Nations vow to fight cybercrime
U.S., Russia not part of agreement with tech giants
PARIS — Fifty nations and over 150 tech companies pledged Monday to do more to fight criminal activity on the internet, including interference in elections and hate speech. But the United States, Russia and China were not among them.
The governments and companies pledged in a document entitled the “Paris call for trust and security in cyberspace” to work together to prevent malicious activities like online censorship and the theft of trade secrets.
The push is supported by European Union countries, Japan and Canada, as well as tech giants Facebook, Google and Microsoft, among others.
French President Emmanuel Macron had pushed for the initiative, whose unveiling came a day after dozens of world leaders gathered in Paris on Sunday to observe the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
Speaking at the Internet Governance Forum organized at the Paris-based U.N. cultural agency UNESCO, Macron said it’s urgent to better regulate the internet.
The French leader also said Facebook had agreed to allow a team of French officials to observe the way the company monitors and removes hate speech content.
The team visit will conduct its observations in the early part of next year, and the goal is to “elaborate precise, concrete joint proposals about the fight against hate speech and offensive content,” Macron said.
Speaking at another summit focusing on new technologies at Paris’ city hall, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “One of the things we have to do as a society, as tech leaders but also as government, is reassure people that the innovation, technology … is going to empower them in ways they will feel part of the world we’re building, of the workplaces we’re creating.”