White House Declines to Endorse International Response to Online Extremists
The White House Wednesday declined to endorse the Christchurch Call, an international campaign for curbing social media extremists. The campaign has the support of 18 governments, including Australia, Canada and the U.K. Major platforms back it, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter.
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Citing freedom of expression, the Office of Science and Technology Policy said the U.S. is “not currently in a position to join.” The administration said it agreed with the overarching message of the campaign, launched by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. It responds to the March New Zealand mosque shootings when the alleged shooter livestreamed on Facebook some of the events that resulted in more than 50 deaths.
The U.S. administration Wednesday encouraged tech platforms to “enforce their terms of service and community standards that forbid the use of their platforms for terrorist purposes.” The U.S. will continue to be proactive in countering terrorist content, it said, while also respecting “freedom of expression and freedom of the press. … the best tool to defeat terrorist speech is productive speech, and thus we emphasize the importance of promoting credible, alternative narratives as the primary means by which we can defeat terrorist messaging.”
Online extremism is a “complex and vexing societal problem,” said House Homeland Security ranking member Mike Rogers, R-Ala. He sided with the administration. “While we make efforts to stop the spread of violence online, we must ensure that we honor the bedrock constitutional rights of freedom of speech and expression,” he said in a statement.
Five major tech platforms agreed to a nine-point plan for curbing platform abuse. “Terrorism and violent extremism are complex societal problems that require an all-of-society response,” the companies said, citing commitments to strengthen partnerships between government, society and industry. For livestreaming, the companies agreed to “enhanced vetting measures (such as streamer ratings or scores, account activity, or validation processes) and moderation” where “appropriate.”
Facebook is investing $7.5 million in new research partnerships with the University of Maryland, Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley “designed to improve image and video analysis technology," it said. The platform emphasized need for partnerships. The goal is to develop new techniques for detecting “manipulated media across images, video and audio” and distinguishing between “unwitting posters and adversaries who intentionally manipulate videos and photographs.”
Industry takes its responsibilities seriously, Software & Information Industry Association CEO Jeff Joseph said. “Companies in this age of terrorism have take-down responsibilities; countervailing responsibilities to foster free speech and association; and, an affirmative responsibility to take steps to counter violent extremism.”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Executive Vice President Suzanne Clark offered “strong support” for the goals of the Christchurch Call: “We support coordinated efforts to find solutions that will address this challenge while preserving the freedoms we cherish, including free expression."