White House declines to back Christchurch call to stamp out online extremism amid free speech concer

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

The United States on Wednesday broke with 18 governments and top American tech firms by declining to endorse a New Zealand-led response to the live-streamed shootings at two Christchurch mosques, saying free-speech concerns prevented the White House from formally signing onto the largest campaign to date targeting extremism online.

The “Christchurch Call," unveiled at an international gathering in Paris, commits foreign countries and tech giants to be more vigilant about the spread of hate on social media. It reflects heightened global frustrations with the inability of Facebook, Google and Twitter to restrain hateful posts, photos and videos that have spawned real-world violence.

Leaders from across the globe, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, pledged to counter online extremism, including through new regulation, and to "encourage media outlets to apply ethical standards when depicting terrorist events online.” Companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter, meanwhile, said they’d work more closely to ensure their sites don’t become conduits for terrorism. They also committed to accelerated research and information sharing with governments in the wake of recent terrorist attacks. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was among those who attended.

The call is named after the New Zealand city where a shooter killed 51 people in a March attack broadcast on Facebook and posted afterward on other social-media sites. Facebook, Google and Twitter struggled to take down copies of the violent video as fast as it spread on the Web, prompting an international backlash from regulators who felt malicious actors had evaded Silicon Valley’s defenses too easily. Before the attack, the shooter also posted a hate-filled manifesto that included references to previous mass killings.

-snip-

By Tony Romm and Drew Harwell May 15 at 3:56 PM


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/15/white-house-will-not-sign-christchurch-pact-stamp-out-online-extremism-amid-free-speech-concerns/

[Freethinker65]

1. Trump knows his base are the extremists

[saidsimplesimon]

3. If the story gets traction

the twittler will tweet the alert to his tribe of zombies and ghouls.

[mountain grammy]

5. Exactly!

[Blue_Tires]

2. These people are pure trash

[SunSeeker]

4. Hate speech and terrorist threats are not protected speech.

That kind of stuff can and should be regulated.

[ArizonaLib]

6. Asking this white house to even acknowledge white aggression

is like asking the devil to pray for peace.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

7. But those are Trump's "very fine people" who'll be affected.

[pangaia]

8. Putin...

[Mc Mike]

9. Yeah, the repuglinazis are all about free speech. Unless it's for a Dem elected official,

or a state university professor or students, or the free press, or any politically progressive activist, or a doctor advising their women patient about her reproductive health, etc.

[Norbert]

10. Can We band togather as a nation and support the Christchirch respose?

It's painfully obvious by now that don the con and his crime syndicate no longer represents the majority of the American people.

[Skittles]

11. Trump and his fucked up base THRIVE on hatred, fear and ignorance

so, no big surprise here

[riversedge]

12. Another bad mark for Trumps USA!!