New York, 21st September 2017: At the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) Ministerial Plenary Meeting at the UN General Assembly, ISD launched its recommendations to counter the use of the internet and social media by violent extremist groups to spread propaganda and recruit. The Zurich-London Recommendations on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism Online will guide global governmental responses to this issue, outlining comprehensive measures to the challenge of online extremism. The recommendations are being launched in partnership with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF) as part of the GTCF’s Strategic Communication Initiative, launched in September 2016. ISD has developed these recommendations following a rigorous review of existing approaches, expert workshops, and interviews with GCTF members and representatives from the private sector and civil society. Throughout this process, ISD has focused on setting out appropriate steps to tackle the issue of online extremism, while preserving global connectivity and the free and secure flow of information. The Zurich-London Recommendations on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism Online address three key areas:
- Overarching good practices: How governments can best understand the online threat, and ensure responses are collaborative, balanced, and complimentary to broader national CVE strategies.
- Content-based responses: How governments can collaborate with private sector companies to address the availability of and access to extremist and terrorist content online, through reporting and removing content.
- Communications-based responses: How governments can work with civil society to challenge the appeal of extremist propaganda, offering positive alternative and counter-narratives.
Sasha Havlicek, ISD CEO said: “Our recommendations, launched at the UN General Assembly, will support nationalgovernments’ approaches to countering online extremism, as well as inform future efforts among international organisations such as the UN. ISD has been at the forefront of research and policy challenging extremism online and we recognise that both cross-border and cross-sector collaboration is vital if we want to have a tangible impact on this issue”. Following these recommendations, interested governments will be supported with capacity-building workshops and toolkits, offering best-practice case studies and resources to shape their approaches to preventing and countering extremism online.