Big Tech Firms Meet With “World Leaders” To Talk About The New Internet Government
9 min read
Judging by how they’ve conducted themselves thus far, do we really want Tech Giants anywhere near decisions having to do with our online content?
Every time we see a major “terrorist event”; we plug our ears for the secondary explosion of tyrants who subscribe to the adage “you never want a good crisis to go to waste”. Governments and corporations wasted no time after the New Zealand mosque shooting to begin gun-grabbing, propagandizing on behalf of the Islamic political lobby (yes, it’s a major political movement wrapped in a religion — so that we can’t talk about it without being called “Islamo-phobic”)
Now we see phase 3 of the marxist plan for seizing global dominance: internet government. Mind you; these marxist sling the word “democracy” around in the public rhealm while they meet behind closed doors with an unelected body of Tech Giant leaders to install tyranny
This is likely why President Trump’s administration opted out of these secret meetings; because as long as Trump is President, we will remain a Constitutional Republic.
I can honestly say that this one snuck up on me. Hat tip to Faith Goldy for bringint it to my attention.
Canada joins Christchurch Call to Action to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online
The internet bridges divides and helps us build a more open, inclusive world. But it has also increasingly become a tool for terrorism and violent extremism. The March 2019 terror attack in Christchurch was a harrowing reminder that we need to take coordinated action to prevent social media and other online platforms from being used as a tool to incite, publish and promote terrorism, violence, and hatred.
Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, President of France Emmanuel Macron, other government leaders, and industry leaders to adopt the Christchurch Call to Action – a global pledge to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.
Through the Christchurch Call, governments and online services providers are making voluntary, collective commitments to prevent people from abusing the internet to promote and sensationalize acts of terrorism. These commitments include:
- Building more inclusive, resilient communities to counter violent radicalization
- Enforcing laws that stop the production and dissemination of terrorist and extremist content online
- Encouraging media to apply ethical rules when reporting on terrorist events to avoid amplifying terrorist and violent extremist content
Many of the Christchurch commitments match the priorities of the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence, which the Government of Canada launched in December 2018. Through the National Strategy and the Christchurch Call, the Government of Canada will continue to provide international leadership on countering radicalization to violence and eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online.
Quote
“Terrorist and extremist content online continues to spill out into the real world with deadly consequences. Today, we are stepping up to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. Together, we can create a world where all people – no matter their faith, where they live, or where they are from – are safe and secure both on and offline.”
—The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Quick Facts
- In December 2018, the Government of Canada launched the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence, which outlines Canada’s approach and priorities to prevent the kind of radicalization that leads to violence.
- The Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence leads the Government of Canada’s efforts to counter radicalization to violence, and works with all levels of government, not-for-profit organizations, communities, youth, frontline practitioners, academia, law enforcement, and international organizations.
- Radicalization to violence happens when a person or group takes on extremist beliefs that lead them to promote violence and, possibly, taking part in terrorist activity.
Leaders and tech firms pledge to tackle extremist violence online
Jacinda Ardern and Emmanuel Macron host Christchurch Call summit in Paris
World leaders and heads of global technology companies have pledged at a Paris summit to tackle terrorist and extremist violence online in what they described as an “unprecedented agreement”.
Wednesday’s event, two months to the day since the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand, drew up a “plan of action” to be adopted by countries and companies to prevent extreme material from going viral on the internet.
Known as the Christchurch Call, it was organised by New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in response to the attack on the Christchurch mosque on 15 March in which 51 people were killed.
The gunman, a 28-year-old Australian, livestreamed the attack on Facebookfrom where it was shared online around the world. The footage was picked up by some international media outlets who initially published excerpts of the video and links to the gunman’s extremist “manifesto” before quickly dropping them in the face of political and public outrage.
Macron and Ardern met ministers from G7 nations and leaders of internet companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter. Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, did not attend.
The initiative calls on signatory nations to bring in laws that ban offensive material and to set guidelines on how the traditional media report acts of terrorism. However, as a voluntary initiative it is for individual countries and companies to decide how to honour their pledge.
Britain, Canada, Australia, Jordan, Senegal, Indonesia, Norway and Ireland signed the pledge, along with the European commission, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube, Daily Motion and Quant.
France’s Elysée Palace said Germany, India, Japan, Holland, Spain and Sweden had expressed support for the Christchurch Call.
The US has reportedly refused to sign up because of concerns about freedom of speech.
At a press conference after the Paris meeting, Macron made reference to recent attacks in Sri Lanka and the killing of two French soldiers by terrorists in Burkina Faso.
He said: “Our aim is simply that what has happened in each of these places never happens again. Christchurch was not just an abject terrorist attack, it was the transformation once again of the internet into a crazy propaganda machine used for the fracture of our society.
“The war of everyone against everyone else [is] an objective of extreme right and Islamist terrorists. The objective of our joint initiative is to enlarge the field of action. We have decided to act.”
Ardern said the Christchurch attack was “truly unprecedented in its use of social media and subsequent spread of the terrorist’s message. Fifty-one men, women and children from the New Zealand Muslim community were killed, and were killed online. Initially the live stream was watched by only a few hundred people but it was then shared and spread online at such a pace that YouTube recorded one upload per second on their platform in the first 24 hours.”
She added: “Never have so many countries and tech companies come together in reaction to such an attack to work together to use new technology and develop new technology so our communities are safer.
“Today must be day one of change. The Christchurch Call is a roadmap for action. It’s a nine-point commitment that I hope will bring lead to further change … to eliminate terrorism from the networks.”
She said she hoped it would lead to a “more human internet that cannot be used by terrorists for their hateful purposes”.
Macron said things were moving in the right direction and the presence of the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and his “personal engagement” was encouraging.
“They said they support the objectives they will do all to cooperation, they haven’t formally signed up to the Christchurch Call but we will do all we can to have a more concrete and formal engagement. The fact the US administration has said it shares our objectives is a positive element,” Macron said.
He said the Christchurch Call differed from previous initiatives to clean up the internet, because of the involvement of tech companies and its worldwide appeal.
Ardern said Facebook had made a changes to its livestreaming, announced at the same time as the summit, under which the Christchurch terrorist “would not have been able to livestream his act of violence”.
She said: “That is just one element of the work of we must do. Ultimately we want to be in a position to prevent harm in the first place, to make sure that lives aren’t lost.”
Christchurch Call: details emerge of Ardern’s plan to tackle online extremism
New Zealand PM will reportedly urge nations to enforce laws banning extremist material and set rules for reporting on terrorism
Details have emerged of a plan by New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and French president Emmanuel Macron to eliminate terrorist and violent content online.
Ardern and Macron will meet in Paris this week on the sidelines of a meeting of digital ministers from the Group of 7 nations to discuss the plan – named the “Christchurch Call” – and urge other leaders to sign up.
The New Zealand prime minister announced the project in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks on 15 March. The worst mass-murder in the nation’s modern history, in which 51 people were killed, was streamed live online and shared thousands of times.
On Monday the New York Times reported that the initiative would call on signatory nations to adopt and enforce laws that ban objectionable material, and set guidelines on how traditional media can report acts of terrorism without amplifying them.
However, the pledge does not contain any enforcement or regulatory measures, and it would be up to each individual country and company to decide how it would honour its voluntary commitments.
A definition of violent extremist content was not included in a draft version of the pledge, and it would be up to individual companies to decide on what constituted objectionable material, the paper said. The pledge asked tech companies to enforce their terms of service, as well as “re-evaluate their algorithms that direct users to extremist content, and commit to redirecting people looking for extremist material”.
At the summit in Paris on Wednesday, Ardern will meet the leaders of global tech giants including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will not attend the event.
Before leaving New Zealand, Ardern said her country of fewer than 5 million people had been “left reeling” after the Christchurch attack, and despite free speech principles being a central tenet of western democracy, no one has “a right to livestream the murder of 50 people”.
“This was a terrorist attack that was designed to go viral,” said Ardern in a video discussing the Christchurch Call.
Ardern said many people did not seek out the video of the attack, but saw it unwittingly because “the proliferation of it was so extreme”. Ardern herself saw parts of the video when it appeared on her Facebook page shortly after the attack.
It was important to New Zealanders that the internet remained “free, open and accessible”, Ardern said, and the Christchurch Call would not impinge on those rights, but seek to patrol the dissemination and spread of terrorist and extremist material online.
New Zealand government officials have already visited the White House and the state department to discuss the pledge and urge the US to sign, the Times reported, although the US has indicated it would not.
Britain, Canada, Australia, Jordan, Senegal, Indonesia, Norway and Ireland have indicated they intend to sign the pledge.
The news came as New Zealand opened a royal commission into the Christchurch attacks.
The inquiry will look into the suspected gunman’s activities, use of social media and international connections, as well as whether there was inappropriate priority settings in counter terrorism resources.
“The commission’s findings will help to ensure such an attack never happens here again,” Ardern said in a statement. Its findings will be handed to the government on 10 December.
• This article was amended on 13 May 2019 to remove an incorrect reference to Australia not supporting the “Christchurch Call”. Australia has endorsed the call, as the article now makes clear.
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