- Al-Qaeda linked Anwar al-Awlaki had about 700,000 videos on YouTube spreading hate speech and extremism
- Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011
- His messages radicalized many U.K. based extremists
- Google is cooperating with anti-terror experts to crack down on extremist material on YouTube
An Islamist hate preacher's videos have been taken off YouTube after the American extremist inspired terrorists in the U.K.
Anwar al-Awlaki uploaded tens of thousands of clips to the site, all of which were removed by Google in the first action of its kind by the tech giant.
This is the first time an individual has been subject to such action and was in response to videos endorsing violence as religious duty - a message taken up by extremists across Greater Manchester.
A U.S. government drone strike killed al-Awlaki in Yemen six years ago after he was suspected of being a senior figure in al-Qaeda, the terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks.
But his speeches remained online, influencing Manchester binman Darren Glennon, who changed his name to Aabid Ali before being jailed in May for five years and four months, according to the Manchester Evening News.
Ali described al-Awlaki as a '"beautiful brother and a great man" after becoming "deeply radicalized" by his videos, Manchester Crown Court heard.
A terror gang from South Manchester was convicted of grooming vulnerable individuals to turn them into jihadis after one of its members tried to radicalize an undercover police officer with writings by al-Awlaki.
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Munir Farooqi, Harris Farooqi, Matthew Newton, Israr Malik were convicted in 2011 after Newton unwittingly handed the text to the officer.
Google is understood to be cracking down on extremist material on YouTube by working with anti-terror experts to find material that could incite violence.
Searching al-Awlaki's name on the site in autumn last year brought up about 70,000 videos.
The same search today reveals fewer than 20,000, with most videos being about him, rather than by him.
American born al-Awlaki was linked to the failed bombing of a 2009 Christmas Day flight from the Netherlands to Detroit and counted 9/11 hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi among his supporters.
He also lived in London for two years lecturing Muslims.
In 2011 Barack Obama said the preacher's death was "a milestone in the broader efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates".
This article has been adapted from its original source.
