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The digital giants announced the creation of a structure to fight against cyberterrorism. NICOLAS ASFOURI, LIONEL BONAVENTURE / AFP

On the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, but also Microsoft announced Tuesday, September 24, the creation of an independent structure to fight against extremist content posted online.

This new organization would operate on the same model as the UN Security Council , able to mobilize representatives of the world's leading tech companies, government delegates and civil society to urgently deal with violent content. online, said at a joint press conference Sheryl Sandberg, number 2 of the Facebook firm and the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

An independent structure

The goal is to " thwart the increasingly sophisticated attempts of terrorists and extremists on digital platforms, " and " to avoid that they put online and share mass images of their attacks, " said the leader New Zealand.

" We are trying to create a civil defense mechanism. Just as we respond to natural emergencies such as fires and floods, we must be prepared to respond to a crisis like the one we have experienced, "commented Jacinda Ardern.

This new organization takes over the consortium, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism created in 2017. This structure would act independently with staff under the aegis of an executive director.

" Non-governmental actors, as well as experts from the UN and the European Union, will only have an advisory role ," added the Facebook representative. " The governments of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Japan will also have a consultative role ," said the New Zealand Minister.

Perfect moderation systems

Since the attack on Christchurch in New Zealand last March, Facebook has stepped up initiatives to combat " hate and extremist " content online.

The social network had broadcast 17 minutes before interrupting, a video broadcast live by a " white supremacist " assassinating coldly and methodically about fifty faithful gathered in two mosques in the city of New Zealand.

In response to criticism, Facebook, Twitter, Google had set up a first joint organization to fight hate online . The new structure will also be responsible for coordinating university research on this worrying phenomenon that is spreading on the Web.

Its goal will be to help web giants improve their moderation systems, including artificial intelligence systems, in order to stop the video retransmissions of live extremist attacks on their platforms, which have so far been more that deficient.