In the coming months, Amazon will expand the Trust and Safety team in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) division and hire a smaller group of people to develop expertise and work with outside researchers to monitor future threats, Which is one of the familiar sources. The thing said.
Experts say it could turn Amazon, the world’s leading cloud service provider, into one of the world’s most powerful arbiters of content allowed on the Internet, according to research firm Gartner.
AWS does not plan to host large amounts of content on the cloud, but will aim to outrun future threats, such as emerging extremist groups whose content could make it onto the AWS cloud, the source said.
A day after the publication of this story, an AWS spokesperson told Reuters that the news agency’s reporting was “inaccurate,” adding that “AWS Trust & Safety has no plans to change its policies or procedures, and the team is always present.” Is.”
A Reuters spokesperson said the news agency stood by its reporting.
Amazon made headlines on August 27 in the Washington Post for shutting down a website hosted on AWS that featured propaganda of Islamic State, which killed an estimated 170 Afghans and 13 US soldiers in Kabul last Thursday. The bombing was celebrated. They did this after the news organization contacted Amazon, according to the Post.
Discussion of a more proactive approach to content came after Amazon shut down its cloud service shortly after the capital riots on January 6 for allowing social media app parlor content that promotes violence.
Amazon did not immediately comment ahead of the story’s publication on Thursday. After publication, an AWS spokesperson said later that day, “AWS Trust & Safety works to protect AWS customers, partners and Internet users from bad actors who attempt to use our services for abusive or illegal purposes.” When AWS Trust & Safety is made aware of abusive or illegal behavior on AWS Services, they act quickly to investigate and engage with customers to take appropriate action.”
The spokesperson added that “AWS Trust & Safety does not pre-review content hosted by our customers. As AWS continues to expand, we expect this team to continue to grow.”
Activists and human rights groups are blaming not only websites and apps for harmful content, but also the underlying technical infrastructure that enables those sites to operate, while political conservatives denounce that they allow free speech. Consider reducing.
AWS already prohibits using its Services in a variety of ways, in accordance with its Acceptable Use Policy, such as for illegal or fraudulent activity, inciting or threatening violence, or promoting child sexual abuse and abuse.
Amazon investigates requests sent to the Trust and Security team to verify their accuracy before contacting customers to remove content that violates its policies or to put in place a system to moderate content. If Amazon is unable to reach an acceptable agreement with the customer, it may close the website.
The source said Amazon aims to develop an approach to content issues that it and other cloud providers are facing more frequently, such as determining whether misinformation on a company’s website reaches the scale of Which requires AWS action, the source said.
A job posting for the position of “Global Head of Policy at AWS Trust and Safety” on Amazon’s jobs website, which was last seen by Reuters prior to the publication of this story on Thursday, was no longer available on the Amazon site . Friday.
Ad, still available on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/global-head-of-policy-aws-trust-safety-at-amazon-web-services-aws-2706375665, description Performs a new role as one that will “identify policy gaps and propose scalable solutions,” “develop frameworks to assess risk and guide decision-making,” and “develop efficient problem solving mechanisms.”
The LinkedIn ad also says that the position will “make clear recommendations to AWS leadership.”
An Amazon spokesperson said the job posting on Amazon’s website was temporarily removed from the Amazon website for editing and should not have been posted in its draft form.
AWS’s offerings include cloud storage and virtual servers and, according to its website, counts major companies such as Netflix, Coca-Cola and Capital One as clients.
proactive steps
Better preparedness against certain types of content can help Amazon avoid legal and public relations risks.
“If (Amazon) can proactively shut down this stuff before it is discovered and becomes a big news, then there is value in avoiding that reputational damage,” said Melissa Ryan, founder of Card Strategies, a consulting firm. Firm that helps organizations understand extremism and the threat of online poisoning.
Cloud services such as AWS and other entities such as domain registrars are considered “the backbone of the Internet” but have traditionally been politically neutral services, according to a 2019 report by Joan Donovan, a Harvard researcher who studied online extremism and propaganda campaigns. Huh.
But cloud service providers have previously removed content, such as after the 2017 alt-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, helping to slow the organizing capacity of alt-right groups, Donovan wrote.
“Most of these companies don’t understand that they don’t want to get into the content and be the arbiters of the idea,” Ryan said. “But when you’re talking about hate and extremism, you have to take a stand.”
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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