Dame Jacinda Ardern welcomes the Christchurch Call Foundation
“Five years ago, following the devastating March 15 terror attacks in New Zealand, Prime Minister Macron and I helped establish the Christchurch Call.
“Those attacks tried to weaponize online platforms we use in our daily lives. We knew we had to build a broad global community to prevent that from ever happening again. We remain grateful to everyone who has helped so far,” Dame Jacinda said.
Today, as announced in May, the ongoing Call work transfers to a Secretariat, run and funded by the non-governmental Foundation.
To mark the occasion, the Foundation is releasing a series of videos from political and industry leaders indicating their ongoing support and talking about why the Call’s work remains vital.
Based in Wellington, the Foundation will be run by Paul Ash who was formerly the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital.
Mr Ash will be joined by a small team of experts. The Christchurch Call Foundation has attracted pledges from members of the Call Community and philanthropic donors.
“The Foundation will help to coordinate and support efforts by civil society, industry, and government to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content, maintain a free, open, and secure global internet, and protect and promote human rights,” Mr Ash said.
Dame Jacinda will continue in her voluntary, unpaid role as Patron, raising the profile of the Call and acting on behalf of the Call Community.
“This is a new phase for the Christchurch Call. It’s clear that work to address radicalisation and violent extremist content online is still needed. I look forward to working with the Foundation and all those who have dedicated themselves to its mission, as well as new members,” Dame Jacinda said.
The Christchurch Call has made real progress since its establishment in May 2019:
Tech platforms established controls on live streaming, improved user reporting, and put in place crisis protocols to counter terrorist and violent extremist abuse of the internet.
Platforms now provide improved information about their policies and systems.
Global crisis response systems deliver coordinated information sharing and capabilities during an attack. This has been effective, for example the 2022 Buffalo New York attacker’s livestream was cut short and quickly removed from platforms.
Algorithmic ranking systems have been updated to reduce escalation of harmful content that may contribute to violent extremism; users are more routinely provided with choice about the content they see.
The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) became a dedicated industry-funded non-governmental organization which shares technological solutions, provides real-time crisis response to tech platforms, and commissions research.
The wider rollout of redirection programmes for users at risk of radicalisation.
The Call Community has expanded to a truly global community comprising 56 governments, 19 online service providers, 12 partner organizations, and more than 50 civil society organizations.
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