How video-streaming platforms feed hate and sow divisions and what we can do about it – CNA

Commentary Understanding how YouTube and other Internet sites are increasingly becoming places for extremism to thrive can help us develop a more holistic approach to vigilance, says Gareth Tan. A man watching an online video. (Photo: iStock) SINGAPORE: Any story about terrorism usually begins with a chapter on radicalisation – on how individuals stumbled upon something – a video, a picture, even a made-up story – that reshapes their worldview. Here in Singapore, with the explosion of the Internet and proliferation of smartphones, the means of radicalisation have become diffused and more challenging to detect. Fourteen of the 16 individuals issued terrorism-related orders over the past two years had been self-radicalised online, according to a recent report by the Internal Security Department. Online platforms, including social media, communications and games, have been identified as key vectors for self-radicalisation and domestic terrorism threats in Singapore, providing spaces for recruitment and propaganda. This is worrying when about 4.96 million people in Singapore use social media – around 85 per cent of the total population. When Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently emphasised the continuing threat of radicalisation in his commentary last weekend, his call for vigilance should echo strongly in the online…
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