CAROLINE FLORA Chief censor

‘‘We are seeing more underground media popping up where people are actively trying to avoid the attention of people like me and police.’’

from the terrorist groups and others who have been subject to their censorship, the office has taken the exceptional step of trying to conceal the identities of its staff.

This, perhaps, speaks to the level of hate now propagating on the internet and bleeding into real life.

‘‘Every day’’ since coming into the role, Flora says the office has dealt with antiMuslim content. In the immediate aftermath of the March 15, 2019, terror attacks in Christchurch, the censor moved to ban the terrorist’s manifesto and videos of the murders.

But white supremacists across the globe, including in New Zealand, worked hard to keep the horrific publications online. They downloaded, distributed and hosted the content on sites beyond the reach of one state or censor.

New Zealand authorities and others who have partnered as part of the Christchurch Call continue to try to remove terrorist content from the internet. ‘‘We are having an impact on the mainstream platforms where people are actively engaging every day,’’ Flora says.

‘‘But we are seeing more underground media popping up where people are actively trying to avoid the attention of people like me and police, using encrypted software to share and repeat really awful content.’’

Those underground platforms have become increasingly popular during the pandemic.

Communities of conspiracy theorists have formed on underground platforms, in numbers large enough to have an impact at protests and the Parliament riot in Wellington.

The reaction to the pandemic also revealed the concerns that security and media experts had been witnessing for some time.

As the pandemic grew, so too did misinformation about it. Conspiracy provocateurs grasped the opportunity to launch businesses and political movements off the back of this alternate reality created through false narratives perpetuated online.

At the Ministry of Health, Flora was watching the misinformation take effect ‘‘in real time’’.

It also became clear that these falsehoods and conspiracies were difficult to contain. Flora does not believe they can simply be censored.

Disinformation leaders targeted traditional establishments, thereby diminishing their followers’ faith in government, media and the judiciary. If you no longer believe the press is free, how can you trust the information it delivers? And if you believe the nation’s legal institutions are corrupt, why would you follow a suppression order or the censor’s directive?

Although censorship can’t contain misinformation, Flora sees the topic as having a growing importance within her office. She says media literacy education is already a major focus of her office and is becoming increasingly vital.

It’s an admission that ‘‘censorship’’ in 2022 isn’t quite what it used to be. It’s still important to ‘‘censor’’, Flora says, in part to ensure heinous or innapropriate material doesn’t end up being served up by algorithms to children and those who don’t want to see it.

But the role will increasingly become education-focused, she says. The next challenge is finding the best way for the censor to get their information out to the masses, after spending decades restricting information.