Australia to Block Internet Domains During Terror Attacks

Australia will block access to internet domains hosting terrorist material during crisis events and will consider legislation to force digital platforms to improve the safety of their services, officials said on Sunday.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is in France to take part in the G7 leaders' forum, said the government intended to prevent extremists from exploiting digital platforms to post extremely violent content.

"We are doing everything we can to deny terrorists the opportunity to glorify their crimes," he said in a statement.

[...] Australia's eSafety Commissioner would determine on a case-by-case basis what should be censored, and was working with industry on arrangements to quickly block access during an attack.

REPORT: If you encounter offensive and illegal content online please report to our @eSafetyOffice CyberReport team https://t.co/HIhY7eaTj4 pic.twitter.com/Snyu8yddy6

— eSafety Office (@eSafetyOffice) August 26, 2019

Join us @ #eSafety19 gain insights into the online experiences of diverse communities & understand how support programs can be more effectively tailored to reflect their lived experience. We asked Bhajanpreet @NetsafeYAS what online world he wants to see. https://t.co/Te1N82hnFf pic.twitter.com/9hEOkiz4sh

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A 24/7 Crisis Coordination Centre would be established to monitor the online world for extreme violence or terrorist material.

In addition to extremist violence, domains hosting any abhorrent violent material – defined as content showing murder, attempted murder, rape, torture, or kidnapping – that is recorded by anyone involved in the conduct also would be blocked, the government said.

SKY Network Television was fined NZ$4,000 ($2,560) by New Zealand's Broadcasting Standards Authority earlier this month for showing a number of edited clips taken from the alleged Christchurch attacker's 17 minute livestream video.

The regulator said in its judgment that, while the broadcast was newsworthy, the clips contained disturbing violent content which could cause distress, or glorify the alleged attacker and promote his messages.