This article originally appeared in New York Transatlantic.
Violent scenes of car bombs, beheadings and shootings dominate the news cycle, depicting a world where radicalization—particularly of youths—takes place at a calamitous rate. A reason for the spread of this extremism: modern technology and the internet, which has become a street corner where terrorists shout like town criers.
In the wake of a series of attacks across Europe, including in London, Nice and Barcelona, heads of state organized a forum on preventing terrorist use of the internet during the UN General Assembly Leaders’ Week. UK Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Google Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker shared their resolve to restrict terrorists’ ability to incite, coordinate or direct violent extremism and to counter their narratives of hate.
Such an extensive mandate, however, is dangerous. Whomever defines “terrorist” or an “act of terrorism” will wield immense power, as the categories are often determined by political interests.
Though there are laws regulating hate speech and cases of individuals found guilty for incitement in European states, this is not true internationally. In the US, for example, incitement is limited to language that almost immediately sparks violence, destruction or other illegal activity. Meanwhile, propaganda is broadly defined as partial information published to advance a particular agenda, often by playing off people’s emotions. This could mean almost anything.