RIYADH: Melissa Clegg-Trip, counselor for public affairs at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia, recently visited the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) in Riyadh. During the visit, the US delegation was briefed about the center’s role and the strategies to combat extremism in all its forms. Clegg-Trip lauded the center’s efforts. She said: “I heard a lot about (Etidal) in Washington, DC, I always have wanted to come and I am very pleased that you were able to host me, so thank you.” The US officials took a tour of the Command and Control Center, during which they learned about the monitoring and analysis mechanism, the techniques used and the models built and developed within the center. “It was a pleasure and an honor to learn about Etidal’s impressive capabilities,” the US official wrote in the visitors’ book. Dr. Mansour Alshammari, the center’s secretary-general, presented Clegg-Trip with a memento. The center was established on three basic pillars: Confronting extremism by the latest intellectual, media, and numerical methods and means. The center uses different methods to counter extremist ideology such as software capable of monitoring, classifying, and analyzing any extremist content within just 6 seconds of its online broadcast and with more than 80 percent accuracy. It has a team of multidisciplinary researchers competent in using data analytical tools. It operates in the extremists’ most widely used languages and dialects. Advanced analytical models are being developed to locate digital media platforms, highlight the extremist focal point, and secret sources of polarization and acquiring activities. The center works to refute hate and extremist speech and promote concepts of moderation through the production of media content that confronts radical thoughts.