At the same time, there is a risk that emerging policy framework may be undermined by some of the measures governments are taking in response to public security concerns posed by the growing incidence of terrorist use of the internet. These measures include restrictions, lawful or unlawful orders compelling companies to provide access to user data and steps to increase greater state involvement in internet governance. 2.2 Existing and Emerging Threats The project consultative process confirmed that the principal uses of the internet and ICT for terrorist purposes remain anchored in communications and propaganda, radicalisation and recruitment of potential fighters and followers, transferring and raising funds and transferring or sharing knowledge. These uses evidently change in accordance with context and the degree of internet penetration in a given location, among other factors. They are viewed as posing serious risks to public safety and, increasingly, to international peace and security. Beyond these uses, there is growing concern that terrorist groups may eventually develop the capacities and capabilities to use the internet and broader cyberspace to conduct disruptive and destructive attacks against critical infrastructure, with the potential to cause significant harm. Some uses of the internet and ICT for terrorist purposes are often indistinguishable from regular use of the internet by other users or groups, making it very difficult to address the issue. Calls by governments at the international, regional and national levels to take ‘urgent action’ against online extremism or terrorist use of the internet are growing, notably in terms of restricting online content with the aim of protecting public safety. Such calls to action tend to be directed against intermediaries (i.e. internet service providers (ISPs), technology and social media companies) rather than the actual creators of the content, often due to the fact that creators of terrorist content operate out of extremely dangerous territories, where a law enforcement approach is simply not feasible. There are competing arguments as to the merits of these approaches. On the one hand, they are often perceived as enhancing public safety and protecting the vulnerable. On the other, they are held to violate the human rights of users, and undermine trust in companies as well as in government. Moreover, the use of the internet and ICT for terrorist purposes will likely remain a problem as long as the off-line real-world issues driving such activity are not resolved. Since understanding and adapting to the dynamics of context is key to any solution, it remains unclear how policies focused principally on or over-weighted toward short-term technological solutions, such as algorithmic content removal, or solutions centred on restricting content or bulk data collection will yield long-term results. Similar appreciations are applicable to current approaches to countering the narratives of terrorist or violent extremist groups. In short, much needs to be done by all parties to ensure a more appropriate balance between offline prevention and online countering measures and in demonstrating what yields effective results. 2.3 Current Industry Approaches Driven by business, user and government prerogatives, major technology and social media companies are investing significant resources in developing voluntary measures to respond to terrorist use of their products and services. These efforts are largely approached from a content management perspective and involve: 5