Christchurch Call: Initiative launched to eliminate extremist online content

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02:28

Tech companies and governments are pledging to work together to keep extremist content off social media platforms. The "Christchurch Call" initiative was launched following mass shootings in March at two mosques in New Zealand. Elena Casas reports from Paris.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern travelled to Paris to call for international co-operation - after a terror attack in her country, streamed on Facebook live, shocked the world.

JACINDA ARDERN NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER "Media dimension to the attack was unprecedented. And our response today with the adoption of the 'Christchurch Call' is equally unprecedented."

Social media giants including Twitter, Google and Facebook have signed on to the pledge - promising to "immediately and permanently" remove hateful content. Facebook says it will block people from Facebook Live if they use it to promote terrorism - something welcomed by world leaders.

EMMANUEL MACRON FRENCH PRESIDENT "The Christchurch Call is a beginning, and we need to go further, but it would be unfair to say Facebook has been indifferent or uncooperative, after the initiatives they've taken."

ELENA CASAS PARIS "The Christchurch Call is a voluntary code of conduct, essentially relying on social media firms to police themselves. Critics say they can't be trusted and legal moves are underway here in France and at the EU level to impose fines on firms who don't take illegal content down quickly enough."

But the US where many of the biggest tech firms are based didn't join some 20 countries that signed the pledge, nor did China, and critics say it doesn't go far enough.

ARTHUR MESSAUD LAWYER, LA QUADRATURE DU NET CAMPAIGN GROUP "What the Christchurch attack really shows is that asking social media giants to be more effective doesn't achieve anything, it's a cat and mouse game that's lost from the beginning, because a handful of people determined to share something can get around whatever protection measures they have in place."

A new law under discussion at the European Parliament would require platforms to take down terrorist content within one hour or face possible fines of up to four percent of their global revenue. Tech companies say that threatens the principles of a free and open internet. They're keen to show governments they can regulate themselves to avoid more countries cracking down legally. Elena Casas, CGTN, Paris.