Threats topic of talks with Twitter boss
WELLINGTON: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern discussed the threat of online platforms that are used as breeding grounds for hate during a meeting with Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey yesterday.
And as the sixmonth anniversary of the Christchurch March 15 terrorist attack looms, Ms Ardern said governments and tech companies were ‘‘more resolute than ever’’ in efforts to tackle online terrorist content and violent extremism.
But more needed to be done to halt bullying and discrimination.
An internet message board with few rules that extremists have used for online breeding grounds for radicalisation was used by alleged gunmen, including the person accused of the Christchurch shootings, and was eventually shut down.
But 8chan still has a Twitter account, despite calls for Twitter to take it down.
Ms Ardern said she and Mr Dorsey had a long conversation about 8chan and similar online platforms, and while Mr Dorsey had ‘‘an awareness of the issue’’, no decisions were taken.
She said one issue was how easily another platform would spring up if 8chan’s Twitter handle was shut down.
‘‘It’s a much bigger issue than just 8chan.’’
It was the second oneonone meeting between Ms Ardern and Mr Dorsey, and Ms Ardern praised Twitter for being particularly engaged in the efforts, led by New Zealand, to tackle online terrorist content.
Mr Dorsey told Newshub the meeting was ‘‘great’’ and described Ms Ardern as ‘‘amazing’’.
They had met in person in Paris in May in the before the Christchurch Call, an agreement to stop terrorist and violent extremist content that was signed by governments and online platforms.
Ms Ardern said she would report on the call’s progress when in New York for the UN General Assembly later this month, where tech companies will also gather.
‘‘None of the momentum since March 15 has been lost, and if anything, they’re more resolute now more than ever,’’ she said.
She said she would make an announcement in New York about how tech companies respond to a crisis, which was announced as a key focus of the Global Internet Forum To Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) in July.
The forum was established in 2017 by Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft and Twitter to disrupt the way terrorists use such platforms.
In July the GIFCT said the Christchurch Call was the catalyst to introduce joint protocols for responding quickly to an event such as March 15, which was livestreamed and shared widely on multiple platforms.
‘‘Based on the joint protocols, we will work together to categorise the type of incident and the anticipated level and degree of online impact,’’ it said in July.
‘‘We will also set up formal channels of communication so we can share intelligence and content with nonGIFCT companies and other stakeholders, as needed.’’
Ms Ardern said more needed to be done to stop bullying and discrimination, including stopping it in schools and workplacesand ensuring migrant and refugee communities were getting the same opportunities to participate in society as everyone else.
‘‘The areas where there is more work to be done – and what the Muslim community has really raised with us – is what we do around discrimination,’’ she said.
‘‘We are not a perfect nation. We knew that before the 15th of March, but this has highlighted the experience of many in our community . . . and the obligation we all have to address that.’’ — The New Zealand Herald