New Zealand creates unit to target, disrupt online extremism

WELLINGTON: New Zealand will establish a team of investigators dedicated solely to tackling online extremism, as it moves to address failures exposed by the Christchurch mosques massacre, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday.

Ardern has led global efforts to force technology firms to clamp down on extremist material since a lone gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers in March, streaming part of the atrocity on Facebook. But she said the attack, which targeted two mosques in the South Island city, also showed her own government needed to improve resources to curb the spread of online hate. "We will have a dedicated team focused on targeting and disrupting violent extremist content across our digital channels," she said. "This will work in a similar way to how we target child sexual exploitation material, by working with online content hosts to find and remove harmful content." Ardern said the Internal Affairs department would hire 17 specialists in investigative, forensic and intelligence work to focus on violent extremist content online.