Spain reaffirms its commitment to combating radicalisation and violent extremism on the internet

These attacks highlighted the damage that violent extremist content on the internet can cause as they were streamed live and went viral.

Ardern and Macron's meeting again brings together heads of state and government and leaders of the technology sector to further commit to removing violent extremist and terrorist content from the internet. Spain has been part of the initiative since 2019, when President Sánchez supported it at the fringe of the UN General Assembly in September that year. The fight against radicalisation and violent extremism - at both multilateral and national levels - is a priority of the Spanish government as reflected in the National Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

'Taking advantage of the internet to spread hate speech and incitement to violence is not acceptable,' said President Sánchez during his video conference speech. 'We cannot allow the internet to be misused to undermine the principles and values that are at the heart of our democracies'.

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Fernando CalvoPedro Sanchez put forward a series of tools needed to combat this threat. He pointed to the importance of seeking the collaboration of more technology companies and developing specific multilateral legislation, stressing that the new EU rule to counter the spread of terrorist content online is a positive milestone and shows the way forward for other institutions.

Finally, the president underlined the important role of civil society, both as overseers and as advocates of solutions. 'Let us take the Christchurch Call to the next stage together and work to eliminate terrorist and extremist content online, while preserving a free, open and safe internet,' he concluded.

Non official translation