Foundation to continue fight against extremist content online

New Zealand and France on Tuesday launched a non-governmental organization to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and French President Emmanuel Macron said a charity would coordinate the "Christchurch Call," which was set up by the countries in 2019.

The initiative works across governments, the tech sector, and civil society to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.

"Since 2019, we have managed to build a global community to fight against extremism online and it is delivering, taking action at each tragic occurrence of a new terrorist attack," Macron said in a statement.

"Our commitment to this promise remains firm and I am confident that this new stage of the Call provides a solid basis for the future of this initiative and the new challenges we now have to tackle, including AI-generated content."

The "Christchurch Call" is named after the New Zealand city where a suspected white supremacist gunman killed 51 people in attacks on two mosques in 2019.

Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern was set to become Patron of the Call. Her role was set to be voluntary and unpaid.

"The Christchurch Call represents a collective effort to try and prevent something like March 15 happening to anyone else," Ardern said on Instagram.

"It was our darkest of hours, but I know from my last visit in February with those affected that there's still a huge desire for us to keep work like this going. And together we are. So onwards!" the former premier wrote.

The Christchurch Call Foundation would be headquartered in Wellington, with presence in key locations around the world, the statement said.