The Christchurch Call to Action Summit (also called the Christchurch Call), was a political summit initiated by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that took place on 15 May 2019 in Paris, France, two months after the Christchurch mosque shootings of 15 March 2019. Co-chaired by Ardern and President

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of France, the summit aimed to "bring together countries and

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in an attempt to bring to an end the ability to use social media to organise and promote

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and violent extremism". World leaders and technology companies pledged to "eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online"; 17 countries originally signed the non-binding agreement, with another 31 countries following suit on 24 September the same year. The pledge consists of three sections or commitments: one for governments, one for

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, and one for the ways in which the two can work together.

Signatories

Among the signatories to the pledge are the

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, and the governments of the following countries: * Argentina * Australia * Austria * Belgium * Bulgaria * Canada * Chile * Colombia * Croatia * Cyprus * Czech Republic * Denmark * Estonia * Finland * France * Georgia * Germany * Ghana * Greece * Hungary * Iceland * Indonesia * India * Ireland * Italy * Ivory Coast * Japan * Jordan * Kenya * Republic of Korea * Latvia * Lithuania * Luxembourg * Maldives * Malta * Mexico * Mongolia * The Netherlands * New Zealand * Norway * Peru * Poland * Portugal * Romania * Senegal * Slovakia * Slovenia * Spain * Sri Lanka * Sweden * Switzerland * Tunisia * United Kingdom * United States The following online service providers, as part of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) consortium, also signed the pledge: *

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* Qwant *

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The United States declined to attend in 2019, expressing concerns that US compliance with the agreement could create conflicts with free-speech protections in the country's

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; the United States however did support the summit's "overarching message" and "endorsed its overall goals". On 7 May 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that the United States would be joining the Christchurch Call and participate in a virtual summit on 14 May 2021.

Commentary

Bryan Keogh wrote in '' The Conversation'' that the summit "has made excellent progress as a first step to change, but we need to take this opportunity to push for systemic change in what has been a serious, long-term problem."

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CEO Jordan Carter called the summit "a vital first step" to addressing terrorism and violent extremism online, saying that it was "important that governments and online service providers have come together on this issue, to agree real, actionable changes." Jillian York of the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...

praised the Call for asking companies to provide greater transparency regarding its moderation practices, while expressing concerns about how terms such as "terrorism" and "violent extremism" are defined by various governments. Tom Rogan argued in the ''

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'' that the Call's goal for governments to work with companies to stop "violent extremist content" would breach Americans'

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rights, using war footage on YouTube as an example of content that could be blocked under this agreement. Nick Gillespie of ''

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'' criticized the summit, writing that "it should be deeply worrying to anyone who believes in free expression that governments and corporations are openly working together to decide what is and is not acceptable speech."

References

External links

*{{Official website 2019 in Paris 2019 in international relations 21st-century diplomatic conferences Christchurch mosque shootings Counterterrorism Internet censorship May 2019 events in France Social media France–New Zealand relations Conferences in Paris Jacinda Ardern Emmanuel Macron 2019 conferences