Dr Marten Risius and Associate Professor Stan Karanasios write for The Conversation
Australia’s eSafety commissioner has sent legal notices to Google, Meta, Telegram, WhatsApp, Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) asking them to show what they’re doing to protect Australians from online extremism. The six companies have 49 days to respond.
The notice comes at a time when governments are increasingly cracking down on major tech companies to address online harms like child sexual abuse material or bullying.
Combating online extremism presents unique challenges different from other content moderation problems. Regulators wanting to establish effective and meaningful change must take into account what research has shown us about extremism and terrorism.
Extremists are everywhere
Online extremism and terrorism have been pressing concerns for some time. A stand-out example was the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack on two mosques in Aotearoa New Zealand, which was live streamed on Facebook. It led to the “Christchurch Call” to action, aimed at countering extremism through collaborations between countries and tech companies.
