On June 27, GIFCT hosted its annual Multistakeholder Forum, bringing together Members, experts, practitioners, and international representatives from civil society and government to Singapore. This year’s event marks four years operating as an independent nonprofit organization working to prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms. This important mission is undertaken in partnership with our growing community of members, now comprising over 30 tech companies, as well as our partners and stakeholders from around the world. We are grateful to our 2024 Operating Board Chair, Microsoft, for hosting this impactful forum.
Deepening collaboration across sectors and fostering closer global partnerships is an integral part of GIFCT’s work to support member companies. A unique tech led multi-stakeholder initiative to counter terrorism online, GIFCT hosted this year’s Forum in Singapore to hear from regional industry and experts, draw on international perspectives and deepen substantive collaboration to support our diverse and dynamic member community and their efforts to counter violent extremism and terrorism online. This week’s Forum brought together nearly 100 representatives from across sectors in person, with over 475 virtual registrants. We gained new insights to inform our future technical work identifying and delivering cross-platform solutions for members, explored new evolutions in the threat landscape, and deepened understanding of regional and international dynamics and best practices to address online harms and their offline impacts and implications across the world.
Hosting this year’s Forum in Singapore continues our longstanding commitment to global engagement. To date, GIFCT has hosted regional workshops in 17 countries across the globe, engaging with our network of more than 155 tech companies, 82 NGOs, and 24 government bodies. Recognizing the importance of engagement across Asia and APAC, facing a variety of unique challenges and opportunities related to countering terrorism and violent extremism, GIFCT has ensured to host convenings as well as engage and support partner forums. In 2023 GIFCT hosted regional cross-sector workshops in Singapore and Japan working with local partners and governments. This year GIFCT has also ensured participation in multistakeholder convenings in India through the Raisina Dialogues and Mongolia with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, highlighting the critical role of public-private partnerships and cross-platform collaboration. GIFCT will continue to support networks and efforts with like-minded missions.
We welcome opportunities to follow up with regional tech companies who may be interested in applying for GIFCT membership and joining a unique community of tech companies on a common mission to prevent terrorists from exploiting digital platforms.
We are grateful to all who have joined us and look forward to sharing more on our work and progress from this week.
We encourage you to read through a collection of expert insights related to the nexus of technology and extremism in the Asian region. This has been developed by GIFCT’s academic wing, the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET), established to connect industry and global expertise, and ensure our work is informed by the rapidly evolving dynamics around terrorism and counterterrorism.
Click for Asia InsightsFor those of you that were not able to join in person or virtually, please see the following videos of panel discussions, which featured leading experts from industry, academia, civil society, and government.
Opening Remarks by GIFCT Executive Director, Naureen Chowdhury Fink & Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law, K Shanmugam
Session 1 – GIFCT’s Evolution and Impacts
Session 2 – Terrorism Threats and Regional Challenges in Asia
Updates from the Christchurch Call to Action
Session 3 – AI: Implications and Opportunities for Countering Terrorism Online
Session 4 – Responding to Crises: Regional Perspectives
Session 5 – Managing Risk and Classifications
Closing remarks by GIFCT Executive Director, Naureen Chowdhury Fink & Microsoft Chief Digital Safety Officer and 2024 GIFCT Operating Board Chair, Courtney Gregoire
