French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Axelle Lemaire are asking the social media companies to help fight jihadist propaganda online. The request was made after a series of terrorist attacks last month in Paris that left 129 dead and 300 civilians injured.
The Prime Minister together with his Deputy Minister for the digital affairs, Lemaire, met the representatives of the biggest online web companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, and Microsoft to talk about the strategies to prevent extremist propaganda and develop mechanisms in case of future attacks.
In a press release posted in the Twitter account of the Deputy Minister, the French government and the five online companies have agreed to establish a strategy of counter-discourse that will target online activities of ISIS. The details of the offensive strategy remain confidential and were not disclosed in the press release.
The government has become increasingly concerned about the ISIS online propaganda which continues to recruit French nationals. After the attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in January, France immediately launched a "Stop Jihadism" campaign. The campaign aims to debunk ISIS propaganda as the Prime Minister urge web companies to be more careful with the extremist content that are published on their platforms.
Valls and Lemaire express their appreciation and thanks to the web companies for implementing features and alerts on their platform. Such features include Facebook's Safety Check that allow the user to check-in as 'safe' during the night of the terrorist attacks last month. The French government also asked the web companies to develop a tool that can engage the people in the battle against extremist propaganda.
The Verge reported the meeting comes after the government approved a measure for the extension of the country's current state of emergency. The move makes it easier for authorities to conduct warrantless searches, seize data from computers and smartphones, place suspects under house arrest, and banning protests.
The said meeting between the French government and the web companies will continue. A follow-up meeting will be held at the end of January.
