Countering Violent Extremism through Internet Intermediaries: A typology for cross-country comparison

This paper examines the counter violent extremism and anti-terrorism measures in Australia, China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States by investigating how governments leveraged internet intermediaries as their surrogate censors in the online world. Particular attention is paid to how political rhetoric led to new legislation passed or proposed in each of the countries studied, and their respective restrictive measures are compared against the recommendations specified by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. A convergence in relying on artificial intelligence for content moderation is found in both common law and civil law jurisdictions. A typology for international comparison is proposed, which provides further insights into whether a country’s counter violent extremism policy focuses on prevention or post-incident management, and the corresponding censorship measures are driven primarily by legislation or technology.