Due to free-speech concerns, Trump administration decided not to back up the largest campaign launched by New Zealand and France in encouraging tech firms in stopping extremism online. This is in response with the Christchurch, New Zealand terror attack that left 51 dead on April 10.
The “Christchurch Law” was signed by leaders across the globe including British Prime Minister Theresa May. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, which they revealed at a ceremony in Paris that was coordinated by French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Social networking sites and other website such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft also signed the said document, promising to double their efforts in assuring their sites do not become a passage of terrorism.
In a joint statement by Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, the companies promised to heighten their security in disseminating information in line with the aftermath of Christchurch attack.
The White House, hours after dismissing to sign the document, raised its war against social media through a campaign where they are encouraging users to keep sharing stories of censorship that are being blocked by the companies the president repeatedly attack for an alleged political censorship.
Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond law school, believed that “it seems insufficient to say that free speech prevents the U.S. from doing something about violent extremist attacks.
James Grimmelmann, a Cornell Tech law professor, somehow believed that it was a best decision from United States to not sign the document.
Moreover, in a statement released by White House said that it still stand “with the international community in condemning terrorist and violent extremist content online,†and supports the call’s goals. But the United States is “not currently in a position to join the endorsement.â€
