France, New Zealand to launch a call to end online extremism

PARIS (AP) — The leaders of France and New Zealand will make a joint push to eliminate acts of violent extremism from being shown online, in a meeting with tech leaders in Paris on Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will launch the “Christchurch call” —named after the New Zealand city where 51 people were killed in a March 15 attack on mosques.

Leaders of Britain, Canada, Ireland, European Union, Senegal, Indonesia and Jordan will attend the meeting along with representatives of Twitter, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and other internet companies.

New Zealand Ambassador Jane Coombs said Monday the Paris meeting aims to push governments, tech companies and other organizations to make “concrete commitments.”

The gunman in Christchurch livestreamed the attack on Facebook.