In case you were wondering, the answer to that question is a resounding – NO!
Jacinda has no doubt won herself a large number of international brownie points for her serious, intense approach to the ‘Christchurch Call’ where she is adamantly trying to control the internet. In this, she is aided by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who has so far suffered 6 months of street protests over his socialist policies. The French are good at this (think of the barricades) and, as a result, it is not hard to find reasons why Macron might want to control the internet too. It is not making his government look good right now.
Jacinda looks earnest, and behaves like the first prime minister ever to have had to deal with an attack on her home soil; but she is not. Christchurch is not the first ever terrorist attack – not by a long way. Jacinda however, thinks she is breaking new ground because these things have never happened to anyone else before. Unfortunately, she is wrong on all counts. quote.
So we have made the Christchurch Call, a pledge committing governments and tech companies to a range of measures to try and reduce the amount of terrorist and violent content on the internet.
17 countries and 8 tech companies have signed up, but not the US.
The White House put out a statement on the Paris pledge though, and it was as pointed a put down, almost an insult, by the Trump Administration as you could get.
It says “the United States is not currently in a position to join the endorsement, we continue to support the overall goals reflected in the call.”
They mean we have more important matters to worry about than some touchy feely talk fest in Paris.
end quote.
Yep, that’s right. The Americans have a lot of experience with terror attacks – 9/11 being the biggest, but not the only one. They leave Jacinda for dead when it comes to this stuff. quote.
But then it makes a few very pointed comments that the USA is actually a way ahead of the game in this business of trying to get terrorism and violence off the internet.
Because the White House Statement goes on to say “In September 2017, the United States and the other 28 members of the Global Counterterrorism Forum endorsed the Zurich-London Recommendations on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism Online, a document laying out non-binding recommendations for combating terrorist content online.
On February 26, 2019, the U.S. joined His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan—one of our most capable and effective partners in developing credible, alternative narratives—for an Aqaba Process meeting along with companies, civil society organizations, and foreign partners to advance our collective terrorism prevention efforts.”
So what the US is telling everybody, is that your meeting in Paris is all very well, but we were doing this stuff nearly two years ago, and we actually moved it ahead even further in February of this year.
end quote.
Ooops, Jacinda… you have been gazumped by your old friend, President Trump. They are way ahead of you… which is not surprising, since you are not, and never have been, ground breaking in anything. quote.
You can see why the US couldn’t be bothered rocking up in Paris. They’ve already done what this meeting has set out to do.
“We continue to be proactive in our efforts to counter terrorist content online while also continuing to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Further, we maintain that the best tool to defeat terrorist speech is productive speech, and thus we emphasize the importance of promoting credible, alternative narratives as the primary means by which we can defeat terrorist messaging.”
Magic radio. end quote.
Jacinda, you just got trounced by the Americans. They are so far ahead of you that it is thoroughly embarrassing.
Still, Donald Trump isn’t looking for a well-paid jaunt at the UN as his next career move, whereas you, Jacinda…
And all those other failing politicians, like Teresa May, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron and the premier of Senegal, all took the photo opportunities and hoped like hell it would help their hopeless careers. Great company you are in, Jacinda.
Nevertheless, the UN CV looks better by the day. Doesn’t it, Jacinda. Now, how about coming home and dealing with child poverty… like you said you would?