GFMD MEETS WITH PM ARDERN IN RESPONSE TO CHRISTCHURCH CALL

In response to the 15 March 2019 terror attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is advocating for the Christchurch Call to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online along with President Macron at the G7 meetings this week in Paris. The Christchurch call is a voluntary commitment made by Governments and tech companies to tackle and prevent extremist and terror-related content online. Civil society advocates, concerned by the bilateral nature of the call’s engagement solely with governments and tech companies, released a joint statement that GFMD both contributed to and endorsed. The statement aims to aggregate the discussions coming from civil society, academia, news media, and the tech community. The statement highlights its general support of some key values of the Christchurch Call, while also outlining several issues and concerns.

GFMD also had the opportunity to meet with PM Ardern on 14 May to voice concerns and offer perspective from the media development community.