Addressing violent extremist and terrorist use of the Internet

While the Internet has helped to build a more open, connected world, it has also increasingly become a tool for terrorism and violent extremism. The Government of Canada is working with international allies and the tech sector, as well as with experts and frontline practitioners, to prevent social media and other online platforms from being used as tools to incite or propagate violence.

One of the three priorities under the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence is addressing radicalization in the online space, and this includes working to remove terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC). Public Safety Canada and the Canada Centre are working with partners in Canada and internationally to address TVEC.

International actions

In 2019, Canada joined governments, civil society organizations and industry leaders from across the globe in endorsing the Christchurch Call to Action – a global initiative dedicated to eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online. As a strong supporter of this initiative, the Government of Canada has taken concrete steps to uphold its commitments.

Through the Christchurch Call, governments and online service providers are making voluntary, collective commitments to prevent individuals from using the Internet to promote and sensationalize acts of terrorism. These commitments include:

In response to the Christchurch Call, Public Safety Canada committed up to $2.9 million to Tech Against Terrorism to support the development of the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform. This digital repository helps small online service providers by alerting them when new terrorist content is detected, enabling swift action to prevent its spread. Additional details about this project and other efforts by Canada to support the Christchurch Call commitments:

Canada also works closely with Five Eyes partners and G7 countries to address the growing threat of terrorist and violent extremist content online. In addition, Canada engages with digital industry via the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). Founded in 2017 by Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft, the GIFCT is an industry-led body that brings together representatives from industry, government, civil society and academia to develop and implement collaborative solutions to address violent extremist and terrorist use of the Internet. As part of this effort, Canada – represented by Public Safety's Canada Centre – is one of several governments that serves alongside civil society representatives on the GIFCT's Independent Advisory Committee, working to shape global strategies for combating terrorist and violent extremist content online.

Community Resilience Fund

Through the Community Resilience Fund, Public Safety financially supports several projects to help counter violent extremism and terrorism online. Some examples of these projects include:

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