Is America responsible for online terrorism?
In light of a series of events happening in Europe due to Islamic terrorism, the focus of the international world is on the UNODC today. The agenda was set on online recruitment of terrorist fighters. With 2872 incidents since 1970, directly related to terrorism in the USA, most notably the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks that left a scar on the American people, this agenda and the discussions at hand are more important than ever. In the Committee, however, we heard several countries like Australia, Israel and China urge the United States to pressure its American tech and social media companies into taking care of the online recruitment of Terrorism. These statements were easily made, and seem to shift the blame onto the American leadership. Has the US a responsibility when it comes to terrorist recruitment that happens on private social media’s?
The US delegate to the UNOCD states that ‘the United States of America prides itself for being a global advocate of peace and anti-terrorism’ The delegation of the USA also pointed out in a private interview with Fox News, that the United States Supreme Court already has a limitation on the notion of Free Speech. This means that American civilians cannot call upon the first amendment in cases of child pornography, IPR and of course, terrorism.
This means that inside the USA, it is not possible to recruit children and teenagers for online terrorism, not is it possible to preach in favour of terrorism and its acts. It is not up to the United States to police private companies, but it is up to sovereign nations to keep an eye on their own populations, especially vulnerable groups. The US government and the Republican party welcomes any discussion on counter-terrorism and even on setting standards for private businesses, but ushers that these standards are also implemented and met by other countries. America remains the land of the free, and businesses should be the subjects of this freedom as well.