The Christchurch Call to Action Summit (also called the Christchurch Call), was a political summit initiated by New Zealand Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...
that took place on 15 May 2019 in Paris, France, two months after the
Christchurch mosque shootings
On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque ...
of 15 March 2019. Co-chaired by Ardern and President Emmanuel Macron of France, the summit aimed to "bring together countries and tech companies in an attempt to bring to an end the ability to use social media to organise and promote
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
and
violent extremism
Violent extremism is a form of extremism that condones and enacts violence with ideological or deliberate intent, such as religious or political violence. Violent extremist views can manifest in connection with a range of issues, including politics ...
". 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 online service providers, and one for the ways in which the two can work together.
Signatories
Among the signatories to the pledge are the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
, 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:
*
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
*
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
*
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
*
Qwant
Qwant () is a French search engine, launched in February 2013 and operated from Paris. It is one of the few EU-based search engines. It claims that it does not employ user tracking or personalize search results in order to avoid trapping user ...
*
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
*
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
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
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
; 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
Jennifer Rene Psaki (; born c. 1978) is an American television political analyst who currently works for MSNBC. Previously, she was a political advisor who served under both the Obama and Biden administrations. Immediately prior to working for ...
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
''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robe ...
'' 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." InternetNZ 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
Jillian C. York (born May 18, 1982)"Goodreads Author Profile" Electronic Frontier Foundation 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
Tom Rogan (; born 8 February 1986) is a political journalist based in Washington, D.C.
Career
Rogan grew up and was educated in London, in the United Kingdom. He attended St John's School, Leatherhead for secondary school/high school before a ...
argued in the ''
Washington Examiner
The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is o ...
'' that the Call's goal for governments to work with companies to stop "violent extremist content" would breach Americans'
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
rights, using war footage on YouTube as an example of content that could be blocked under this agreement.
Nick Gillespie
Nicholas John Gillespie (; born August 7, 1963) is an American libertarian journalist who was editor-in-chief of ''Reason'' magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined ...
of ''
Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
'' 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."