Counterterrorism team at work in NZ

WELLINGTON: Warnings of violent political acts in the United States have prompted New Zealand authorities to deploy an online counterterrorism team.

The Department of Internal Affairs is assigning staff to monitor online platforms before, during and immediately after Joe Biden’s inauguration as president this morning.

Warnings from US law enforcement about a heightened risk of domestic terrorism or violence in the US prompted the move.

The concerns emerged after a mob supporting defeated President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol a fortnight ago.

DIA digital safety director Jared Mullen said specialist staff were ready to detect and respond to content that could harm New Zealanders.

‘‘This includes content that may potentially be illegal, such as video or images that clearly promote terrorism or extreme violence.’’

The counterterrorism monitoring team involved staff working in shifts to monitor the situation until at least tomorrow afternoon.

‘‘Our first priority is to restrict the availability of any harmful or potentially illegal material, especially in cases where viral distribution poses a high public risk,’’ Mr Mullen said.

‘‘Following this period, DIA will reassess the need for continued monitoring.’’

Bolstering security precautions in New Zealand in response to an event in Washington DC was an extraordinary step, University of Otago political scientist Dr Robert Patman said yesterday.

It was also a sign of how seriously governments now took the threat of rightwing extremism, he added.

Dr Patman said the graphic, murderous content shared on Facebook after the Christchurch mosque shootings had shocked many people.

Social media platforms scrambled to shut down gruesome content such as the nowbanned terrorist livestream which proliferated after the March 15, 2019, mosque attacks.

Dr Patman said prior to the mosque shootings, local intelligence services were more concerned with the threat of Islamist terrorism.

‘‘White supremacist terrorism or extreme white nationalism wasn’t seen as a major problem. ‘‘That perception has now significantly changed."

Dr Patman said the nexus of conspiracy theorists and assorted Trump supporters who refused to accept the US election results were not internationally isolated.

He said many members of the groups which carried out the deadly Capitol siege appeared to source most of their information from conspiracy theory websites.

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said the DIA initiative was a possible way of getting ahead of harmful content instead of playing catchup.

‘‘There is intelligence [indicating] a likelihood of people looking to disrupt the inauguration.’’

Mr Cocker understood the groups identified in US intelligence included entities which had previously produced harmful and objectionable content.

‘‘Most groups, even with very extreme ideologies, have followers all around the world.’’

News media’s attention on the inauguration meant some attentionseekers might engage in provocative or extremist acts to gain mainstream coverage.

The Capitol attacks have also sparked questions about security at Wellington’s Parliamentary precinct.

The Parliamentary Service announced a review of security, but only after an axewielding man smashed glass doors at Parliament on December 13.

❛ Our first priority is to restrict the availability of any harmful or potentially illegal material