‘Weapons of war have changed’: New Zealand PM warns about speech threats

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a dire warning to world leaders. She proclaimed the “weapons of war have changed” during her speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

“A bullet takes a life. A bomb takes out a whole village. A lie online or from a podium does not,” Ardern told the U.N. General Assembly in September. “But what if that lie, told repeatedly, and across many platforms, prompts, inspires, or motivates others to take up arms? To threaten the security of others. To turn a blind eye to atrocities, or worse, to become complicit in them. What then?”

While world leaders have come to recognize the problems surrounding misinformation and extreme rhetoric, there has been significant pushback over proposed regulations as many accuse social media platforms of selectively applying standards in favor of mainstream, well-established narratives.

In her speech, Ardern implied that the lack of standards for online rhetoric can lead to the spread of misinformation and insurmountable problems for society at large.

“How do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble? How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists? How do you ensure the human rights of others are upheld, when they are subjected to hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology?” she asked.

The prime minister acknowledged that calling to regulate speech online in any way can seem problematic, but explained why she believes it’s imperative.

“As leaders, we are rightly concerned that even the most light-touch approaches to disinformation could be misinterpreted as being hostile to the values of free speech that we value so highly,” she noted. “But while I cannot tell you today what the answer is to this challenge, I can say with complete certainty that we cannot ignore it. To do so poses an equal threat to the norms we all value.”

New Zealand’s past efforts

Following the worst terrorist attack on its soil in 2019, New Zealand’s government launched a global initiative co-chaired by President Emmanuel Macron of France to counter terrorism by declaring the Christchurch Call for Action. The initiative, signed by many countries, demanded Big Tech companies eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online and restrict extreme speech on platforms in the name of preventing terrorism.

At the time, the White House under President Donald Trump opted against endorsing the effort amid concerns the framework violated long established standards of free expression and freedom of speech in the United States.

“We encourage technology companies to enforce their terms of service and community standards that forbid the use of their platforms for terrorist purposes. We continue to be proactive in our efforts to counter terrorist content online while also continuing to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” the White House initially stated in 2019. “Further, we maintain that the best tool to defeat terrorist speech is productive speech, and thus we emphasize the importance of promoting credible, alternative narratives as the primary means by which we can defeat terrorist messaging.”

However, under President Joe Biden the U.S. joined the initiative, endorsing only specific language. “The United States applauds language in the Christchurch Call emphasizing the importance of respecting human rights and the rule of law, including the protection of freedom of expression,” the White House wrote in its 2021 press release.

Recognizing the international support for the initiative, Arden says the focus and global efforts must shift to include tackling new challenges posed by “mis and disinformation” online.

“We recognize the threats that the old weapons created, we came together as communities to minimize these threats, we created international rules norms and expectations, we never saw that as a threat to our individual liberties rather it was a preservation of them,” she said, adding, “The same must apply now as we take on these new challenges.”