On the internet, the London police track the drill, a subgenre of rap, to make it disappear

The UK doesn’t like the drill. According to the London police, this musical genre would incite violence and even be at the origin of an increase in stabbings. That is why, since 2015, the Metropolitan Police (Met) is doing everything possible to remove this music from the Internet. Starting by partnering with Youtube to moderate the content of the platform itself.

Originally from Chicago, drill is similar to rap. It’s just that the hip-hop artists who practice it wanted to more accurately describe the daily life of America’s poor neighborhoods. To do this, the texts took a more aggressive and violent turn. Gang warfare and armed violence have thus become commonplace in the texts.

96.7% of reports accepted by YouTube

But in England, the style does not pass. The London police believe that the search for the truth to which the songs refer goes beyond the framework of creative expression to become an admission of criminal activity, explains on its Electronic Frontier Foundation site. This international NGO defends the protection of freedoms on the Internet.

Met boss Cressida Dick says gangs post exercise videos to make fun of each other. She claims that this musical genre “glamorizes” violence, particularly through accurate depictions of the joy and thrill of stabbing.

This is why in 2015 the “Operation Dominion” was launched. Its goal is to monitor gang activity on the Internet. Therefore, the police are involved in a fight against videos that incite violence on YouTube. While the authorities deny censorship and claim not to hamper freedom of expression, the British police have nonetheless removed much of the content.

In January 2021, the BBC counted 579 requests from authorities since November 2016. 522 of these “potentially dangerous content” have been removed. In 2021, Vice has 510 reports for drill videos this time. YouTube complied with UK police requests 96.7% of the time.

When “Operation Dominion” was renamed “Project Alpha” in 2021, YouTube gave the Metropolitan Police “trusted marker” status, a first for law enforcement. This tag is part of a moderation program that includes administrative authorities and NGOs. The goal is to provide trusted bookmarkers with powerful tools to mark content more effectively.

denounced association

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, YouTube would not be as strict on content related to this music without its association with the London police.

The organization also addresses the police and their “street illiteracy.” According to her, by systematically associating music with violence, the authorities exacerbate the idea that the drill represents real actions that the perpetrators have seen or performed, rather than an “artistic expression communicated in a culturally specific language that the police rarely can decode”. ”.

However, the musical genre also seems targeted in its country of origin. New York Mayor Eric Adams compared the drill to Donald Trump’s tweets and called for its removal from social media.

Will the moderation system in English be generalized to all social networks? At the moment, the Metropolitan Police is primarily targeting content posted on YouTube. But in March 2022, London law enforcement said they were also working with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.