NZ, Australia And UK Arrest Citizens For Sharing NZ Shooting Video, ISPs Block Websites

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Mar. 18, 2019

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The governments of New Zealand, Australia the United Kingdom have unveiled a host of authoritarian censorship measures to punish citizens and prevent them from sharing video of the mass shooting in New Zealand.

Multiple people have been tracked down and placed under arrest for either sharing video of the shooting or speaking positively of the shooting.

18-year-old accused of sharing a live-stream of the Christchurch mosque mass shooting has been refused bail; faces possible 14 year sentence: https://t.co/HisusXBFnu
— Social Hax (@socialhax) March 18, 2019

22 year old man has been arrested for sharing the New Zealand shooter video online.https://t.co/3GwxLqRmee
— PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) March 17, 2019

UK: Manchester Police Arrest Four for Comments About New Zealand Attack https://t.co/m8cxCSl2gq
— Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) March 18, 2019

Several of the largest ISPs in New Zealand and Australia are using the New Zealand shooting as a pretext to block access to 4Chan, 8Chan, LiveLeak, Voat, BitChute, Zero Hedge, Dissenter and a bunch of other sites.

Telstra, Australia's largest telecom company, announced their censorship effort on Monday, writing: "We've started temporarily blocking a number of sites that are hosting footage of Friday’s terrorist attack in Christchurch. We understand this may inconvenience some legitimate users of these sites, but these are extreme circumstances and we feel this is the right thing to do."

We've started temporarily blocking a number of sites that are hosting footage of Friday’s terrorist attack in Christchurch. We understand this may inconvenience some legitimate users of these sites, but these are extreme circumstances and we feel this is the right thing to do.
— Telstra News (@Telstra_news) March 18, 2019

One Australian man was "banned from using the internet after allegedly making comments on social media in support of the Christchurch terrorist attack," according to ABC News.

Australian man who posted social media comments in support of the Christchurch mosque massacre is banned from using the internet https://t.co/T89q3GvGv0
— Daily Mail Australia (@DailyMailAU) March 18, 2019

Independent journalist Nick Monroe on Twitter chronicled their censorship efforts:

UPDATE 🚨
"Customer support from @SparkNZ has confirmed any offending websites will be DNS blackholed INDEFINITELY until they are censorship compliant." -- Josh Null of Kiwi Farms pic.twitter.com/F0wMAhFEMx
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 16, 2019

🚨🚨HUGE 🚨🚨
YouTube is **INTENTIONALLY DISABLING** PARTS OF THEIR SEARCH SYSTEM so people can't look up Christchurch content.
"this is temporary and part of our efforts to better respond, review and remove graphic, violative content from YouTube."
https://t.co/c1j4RUAls2 pic.twitter.com/KNKDqexZb3
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 16, 2019

"New Zealand ISPs have banned https://t.co/kOX5XZXqyz until it is “censorship compliant,” despite the fact that Dissenter was in no way involved with this week’s tragic events in NZ." says @getongab https://t.co/2bm9CkannV pic.twitter.com/RpOmMt3pRI
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 16, 2019

ZERO HEDGE BANNED IN NEW ZEALAND according to @kylenz99 https://t.co/BPaY8Ii6JQ pic.twitter.com/q0YeRkqtPn
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 17, 2019

🚨🚨BREAKING: @nzpolice demand **USER INFORMATION** ("IP addresses, email addresses") from Kiwi Farms regarding the New Zealand attack https://t.co/FHwUf95vGq

USER.
INFORMATION.
FOR TALKING ABOUT IT.https://t.co/sgN0j1E9oe
THIS IS AN INFRINGEMENT OF CIVIL LIBERTIES ISSUE NOW pic.twitter.com/9CIUGe6roW
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 17, 2019

Facebook removes 1.5 million videos of Christchurch attack https://t.co/r279zP2svl

🚨OVER REACH🚨
“Out of respect for the people affected by this tragedy and the concerns of local authorities, we’re also removing all edited versions of the video that do not show graphic content” pic.twitter.com/idSpuORfKq
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 17, 2019

🚨🚨FURTHER CENSORSHIP outlined by Discount Domains, responding to the Christchurch attack

"Of concern to us is the use of the internet in these attacks, both to research and to stream the events live."

Vows TAKEDOWN of content based on "moral and social responsibilities" pic.twitter.com/I86nLYuiMJ
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 18, 2019

🚨🚨ANOTHER SITE CENSORED: @bitchute is blocked from access for folks in New Zealand, VPN required as a workaround, says @kylenz99 https://t.co/M6cAk5EyCF pic.twitter.com/kw3rarUG67
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 18, 2019

As Thomas Knapp said Saturday on Antiwar.com in a column titled, "Would Social Media Have Censored Video of 9/11 or Kennedy Assassination?:

If Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube had been primary news sources in 1915, would they have permitted us to view footage (rare, as film was in its early days) of New Zealanders’ desperate fight at Gallipoli?

How about the attack on Pearl Harbor?

The assassination of president John F. Kennedy?

The second plane hitting the World Trade Center?

There's really no reason to believe any of these website blockades will ever be lifted. All the ISP statements say the purpose is to block the video from being shared. If websites simply refuse to take the video down and jump through all their hoops, theoretically the block could go on indefinitely.

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