Leaders of the world's biggest economies have put renewed pressure on big tech to prevent the publication and spread of violent content on their platforms.
The warning came in a statement issued at the G20 Summit on Sunday as part of the on-going international response to the Christchurch terrorist attack.
The joint response was pushed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and gained the backing of the G20 leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Acting as a warning to tech companies such as Google and Facebook, the statement said the leaders would now “raise the bar” of expectation for platforms to prevent the publication of violent content.
“The internet must not be a safe haven for terrorists to recruit, incite or prepare terrorist acts,” the leaders said in the statement.
“We urge online platforms to meet our citizens' expectations that they must not allow use of their platforms to facilitate terrorism and VECT. Platforms have an important responsibility to protect their users.”
The leaders also highlighted that any attempts to block violent content need to respect national and international laws, such as freedom of expression and access to information. They also committed to collaborating with states, international organisations, industry, and civil society.
I want to thank @AbeShinzo for helping Australia put this on the agenda, as well as @EmmanuelMacron, @JustinTrudeau and @theresa_may for their strong support at the G20. Thanks also to @jacindaardern whom we worked with from
— Scott Morrison (@ScoMo30) June 29, 2019
the start.
In Australia, Morrison has been publicly cracking down on the global tech companies since the Christchurch terrorist attack, passing the social media laws in April despite widespread concerns around freedom of speech.
He also established a task force in March comprised of government officials, representatives from Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, along with Telstra, Vodafone, TPG and Optus.
Yesterday the taskforce published its report, outlining their commitment on combating the uploading and dissemination of terrorist and extreme violent material.
Key areas in the report include; proactive technical intervention, enhanced moderation, live-streaming controls, content blocking and periodic reporting. It also recommends running a staged terrorist event as early as this year that simulates a scenario to test the companies' ability to respond.
“Social media companies are on notice. If they don’t deliver on their commitments, we will move to legislate and do so quickly,” Morrison says.
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