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Fighting online hate: Global internet governance through shared values
After a terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand was live-streamed on the internet in 2019, the Christchurch Call was launched to counter the increasing weaponization of the internet and to ensure that emerging tech is harnessed for good.
In a recent Global Stage livestream, from the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly, former New Zealand Prime Minster Dame Jacinda Ardern discussed the challenges and disparities inherent in the ever-evolving digital age, ranging from unrestricted online platforms in liberal democracies to severe content limitations in certain countries.
“If you look beyond just liberal democracies, on the one hand you have the discussion about free speech and the view that some hold around being able to use online platforms to publish just about anything. Then in some countries, the inability to publish anything at all,” said Ardern.
In her new role, as Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call, she advocated for departing from conventional country-centric strategies and proposed a foundation built upon shared values instead, prioritizing the safeguarding of human rights and the preservation of an open internet over national interests. “Let's establish the value set, the common problem identification to bring everyone around the table.”
Watch the full Global Stage Livestream conversation here: Hearing the Christchurch Call
- Hearing the Christchurch Call ›
- Facebook allows "lies laced with anger and hate" to spread faster than facts, says journalist Maria Ressa ›
- What We’re Watching: Ardern's shock exit, sights on Crimea, Bibi’s budding crisis, US debt ceiling chaos ›
- Jacinda Ardern on the Christchurch Call: How New Zealand led a movement ›
Christchurch Call had a global impact on tech giants - Microsoft's Brad Smith
The Christchurch killer livestreamed his heinous crimes, highlighting a macabre threat ensconced within the relatively new field of social media. Extremists could use the technology to get the attention of millions of people — and perhaps even find some incentive for their violence in that fact.
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, in a recent Global Stage livestream, from the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly, says the technology industry set out to ensure extremists could “never again” reach mass audiences during massacres. Tech companies, governments and civil society groups work together on the so-called Content Incident Protocol, a sort of digital emergency response plan.
Now, people are on call 24/7 to intervene early, shut down broadcasts, and cooperate with authorities. Smith says the impact has been transformative and urged further efforts to enhance safety against online extremism.
Watch the full Global Stage Livestream conversation here: Hearing the Christchurch Call
Jacinda Ardern on the Christchurch Call: How New Zealand led a movement
During a Global Stage livestream conversation hosted by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed that when she reached for her phone to share the heartbreaking news of the Christchurch massacre, she found a horrifying surprise: A livestream of the massacre served to her on a social media platform.
For a period of 24 hours, copies of the footage were uploaded to YouTube as often as once per second, spreading the 17-minute massacre faster than tech companies could shut it down.
The experience drives her work at the Christchurch Call, combating online extremism and working with government and civil society to build guardrails against the exploitation of technology by extremists, , she explained during a Global Stage livestream conversation hosted by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Watch the full Global Stage Livestream conversation here: Hearing the Christchurch Call
Ian Bremmer: Algorithms are now shaping human beings' behavior
Everyone is a product of their environment. But where once the influences on young people were largely shaped by their physical community, algorithmic content online has opened a new and dangerous pathway to radicalization and violence, says Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer in a recent Global Stage livestream, from the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly.
That’s why the Christchurch Call’s work has resonated. The organization, founded by former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the wake of a heinous livestreamed mass shooting in the eponymous city, addresses a pressing need that was not handled before it had cost too many lives: online radicalization.
Watch the full Global Stage Livestream conversation here: Hearing the Christchurch Call
How tech companies aim to make AI more ethical and responsible
Artificial intelligence’s immense potential power raises significant questions over its safety. Large language models, a kind of AI like Microsoft’s Bard or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, in particular, run the risk of providing potentially dangerous information.
Should someone, say, ask for instructions to build a bomb, or advice on harming themselves, it would be better that AI not answer the question at all. Instead, says Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith in a recent Global Stage livestream, from the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly, tech companies need to build in guardrails that will direct users toward counseling, or explain why they can’t answer.
And that’s just the first step. Microsoft aims to build a full safety architecture to help artificial intelligence technology flourish within safe boundaries.
Watch the full Global Stage Livestream conversation here: Hearing the Christchurch Call
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- Will consumers ever trust AI? Regulations and guardrails are key ›
- The UN will discuss AI rules at this week's General Assembly ›
- The AI power paradox: Rules for AI's power ›
- How should artificial intelligence be governed? ›
Hearing the Christchurch Call
After a terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, was live-streamed on the internet in 2019, the Christchurch Call was launched to counter the increasing weaponization of the internet and to ensure that emerging tech is harnessed for good.
Since its inception, the Christchurch Call has evolved to include more than 120 government and private sector stakeholders. The organization, pioneered by the French and New Zealand governments, will hold its next major summit at the Paris Peace Forum in November.
Dame Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand who led the response to the Christchurch attack; Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media; and Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft sat down with CNN’s Rahel Solomon for a Global Stage livestream on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The event was hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft.
Reflecting on the catastrophic attack that prompted the formation of the Call and its mission, Dame Ardern recalled how, on that day, ”I reached for my phone to be able to share that message on a social media platform, I saw the live stream.” She notes how that became a galvanizing moment: In the “aftermath of that period, we were absolutely determined … we had the attention of social media platforms in particular to do something that would try and prevent any other nation from having that experience again.”
That led to the formation of the organization in a mere eight-week period, Ardern said. But identifying hate speech and extremism online that can fuel violence is no small feat, Ardern acknowledges, adding that while the goal can indeed appear “lofty,” the group’s focus is on “setting expectations” around what should and shouldn’t be tolerated online.
But what did tech companies learn from the Christchurch experience about their own roles in moderating content, overseeing algorithms, and mitigating potential radicalization and violence?
One major development that came out of the Christchurch Call, Smith notes, is what’s known as a content incident protocol. “Basically, you have the tech companies and governments and others literally on call like doctors being summoned to the emergency room at tech companies and in governments so that the moment there is such a shooting, everybody immediately is alerted.”
Emerging technologies – most notably artificial intelligence – mean that the Christchurch Call must remain nimble in the face of new threats. Still, Ardern says that’s not necessarily a bad thing because AI presents both challenges and opportunities for the organization. “On the one hand we may see an additional contribution from AI to our ability to better manage content moderation that may be an upside,” she says. But “a downside,” she notes, “is that we may see it continue to contribute to or expand on some of the disinformation which contributes to radicalization.”
Bremmer shared this view of AI, calling it both “a tool of extraordinary productivity and growth, indeed globalization 2.0,” while also acknowledging the threat of disinformation proliferation: “Fundamental to a democratic society, an open society, a civil society, fundamental to human rights and the United Nations Charter is the idea that people are able to exchange information that they know is true, that they know is real,” he says.
Four years after the Christchurch attack, there is indeed a sense of urgency surrounding the need for governments to better understand emerging technologies and their powers over politics and society. “Governments understand that this is systemic, it is transformative, and they're not ready,” Bremmer says, adding that “they don't have the expertise, they don't have the resources, and we don't yet have the architecture … we're late!”
Watch our livestream from the UN General Assembly
WATCH LIVE: A deadly terrorist attack in New Zealand was livestreamed in 2019, horrifying the world. The result was an international movement to end extremism and hate online. Join us live today at 11 am ET to learn about the Christchurch Call to Action, how it can create a safer and more secure world, and what global collaboration will look like in the AI era.
CNN's Rahel Solomon will moderate our livestream conversation during the 78th UN General Assembly, with Dame Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand and Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call; Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media; and Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, Microsoft.
Hearing the Christchurch Call: Collaboration in the Age of AI
Wednesday, September 20th | 11:00 am -12:00 pm ET
Participants:
- Dame Jacinda Ardern, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call
- Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, Microsoft
- Ian Bremmer, President & Founder, Eurasia Group & GZERO Media
- Rahel Solomon, CNN (moderator)