Microsoft has announced a series of new policies aimed at removing any terrorist content from its consumer services. In a blog, the company said it would be amending its terms of use to specifically ban users from posting content that incites terrorist acts on services such as Xbox Live, the consumer version of Outlook and its document-sharing website Docs. “We have a responsibility to run our various Internet services so that they are a tool to empower people, not to contribute, however indirectly, to terrible acts," said Microsoft.
The company also announced the launch of an online tool where users, governments or other groups can report terrorist content on its hosted consumer services. Microsoft said it will immediately proceed to take such content down if it agrees with the user’s assessment. Finally, the company said it’s funding the development of a technology to help stakeholders identify copies of patently terrorist content by proactively scanning and flagging public content that contains known terrorist images, video and audio.
However, Microsoft added that it will be applying the principle of free expression to its search engine Bing and will only remove links if the authorities demand it under local law. “In the context of a tool for accessing information, we believe that societies, acting through their governments, ought to draw the line between free speech and limitations relating to particular types of content,” said the company.
