Telcos in call to action

Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees have written an ‘‘open letter’’ to Google, Facebook and Twitter calling for change in the wake of the Christchurch shootings.

The letter calls on the social media giants to ‘‘urgently discuss’’ a solution to the problem of videos such as live footage of the Christchurch shootings being uploaded and shared on their platforms.

‘‘We call on Facebook, Twitter and Google, whose platforms carry so much content, to be a part of an urgent discussion at an industry and New Zealand Government level on an enduring solution to this issue,’’ the letter said.

The letter, sent by Spark managing director Simon Moutter, Vodafone NZ boss Jason Paris and 2degrees chief executive Stewart Sherriff, said they acknowledged the issue was a ‘‘global’’ one but that ‘‘the discussion must start somewhere’’.

The companies have all blocked overseas websites hosting copies of the full video of the Christchurch shootings.

But they said they were ‘‘the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, with blunt tools involving the blocking of sites after the fact’’, and that it was impossible for them to ‘‘prevent completely’’ access to the material.

‘‘The greatest challenge is how to prevent this sort of material being uploaded and shared on social media platforms and forums,’’ they said.

The letter was addressed to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.

‘‘Although we recognise the speed with which social network companies sought to remove Friday’s video once they were made aware of it, this was still a response to material that was rapidly spreading globally and should never have been made available online,’’ the letter continued.

‘‘We believe society has the right to expect companies such as yours to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms.’’

Technology can be a powerful force for good, the letter said.

‘‘The very same platforms that were used to share the video were also used to mobilise outpourings of support.’’

Artificial intelligence could play a role in rooting out the type of content they were concerned about, the telcos said. But the letter concluded that for ‘‘the most serious types of content, such as terrorist content, more onerous requirements should apply’’.

These could include measures proposed in Europe, such as a requirement for social media businesses to ‘‘take down’’ material within a specified period and ‘‘fines for failure to do so’’.