Telcos in call to action
Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees have written an ‘‘open letter’’ to Google, Facebook and Twitter calling for change in the wake of the Christchurch shootings.
The letter calls on the social media giants to ‘‘urgently discuss’’ a solution to the problem of videos such as live footage of the Christchurch shootings being uploaded and shared on their platforms.
‘‘We call on Facebook, Twitter and Google, whose platforms carry so much content, to be a part of an urgent discussion at an industry and New Zealand Government level on an enduring solution to this issue,’’ the letter said.
The letter, sent by Spark managing director Simon Moutter, Vodafone NZ boss Jason Paris and 2degrees chief executive Stewart Sherriff, said they acknowledged the issue was a ‘‘global’’ one but that ‘‘the discussion must start somewhere’’.
The companies have all blocked overseas websites hosting copies of the full video of the Christchurch shootings.
But they said they were ‘‘the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, with blunt tools involving the blocking of sites after the fact’’, and that it was impossible for them to ‘‘prevent completely’’ access to the material.
‘‘The greatest challenge is how to prevent this sort of material being uploaded and shared on social media platforms and forums,’’ they said.
The letter was addressed to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.
‘‘Although we recognise the speed with which social network companies sought to remove Friday’s video once they were made aware of it, this was still a response to material that was rapidly spreading globally and should never have been made available online,’’ the letter continued.
‘‘We believe society has the right to expect companies such as yours to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms.’’
Technology can be a powerful force for good, the letter said.
‘‘The very same platforms that were used to share the video were also used to mobilise outpourings of support.’’
Artificial intelligence could play a role in rooting out the type of content they were concerned about, the telcos said. But the letter concluded that for ‘‘the most serious types of content, such as terrorist content, more onerous requirements should apply’’.
These could include measures proposed in Europe, such as a requirement for social media businesses to ‘‘take down’’ material within a specified period and ‘‘fines for failure to do so’’.
A Christchurch insulation company that promotes neo-nazi themes has been reported to police and removed from a popular review website following the terrorist attack at two Christchurch mosques on Friday.
Beneficial Insulation, which was incorporated in 2010, features a number of nazi-related themes in its name and branding.
Stuff has also sighted an angry email that Beneficial Insulation owner Phil Arps sent to a customer. The email was signed off with a false Adolf Hitler quote and featured Rightwing extremist views.
The company’s white extremist branding and Arps’ racist views, which he promotes online, sparked a public outcry in the wake of the Christchurch mass shooting, which left 50 people dead. Another 34 are still in hospital.
Beneficial Insulation’s logo is a sunwheel, or black sun, which has been used by neo-nazi groups. The firm also charges $14.88 per metre for insulation – ‘‘14.88’’ being a hate symbol popular with white extremists.
The company’s website URL, BIIG.co.nz, is an acronym for the company’s full name, Beneficial Insulation Installs Guaranteed. BIIg was the name of a barracks at the Auschwitz concentration camp, which was operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust.
The company’s staff wear camouflage print uniform.
Over the weekend the Insulation Association removed Beneficial Insulation from its website when it became aware of the company.
Builderscrack.co.nz, a tradie review website, also removed Beneficial Insulation from its site and reported the company to police.
A Builderscrack spokesman said as soon as it was made aware of Beneficial Insulation on Saturday via Twitter the firm’s public profile was removed and its account deactivated.
Builderscrack called police about the company on Monday morning.
Builderscrack was also advising homeowners who had been in contact with Beneficial Insulation of the situation. ‘‘There is no place for this in our society.’’
The whole Builderscrack team in Christchurch was ‘‘incredibly saddened’’ by Friday’s attack, the spokesman said.
NZ Police said on Saturday it could not comment on whether individuals or companies were, or had been, subject to police attention or an investigation.
Beneficial Insulation’s website has been taken down and, after Stuff published a story about the company on Saturday, its Facebook page was removed.
Arps, who was previously made bankrupt in 2001, sent Stuff a series statements on Saturday that did not address questions put to him.
He has since stopped responding to further requests for comment.
Arps appeared in a Stuff story in February 2018 after raw sewage started flowing onto his property.
Christchurch resident Tony Rider said he experienced Arps’ racist views first hand when he used Beneficial Insulation to install insulation at his home last year.
Rider said Beneficial Insulation was recommended to him but the company did not complete the job in the first instance and it sent an invoice that had discrepancies.
While the shoddy work was remedied and the invoice discrepancies were cleared up, it was Arps’ racist language in an email that really left Rider feeling angry.
One aggressive email from Arps featured extremist language and ended with a quote commonly believed to be from Hitler; however, there appears to be no evidence of the Nazi Party leader saying or writing it.
‘‘He [Arps] is openly advertising his business alongside white supremacy ideals,’’ Rider said.
Rider said that, while Arps was entitled to his beliefs, he did not support his views or his business. ‘‘If I’d known he was like that I wouldn’t have given him my business.’’