Christchurch Terrorist Attack, The Far-Right and Social Media: What can we learn?

The Christchurch terrorist attack on the 15th March 2019 resulting in 50 deaths of men, women and children worshipping at their mosque resulted in global shock and revulsion. What makes this attack all the more shocking is the gunman attached a camera to himself and filmed the attack on a live Facebook feed. As he did so followers around the world with the same extreme far-right views encouraged and cheered him on. As a result a number of state governments have criticised social media companies and are looking to bring these companies to account when they allow extremist and violent content to remain on their sites. Another issue that appeared to surprise many was the terrorist threat the extreme far-right pose to state security. This article will discuss how the extreme far-right threat has increased over the last few years and how their impact can be minimised. Also examined are issues around the difficulties in regulating and bringing social media companies to account in relation to posts on their sites regarding extremist content that promotes violence and hate.

http://newjurist.com/christchurch-terrorist-attack...