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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will travel to Paris this afternoon to participate in the launch of an international initiative aimed at countering terrorist and violent extremist content online.

This new initiative, led by Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern and President of France, Emanuel Macron, comes in the wake of the terrorist attack in Christchurch New Zealand on 15 March, in which 51 people lost their lives and dozens more were injured in an attack which was livestreamed online. 

The Taoiseach will join Prime Minister Ardern, President Macron and a number of other world leaders, as well as representatives of major technology companies, to formally adopt the Christchurch Callto Action, which commits Governments and online service providers to undertake a series of actions to counter and remove terrorist and violent extremist content online. 

The Call will outline commitments from Governments, major social media companies and online service providers to prevent the abuse of the internet and halt the dissemination of extremist content online and develop processes to respond rapidly to the spreading of this material following a terrorist event. 

Other leaders present will include Prime Minister Theresa May (UK), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Canada), President Macky Sall (Senegal), Prime Minister Erna Solberg (Norway), King Abdullah II (Jordan) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. 

Following the adoption of the Christchurch Call to Action, leaders will attend the closing dinner of the Tech for Good Summit, at which more than 150 business leaders will be present.