Anwar al-Awlaki

Anwar al-Awlaki was a U.S.-Yemeni dual citizen and longtime cleric, propagandist, and operative for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). On September 30, 2011, Awlaki was targeted and killed in Yemen in the first U.S. drone strike to deliberately target a U.S. citizen. While he was alive, Awlaki directed a number of terrorist plots against the United States, and disseminated English- and Arabic-language videos, audio recordings, and articles online.

Anwar al-Awlaki’s Ties to Extremists

In the Counter Extremism Project’s online resource, Anwar al-Awlaki’s Ties to Extremists, CEP has counted 99 extremists with ties to Anwar al-Awlaki.

Read the Report

Anwar al-Awlaki on YouTube

YouTube's features has served to lure users to extremist content on YouTube, despite CEP's calls for YouTube to cease hosting Awlaki content.

Read the Report

Anwar al-Awlaki and Google’s Counter-Narrative Program

In February 2016, Google (YouTube’s parent company) announced plans to divert its users away from extremist content towards counter-narratives meant to challenge the appeal of extremist material.

Read Report

News and Blogs

News

Fox News: Spurred by CEP, YouTube Removes Thousands of Awlaki Videos

CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace discusses the importance of Google/YouTube's decision to remove thousands of lectures and sermons of al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki, and CEP's multi-year campaign to pressure the tech giant to take action. 

News

ABC News: Removal of Awlaki Videos from YouTube

Ambassador Mark D. Wallace says removal of Anwar al-Awlaki's sermons and lectures on YouTube will save lives, but it still remains too easy to find extremist and terrorist propaganda on the Internet and social media platforms.

Videos

CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace on ABC Radio

Ambassador Wallace says removal of Anwar al-Awlaki content on YouTube could save lives, but still way too easy to find messages that promote terror.

Press Release

CEP Statement on YouTube Removal of Anwar al-Awlaki Material

(New York, NY) – Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Chief Executive Officer Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following statement regarding the news that Google-owned YouTube has removed videos and sermons from al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki…

News

International Business Times: YouTube blocks thousands of videos of al Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in 'watershed moment'

YouTube has removed thousands of propaganda videos from late al-Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki amid mounting pressure from governments and counterterrorism advocates. "It's a watershed moment on the question of whether we're going to allow the…

News

The Times of Israel: YouTube removes 50,000 videos of imam who inspired terror attacks

YouTube recently removed some 50,000 videos of a deceased radical American imam and al-Qaeda propagandist. Despite being killed in a US drone strike in 2011, Anwar al-Awlaki continued to inspire Islamic terror through online videos. “It’s a…

Videos

CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace KCBS Interview

CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace on YouTube's removal of Anwar al-Awlaki content and the Counter Extremism Project's work in pressuring social media and tech companies to do more to combat extremist weaponization of their platforms.

News

KCBS: Removal of Anwar Al-Awaki Videos From YouTube

CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace discusses CEP's multi-year campaign to pressure Google-owed YouTube to remove the radicalizing sermons and lectures of al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki from its platform and the importance of YouTube finally…

News

New York Times: In ‘Watershed Moment,’ YouTube Blocks Extremist Cleric’s Message

Now, under growing pressure from governments and counterterrorism advocates, YouTube has drastically reduced its video archive of Mr. Awlaki, an American cleric who remains the leading English-language jihadist recruiter on the internet six years…

News

The Sun: YouTube labels terror preacher Anwar al-Awlaki’s calls for violent jihad ‘inappropriate’ – but fails to ban up to 70,000 of his videos

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a non-profit dedicated to tackling extremism, alleged that it has found more than 70,000 videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, a dead radical imam whose sermons are said to have inspired atrocities including the 7/7…

Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

Fact:

On March 25, 2017, as Bangladesh Armed Forces raided a militant hideout in South Surma Upazila, Bangladesh, militants detonated two bombs in a crowd of 500-600 onlookers. The attack, claimed by ISIS, killed four civilians and three police officers, and injured 50 others.

View Archive

CEP on Twitter