier Foundation, Syrian Archive, WITNESS",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Vital Human Rights Evidence in Syria is Disappearing from YouTube (WITNESS, Aug 2017, republished)",
      "url": "https://voxpol.eu/vital-human-rights-evidence-syria-disappearing-youtube/",
      "publisher": "WITNESS / VOX-Pol",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "content_moderation",
    "automated_takedown",
    "human_rights_evidence",
    "syria",
    "platform_governance",
    "freedom_of_expression"
  ],
  "extraction_metadata": {
    "first_collected": "2026-04-23T06:53:47.376008+00:00",
    "last_verified": "2026-10-10T16:06:44.084191+00:00",
    "verified_by": "human_review"
  }
}