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New Zealand PM: Tech giants should bear responsibility for attack video spread

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits Cashmere High School in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 20. Reuters
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits Cashmere High School in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 20. Reuters

By Jung Min-ho

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and telecom company leaders are calling for greater accountability from so-called platform companies such as Facebook and Twitter after the video of the Christchurch mosque shootings spread instantly across the world.

"We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published," Ardern said during a speech to parliament on March 19.

"They are the publisher. Not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit and no responsibility."

She noted her government would investigate the role platform companies played in the attacks, in which 50 people were killed at two mosques on March 15.

The leaders of telecom operators Vodafone NZ, Spark and 2degrees also urged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to discuss a solution to such problems urgently.

"We call on Facebook, Twitter and Google, whose platforms carry so much content, to be a part of an urgent discussion at an industry and New Zealand Government level on an enduring solution to this issue," they said in a joint letter.

"Although we recognize the speed with which social network companies sought to remove Friday's video once they were made aware of it, this was still a response to material that was rapidly spreading globally and should never have been made available online. We believe society has the right to expect companies such as yours to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms."

Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos of the attack in the first 24 hours. It blocked 1.2 million videos at the point of upload but the rest were there for a while until the company deleted them.

The telecom leaders said more onerous requirements should apply to content like the video, including being taken down within a specified period, proactive measures and fines for failure to do so.

"Consumers have the right to be protected whether using services funded by money or data," they noted.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also expressed concern over the "continuing and unrestricted role" played by internet technology in terrorist attacks.

In a letter to Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who will chair the G20 summit at Osaka in June, he asked for the issue to be discussed.

"It is unacceptable to treat the internet as an ungoverned space," Morrison wrote.

"It is imperative that the global community works together to ensure that technology firms meet their moral obligation to protect the communities which they serve and from which they profit."


Jung Min-ho mj6c2@koreatimes.co.kr


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