Twitter will continue to take part in Jacinda Ardern’s Christchurch Call despite speculation Elon Musk’s purchase of the company would compromise its participation.
In a tweet just after midday New Zealand time, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Musk confirmed to him personally that Twitter would continue to participate in the summit.
“Elon Musk confirmed the Twitter’s participation to the Christchurch Call. There is no place for terrorist and violent extremist content anywhere,” Macron tweeted.
Macron said he had a “clear and honest discussion” with Musk, who is the world’s richest man and owner of several companies including Tesla and SpaceX, about the user policies of Twitter.
“Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations,” Macron tweeted.
The Prime Minister’s special representative on the Christchurch Call and cyber co-ordinator, Paul Ash, confirmed to the Herald the accuracy of Macron’s announcement saying it was consistent with advice the New Zealand Government had received from contacts they had at Twitter.
Elon Musk confirmed the Twitter's participation to the Christchurch Call. There is no place for terrorist and violent extremist content anywhere.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 2, 2022
“Yes, we are aware of and welcome this confirmation. We work closely with France, as a co-founder of the Christchurch Call, and knew in advance of the meeting between President Macron and Mr Musk,” Ash said.
“We continue to engage with the team at Twitter. The message today from President Macron is consistent with advice received from contacts at Twitter affirming its ongoing support for the Call. Twitter has been a strong, committed supporter of the work of the Christchurch Call. We look forward to continuing our shared work on delivery of the Call commitments and work programme.”
The Christchurch Call to Action Summit was initiated by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and first took place on May 15, 2019, in Paris with 17 countries, the European Commission, and eight major tech companies in attendance and signing an accord. A further 31 countries also joined on September 24, 2019.
The summit was a response to the March 15, 2019, Christchurch mosque terror attacks in which 51 people died, and the sole gunman livestreamed his attack on Facebook.
The 2019 summit was co-chaired by Ardern and Macron with the intention to “bring together countries and tech companies in an attempt to bring to an end the ability to use social media to organise and promote terrorism and violent extremism”.
“The March 15 terrorist attacks saw social media used in an unprecedented way as a tool to promote an act of terrorism and hate. We are asking for a show of leadership to ensure social media cannot be used again the way it was in the March 15 terrorist attack,” Ardern said in a statement in 2019 announcing the Christchurch Call.
“We’re calling on the leaders of tech companies to join with us and help achieve our goal of eliminating violent extremism online.
“We all need to act, and that includes social media providers taking more responsibility for the content that is on their platforms, and taking action so that violent extremist content cannot be published and shared… for too long, it has also been possible to use these platforms to incite extremist violence, and even to distribute images of that violence, as happened in Christchurch. This is what needs to change.”
Twitter was one of the major tech companies that participated in the first 2019 summit, but there has been speculation Musk may pull the social media platform out of it going forward, after he bought Twitter on October 27, 2022, for US$44 billion.
In an op-ed on November 24, Victoria University Associate Professor in information systems, Markus Luczak-Roesch, detailed how Musk’s acquisition of Twitter could have jeopardised the company’s participation in the Christchurch Call.
“At the end of September, the [NZ] government announced it would partner with Microsoft, Twitter and the US government to develop technologies that could reveal how algorithms influence users’ political beliefs and potential actions,” Luczak-Roesch said.
“The collaboration was a direct outcome of the Christchurch Call, the initiative begun two years ago after the terrorist attacks on two mosques in the city… However, one of Musk’s first actions was to fire Twitter’s head of legal, Vijaya Gadde, and people from the machine learning, ethics, transparency and accountability team headed by Rumman Chowdhury. Seemingly, Musk considers their work and advocacy for algorithmic transparency and content moderation goes against his vision of free speech on the Twitter platform.
“The entire team the New Zealand government was planning to work with disappeared. And it’s unlikely any work outlined in September will actually eventuate. While algorithmic transparency on Twitter is important, the Christchurch Call will only be fully effective if all social media platforms are included.”
Twitter has been "deeply involved" in the Christchurch Call initiative, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. She's called on Elon Musk to "stick strongly to the principle of transparency" as he takes over the platform https://t.co/fdvPEYRdr5
— dpa news agency (@dpa_intl) November 1, 2022
On December 2, The New York Times reported there has been an “unprecedented rise in hate speech” since Musk bought the company in late October.
The findings from the Center for Countering Digital Hate the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms, measured the regularity of such things as slurs about Black Americans and gay men on Twitter - which they have claimed have more than doubled in daily appearances on Twitter since Musk’s purchase.
The New York Times has reported that this is due to Musk reinstating or allowing to continue accounts that Twitter used to regularly remove - for example those that identify as part of the Islamic State.
However, Musk has responded to the New York Times own Tweet of their December 2 article describing it as “utterly false” in a reply Tweet.
Utterly false
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022
The New York Times article cited that Musk has denied claims hate speech increased under his control of the company.
Last month, Musk tweeted a downward-trending graph that he said showed that “hate speech impressions” had dropped by a third since he took over. But the New York Times said he did not provide underlying numbers or details of how he was measuring hate speech.
Further information about the Christchurch Call can be found here.