trump administration says it will not sign international accord to pressure internet platforms to remove violent and extremist content creditpool photo by charles platiaumay 15 2019paris the trump administration said on wednesday that it would not sign an international accord intended to pressure the largest internet platforms to eradicate violent and extremist content highlighting a broader divide between the united states and other countries over governments role in determining what content is acceptable onlineciting free speech protections the administration said in a statement that the united states is not currently in a position to join the endorsement it added that the best tool to defeat terrorist speech is productive speechthe statement coincided with president emmanuel macron of france and prime minister jacinda ardern of new zealand meeting in paris to sign what they have labeled the christchurch call the agreement was crafted after a terrorist attack on mosques in christchurch new zealand in march that left 51 muslim worshipers dead the massacre was live streamed on facebook and spread virally over the internetget the bits newsletter for the latest from silicon valley and the technology industryms ardern has used the christchurch killings to rally support for increased vigilance toward keeping violent and extremist content off the worlds largest internet platforms facebook twitter google microsoft and amazon have vowed to monitor their services more aggressively for material that encourages and facilitates violenceyet the debate about regulating the internet is raising broader questions about what constitutes acceptable free expression online companies and governments have largely coalesced around addressing violent terroristrelated and childexploitation content online but there is less consensus on issues like what qualifies as hate speech and misinformation and what forms of political rhetoric are tolerable even if they are offensive and polarizingthe christchurch call is not binding and does not include penalties for platforms that do not comply but as governments around the world consider new laws and regulations tech companies are under growing pressure to demonstrate that they can police their platforms on tuesday before the gathering in paris facebook said it would place more restrictions on the use of its live video servicelast week france proposed new laws that would require companies to eliminate harmful content britain put forward a similar proposal last month and after the christchurch massacre australia passed a law that made company executives personally liable for the spread of violent materialdipayan ghosh who worked on privacy policy issues at facebook and in president barack obamas administration said the absence of the united states from the accord showed that it was ceding tech regulation to other nationsthat the us is a noshow to such an important meeting indicates a shocking lack of concern about the tremendous harms perpetuated by the internet including terrorism and killing said mr ghosh who is now codirector of the platform accountability project at harvard university further our lack of participation will reinforce the intellectual divide between americans and the rest of the worldhe said the agreement was symbolically significant and