Can censorship fight terror?

Platforms like Google, Facebook and YouTube are public forums for free expression and speech for the positive but in today’s Internet world the threat of terror is igniting strong discussions involving censorship through the companies. British Prime Minister Theresa May is advocating Internet companies regulate their users’ speech.
In the wake of the recent London attacks, Mrs. May called platforms like Google and Facebook breeding grounds for terrorism stating: “We cannot allow this ideology (evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division, and promotes sectarianism) the safe space it needs to breed. Yet, that is precisely what the Internet – and the big companies that provide Internet-based services – provide. We need to work with allied, democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremism and terrorist planning. And we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online.”
Mrs. May, along with leaders of other countries, demands that platforms build tools to identify and quickly remove extremist content. Germany is prepared to fine platforms up to 50 million euros if they do not remove illegal content swiftly and a law is currently being drafted by the European Union to make YouTube and other video hosts responsible for ensuring that users never share violent speech.
It is understandable that country leaders are fearful and frustrated but making private companies actively curtail user expression on public forums like Twitter and Facebook is dangerous. This level of censorship would harm free expression and information access for regular users especially for journalists merely reporting on extremism. It may be impossible to censor extremist content without also censoring important legal speech as well.
The sheer volume of uploads to YouTube alone, around 300 hours of video, are made every minute. It would be almost impossible to review all of the footage. Courts including the European Union Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights, recognise that users’ speech and privacy rights will suffer if platforms vet every word posted.
Algorithms are being tweaked daily to review and remove content but sometimes they might remove too much silencing disputed speech rather than risk liability.
I believe that the major platforms are working to find a marriage of review versus censorship of content – but it’s a long way to the perfect solution. Unfortunately, even full censorship will not eliminate extremism and terror but I hope a new solution is on the horizon.