G7 nations and tech giants Google, Facebook, Twitter agree on plan to block extremist content
Officials said the companies will try to remove material from the web within two hours of being posted
G7 countries and tech giants including Google, Facebook and Twitter on Friday agreed to work together to block the dissemination of Islamist extremism over the internet.
“These are the first steps towards a great alliance in the name of freedom,” Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti said after a two-day meeting with his Group of Seven counterparts, stressing the importance of the internet for extremist “recruitment, training and radicalisation”.
Officials said the accord aimed at removing jihadist content from the web within two hours of being posted.
“Our enemies are moving at the speed of a tweet and we need to counter them just as quickly,” acting US Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke said.
While acknowledging progress had been made, Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd insisted “companies need to go further and faster to not only take down extremist content but also stop it being uploaded in the first place”.
Islamic State took to the technology world like a fish to water
The meeting on the Italian island of Ischia off Naples also focused on ways to tackle one of the West’s biggest security threats – jihadist fighters fleeing Syria – as the European Union promised to help close a migration route considered a potential back door for terrorists.