G7 call to police online extremism
Leaders also want more cooperation in war on terrorism
TAORMINA, SICILY // The G7 nations yesterday demanded action from internet providers and social media companies against extremist content online, vowing to step up their fight against terrorism after the Manchester attack.
“The G7 calls for communication service providers and social media companies to substantially increase their efforts to address terrorist content. “We encourage industry to act urgently in developing and sharing new technology and tools to improve the automatic detection of content promoting incitement to violence, and we commit to supporting industry efforts in this vein including the proposed industry-led forum for combating online extremism,” said a statement from Britain, the United States and their G7 partners.
It has been suggested that Salman Abedi, the Manchester bomber, may well have been radicalised online by accessing content that is freely available from the likes of ISIL.
“Make no mistake: the fight is moving from the battlefield to the internet,” British prime minister Theresa May told her G7 colleagues.
The group also pledged a collective effort to track down and prosecute foreign fighters dispersing from theatres of conflict such as the one in Syria.
One such fighter in Turkey was recently prosecuted, and Britain now wants help from local authorities for more prosecutions in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
The stepped-up cooperation comes amid fears that the Manchester bomber had been to Syria after visiting his parents’ homeland of Libya.
European authorities are increasingly concerned about the threat posed by foreign fighters who went to join ISIL but are now dispersing as the group comes under pressure on the battlefield.
The British want names and nationalities of foreign fighters to be shared so they can more easily be identified as they cross borders.
But Mrs May faced less support when talk turned to Britain leaving the European Union. Emmanuel Macron, the new president of France, brushed off her request for early talks on a trade deal with the EU after Brexit.
As the two held their first official talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit, Mrs May repeated her eagerness to begin the negotiations with talks on trade, rather than waiting until after the thorny issues of Britain’s financial settlement and expatriate rights are resolved.
“As regards Brexit, when we leave the EU it’s important that we know not just what the withdrawal terms are but what that future relationship will be, which will include trade,” said Mrs May. She also reaffirmed her wish for early clarity on the position of EU citizens in Britain and vice versa.
However, a French delegate said Mr Macron had stuck to the EU’s insistence on thrashing out the terms of the divorce first.
There was also little progress made among the G7 leaders on narrowing differences between the United States and its partners on climate change. With US president Donald Trump still reviewing the US po- sition, Washington is resisting intense pressure to commit to staying within the framework of the 2015 global accord on curbing carbon emissions.
“The question of the Paris climate accord is still hanging,” Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni said after the leaders held talks on the issue. Gary Cohn, Mr Trump’s economic adviser, said the president’s views were “evolving. He came here to learn”.
Abandoning the Paris agreement would carry a high political cost in Europe and China, where the deal is considered a bedrock of action on climate change, analysts said.
It would also be fiercely opposed at home by the US environment lobby and by American corporations that are investing heavily in cleaner energy technology.
Officials were due to work through the night in an attempt to reach a compromise on the text of a final statement. Washington is also being tough on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, and may even get tougher.
“We are not lowering our sanctions on Russia,” said Mr Cohn.
“If anything we would probably look to get tougher on Russia.”
Emmanuel Macron, the new president of France, brushed off British prime minister Theresa May’s request for early talks on a trade deal with the European Union after Brexit