Reuters exclusive: UNODC - Interview with the delegate of US

ST.GALLEN (Reuters) - In an Interview with the delegate of the United States of America, Reuters has asked about their opinion concerning implementing legal measures on tech-companies such as Twitter Inc, Facebook Inc, or Google to combat online recruitment of terrorist fighters:

“The US thinks that combating online recruitment is very important and it is willing to go to extremes to do meet its goals” says the delegate of the US.

Furthermore, according to the delegate of the US, various Social Media apps have already implemented certain measures to limit online recruitment such as “fact checking” on Instagram. However, legal measures would generally be difficult to implement for the United States due to Freedom of Speech. Nonetheless the US has perceived the first day at the UNODC as a very collaborative one. Many states share similar views as the US and have been approaching the delegate for possible solutions and approaches. “One of its solutions entails the strengthening of public and private sectors given that Social Media Companies have a lot of influence over who gets to see what. If Major Social Media Companies can come to an agreement to limit search terms that relate to terrorism as they have done for child pornography, it will be more difficult for terrorist groups to gain influence.” 

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