The two men with the most power and ability to affect change at Facebook have chosen not to join Ardern and Macron at their little ‘We will tell social media giants what to do’ talkfest in Paris that has been named the “Christchurch Call Summit”.
In my opinion, President Trump’s and Mark Zuckerberg’s absence has turned the summit into an immediate fizzer and a complete waste of virtue signalling time and money. What is the point of a talkfest when the key people with the power to change things aren’t there?
quote.[…] representatives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter will all be in Paris next week for the Christchurch Call summit.
But US President Donald Trump will not be there, and it is unclear if there will be a US representative at all.
Nor are Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg or second-in-charge Sheryl Sandberg attending, both of whom Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke with after the March 15 terror attacks.
Instead Nick Clegg, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Facebook’s vice president of global policy & communications, will attend.
Ardern, who is flying to Paris this evening to co-chair the summit with French president Emmanuel Macron, released the names of confirmed attendees this morning.
She did not see it as a snub that Trump, Zuckerberg, and Sandberg were not coming, and said that the attendees were still being finalised and a US representative might still attend.
“Engagement within such a short timeframe is a big ask. We’re really pleased with the turnout,” Ardern told the Herald.
end quote.
“We will continue to seek support from others. This is a start. We will then continue engagement and seek additional signatories to the call.”
The summit will seek an agreement with countries and tech companies to prevent terrorist of violent extremism content from being hosted on social media platforms.
A broad buy-in for the summit is considered crucial to give it any weight.
A Newspaper
The only person from Facebook who needs to “buy-in” to this summit is Zuckerberg, and he chose not to attend. The only other person with enough power to compel an American business the size of Facebook to change its ways is President Trump, and he chose not to attend. The summit, therefore, will achieve nothing (for Facebook at least) and is just another photo opportunity for our prime minister, who is big on the Hui and small on the do-ee.
Ardern has not shown much of an appetite to demand Zuckerberg’s presence at any sort of committee in New Zealand, saying she is “not interested in a PR exercise”.end quote.
Stuff
What a joke. The whole summit is a PR exercise.
