participation by some of the global technology and social media companies in the EU Internet Forum as well as participation of both global and smaller companies in a voluntary round table forum used to discuss trends in both the use of their products and services as well as tools and mechanisms to respond. A more recent industry initiative involves a joint effort by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube aimed at removing ‘terrorist content’ from their services via image hashing or finger-printing. The companies involved will share hashes “of the most extreme and egregious terrorist images and videos [the companies] have removed from [their] services — content most likely to violate all of our respective companies’ content policies”.12 The images will be processed through a form of clearing-house or “shared industry database”. While only just taking off, the announcement of the initiative has attracted significant media and civil society attention.13 Other more normative-focused initiatives include the voluntary Global Network Initiative (GNI), an organisation involving industry (technology, social media and telecommunications companies), investors, civil society and academic experts, mainly from North America and Europe but increasingly from Latin America and Asia. The GNI focuses on ensuring exchange between these actors, developing trust and international standards and has played an important role in ensuring that a focus on core principles, including the UN Principles on Business and Human Rights, are sustained in industry content management efforts. 14 The outcome of its recent industry policy dialogue on Responding to Online Extremism is especially important for those content management issues relating directly to the subject of this report.15 Nothing similar to this initiatives exists in other regions but is arguably needed. As noted, resource constraints or competing priorities often limit the engagement of smaller companies and other actors in these efforts. International, regional and specialised inter-governmental agencies (the UN, the EU, OSCE, Council of Europe, the OAS, the FATF where online transfers and FinTech are concerned, EUROPOL and INTERPOL) are also establishing fora for exchange of information and experiences with technology and social media companies or to build capacity. In addition, a number of governments are supporting the establishment of regional counter-narrative hubs to share information and exchange practices. A number of UN Security Council and Human Rights Council Resolutions and Statements, the UN General Assembly’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the more recent Secretary-General Plan of Action provide an over-arching policy framework for work in this area. Across regions, there is an important knowledge/ awareness gap within the start-up community and among investors, law enforcement and national security agencies, regulators and the legal community on issues relating to terrorist use of the internet, specific use of ICT. Efforts to create information exchange links between the financial services sector and ICT and social media companies are increasing. 12 ‘Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube collaborate to remove ‘terrorist content’ from their services’. TechCrunch. December 5, 2016. See also ‘Partnering to Help Curb Spread of Online Terrorist Content’. Facebook News. December 5, 2016. 13 For a critique on the initiative, see: ‘Companies that partner to counter “violent extremism” online must also collaborate to respect rights’. Access Now, December 8, 2016. 14 15 See: Extremist Content and the ICT Sector. GNI, November 2016. Available at: https://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org/news/responding-online-extremism-without-harming-free-speech-and-privacy 8