The video of the attack on the mosque is still online, two years later

By RNZ

The government is urged to do more to prevent people from watching the video of the March 15 mosque attacks.

Two years after it was made, efforts to stop its spread, such as the ‘Christchurch Call’, do not appear to be working and a simple search using an alternative search engine to Google can lead a person directly to images uploaded by the gunman to glorify his actions.

RNZ has chosen not to name the alternate search engine, to avoid pointing anyone else to the video.

The video, through the publication of this article, had received at least 128,000 visits.

Internal Affairs, which is responsible for monitoring said content, was informed of its existence a week ago.

Canterbury Muslim Association spokesman Abdigani Ali said witnesses and mourners were already nervous ahead of the second anniversary and worried that they might inadvertently stumble upon the images.

“To be honest, my first reaction was a total shock, that this content is available on the internet. You know, we don’t want to re-traumatize our community. And we don’t want other people in the wider community to see this content either. It’s a very disturbing content. “

While sharing or even viewing the video could land people in prison in New Zealand, Internal Affairs jurisdiction does not extend abroad to the search engines and websites that have made it available.

Ali said it was necessary to filter the video in the same way that the government filtered child abuse here, to prevent it from reaching these shores.

“We don’t want to make the internet, you know, a place where everyone is censored, but at the same time we don’t want, you know, a terrorist attack of that magnitude, which was one of New Zealand’s darkest days, to be available on line.

“So I think it’s the government’s job to differentiate which is which and hopefully make the Internet a safe place for everyone.”

Netsafe CEO Martin Cocker said that while legislation before Parliament allowed for such a filter, details of how it would work or what it would filter had yet to be revealed.

Voluntary efforts like the Christchurch Call had helped clean up companies like Google and Microsoft, which had invested in removing harmful content when it appeared, he said.

“In terms of being able to say that the Internet is free of harmful content, no, we are very far from that and maybe a step closer than we were a few years ago, but in reality it is a negligible step.”

Cocker said there were about 30 alternative search engines similar to the one the video could be found on, and most didn’t have the resources or the will to do anything about it.

I had this advice for those who want to avoid inadvertently stumbling over images:

“I am always very cautious about recommending or not recommending any of the different products that are available, but I can say that the major search engines work with Netsafe and they work with other organizations in New Zealand and that makes them one more place sure New Zealanders will be “.

The search engine where the video was found said it was only a “secondary provider” and that the content had to come through Microsoft first. He had contacted Microsoft and asked for the video to be blocked.

Internal Affairs said more than one search engine was reported last week where the video could be found, along with several websites hosting it.

He said he was talking to them about removing it, but not everyone was willing to cooperate.

“We appreciate that this is a painful and difficult time for Muslim communities in Aotearoa and the existence of this video only adds to this,” said Director of Digital Security Jared Mullen.

“Our digital security team in Internal Affairs will work hard with our partners to remove illegal material from the online environment whenever we can,” he said.