YouTube Blocks Videos of Extremist Cleric

YouTube has pulled the majority of videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, an extremist American cleric who has influenced a generation of American terrorists, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The jihadist propaganda of Awlaki influenced the Fort Hood gunman, the Boston Marathon bombers and those responsible for massacres in San Bernardino, Calif., and Orlando, Fla., the Times reported. Earlier in the fall, a YouTube search produced more than 70,000 results for Awlaki, who was killed six years ago in the U.S. by a drone strike.

Now, a search turns up just 18,600 videos, most which are news reports about his death, debates over the legality of his killing and various other material about him.

The move to remove the videos comes after pressure from governments and counter-terrorist advocates, the article explained.

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