The Internet Archive, a San Francisco based non-profit organization with a zealous commitment to preserving the Internet and everything on it, has a serious ongoing problem with extremist content. The site is rife with videos that offer instructions on making explosives as well as propaganda and recruitment videos made by terrorist and extremist groups. While the Internet Archive might differ in its purpose from more social media oriented streaming services, it functions in a very similar way. The Counter Extremist Project (CEP) has repeatedly contacted the Internet Archive to alert them to this danger. But it has remained intransigent despite claiming to be concerned about the issue and occasionally and inconsistently removing content.

In its own words, the Internet Archive seeks to build “a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.” Founder and Internet Hall of Famer Brewster Kahle defines the mission as providing “Universal Access to All Knowledge,” a topic on which he gives regular talks. Active since 1996, the site is accessed by millions of unique visitors every day and is one of the top 250 websites accessed in the U.S. The Internet Archive hosts millions of videos, books, radio programs, magazines, and even software. But as everyone knows, there is a dark and dangerous side to the Internet.

Bomb-making videos, beheading clips, incendiary calls to commit terrorist attacks, and attempts at terrorist recruitment are easily found on the Internet Archive. Propaganda comes from a variety of groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the banned British neo-Nazi group National Action. Re-released ISIS videos are uploaded to the site daily, and notorious videos, such as the beheading of British humanitarian worker Alan Henning, remain up for months.

It is unclear to what extent the Internet Archive seeks to remove extremist content. A representative from the organization claimed in a 2015 article that they are “removing videos of beheadings and executions whenever it becomes aware of them, either during routine maintenance of the site or after outside complaints.” However, even the most cursory search reveals numerous violent videos including those that contain executions. CEP has written to the Internet Archive, first in November 2016, and then again in August 2017, alerting them to the presence of specific extremist content on their website. The spokesman’s 2015 claim to remove such content “after outside complaints” appears spurious given the overwhelming majority of that content, including bomb-making videos, is still active as of February 2018. The Internet Archive has also declined to respond to CEP’s inquiries.

It is also unclear how seriously the Internet Archive considers the problem of extremist content on its platform. The site’s Terms of Use are vague and boilerplate at best, asking users “not to harass, threaten, or otherwise annoy anyone” while also acknowledging that “the Collections may contain information that might be deemed offensive, disturbing, pornographic, racist, sexist, bizarre, misleading, fraudulent, or otherwise objectionable.” Undoubtedly, content like the above screenshot, in which an ISIS fighter urges terrorist attacks in the U.S. constitutes a threat. It is also surprising that the Internet Archive would not update their Terms of Use to account for the exact reasons why they remove content.

The Internet Archive is an interesting case study, because unlike other video platforms such as YouTube, its goals are clearly driven by ideological rather than commercial forces. But that does not mean the public should accept the fact that the Internet Archive is a major conduit for the distribution of threatening and inciteful content.

rewster Kahle has rightly won countless plaudits for his open and free internet activism and advocacy. But the Internet Archive is failing to address what has been a multiyear problem, one that will only get worse as terrorist groups further refine and expand their online activities. Incitement to terrorist violence and bomb-making instructions along with the best practices from explosives experts do not deserve digital preservation.