New Zealand encourages reporting online extremism, terrorism

Wellington, Oct 17 (IANS) The New Zealand government is encouraging the public to report information on online extremism and terrorism following the 2019 terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques that killed 51 worshippers, with the reporting system available in multiple languages, including Hindi, the Department of Internal Affairs said on Tuesday.

Factsheets about how to report online terrorism and violent extremism are now available in a range of languages such as Maori, Samoan, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and as a version for those with hearing and speech impairments, Xinhua news agency quoted the Department as saying.

Following the Christchurch terrorist attacks on March 15, 2019, the New Zealand government recognised that countering violent extremism online required a dedicated response, the department said.

The factsheets include information about how to recognise terrorist and violent extremist content, what objectionable material is, where to report it, and what to do if people are worried about a person or group.

"Initially published in English, the factsheets make the same information available in some of the most common languages in New Zealand to help everyone understand how to report online extremism and terrorist content," the Department said.

Content that should be reported includes images, speeches, or videos that promote or encourage terrorism or violent extremism, websites made by terrorist or extremist organisations, videos of terrorist attacks, and any other content that promotes violent extremism, it added.

The factsheets have recently been developed and published by the Digital Violent Extremism team at the Department of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for keeping New Zealanders safe from online harm by responding to and preventing the spread of objectionable material that promotes or encourages violent extremism, it said.