To fight extremist content online Canada teams up with tech giants

Canada announced funding and other initiatives on Wednesday to counter violent extremist content online by teaming with major technology companies Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google.

Public Safety Canada said in a statement the government will commit up to CUSD 1 million (USD 762,428) to the Tech Against Terrorism programme to create a digital database that will notify smaller companies when terrorist content is detected and help eliminate it.

The initiatives follow the Christchurch Call to Action, a non-binding agreement formed after the Christchurch shooting in March to “eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.” Canada joined the Christchurch Call to Action in May.

The second initiative is a youth conference on countering violent extremism online.

Canada previously extended CUSD 1.5 million in funding to Moonshot CVE and CUSD 367,000 to the University Of Ontario Institute Of Technology to examine right-wing extremism in Canada.