SALT LAKE CITY — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wants governments and internet companies to do more to prevent live streams of terrorist attacks, and she’s in Paris today to convince leaders to do just that.
Ardern will push a new initiative called the “Christchurch Call,” which is an agreement that will ask digital leaders “to do more to prevent the live broadcast of terrorist attacks, and make sure such content is removed quickly when it does appear,” according to NPR.
- "This call to action is not just about regulation, but instead about bringing companies to the table and saying, 'You have a role too, and we have expectations of you,'" Ardern told CNN.
Specifically, the agreement will ask government “to enforce existing rules that limit the spread of terrorist material, as well as consider potential new regulation or standards to reduce the dissemination of such content as long as it does not interfere with a so-called open internet,” according to Politico.
U.S. officials will be in attendance, as will some from Canada and Britain. She has been working heavily with French President Emmanuel Macron, the United Kingdom’s Theresa May and others to get this done, according to Politico.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will be in attendance. Representatives from Facebook, Amazon and Google will also be at the summit, according to The Washington Post.
Ardern’s call comes after the March 15 terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, which saw 51 people killed — an attack that streamed online for minutes before it was taken down.
In the immediate aftermath, Ardern and New Zealandpassed new gun control measures and introduced some legislation that would ban most semi-automatic weaponry.
Ardern has been trying to get digital leaders on board with changing how events are live-streamed. She wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times in which she said social media needs to find a balance between freedom and broadcasting terrorism.
- "Social media connects people. And so we must ensure that in our attempts to prevent harm that we do not compromise the integral pillar of society that is freedom of expression,” she wrote. “But that right does not include the freedom to broadcast mass murder.
But will those in attendance at the Paris summit agree with Ardern? Well, according to The New York Times, a number of countries will sign the Christchurch call.
Politico reports that Norway and Canada, as well as the European Union's Jean-Claude Juncker will all agree to support the proposal.
But the U.S. won’t be one of them, The New York Times reports.
- "The pledge does not contain enforcement or regulatory measures. It will be up to each country and company to decide how to carry out the commitments, according to two senior New Zealand officials involved in the drafting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the exact wording of the pledge was still being finalized," according to the Times. "Social media companies will be left with the thorny task of deciding what constitutes violent extremist content, since it is not defined in the accord."
Though Politico reports that the U.S. won’t sign the agreement, the country will be there to observe the summit.
Facebook announced Tuesday that it will restrict live streaming from its platform to prevent future abuse and terrorist online videos, The Verge reports.