50 countries and more than 150 technology companies attending the Paris Peace Forum have signed an agreement to work together to prevent cybercrime.
The document, officially titled the “Paris call for trust and security in cyberspace”, was signed by representatives of nations and businesses at the inaugural Paris Peace Forum on Monday. It pledges its signatories – which included Canada, Japan, all 28 EU Member States; Google, Facebook and Microsoft – to combat online theft of trade secrets, hate speech and interference in elections. Russia, China and the USA did not sign the pledge.
Separately at the Paris Peace Forum, the French government announced a six-month partnership with Facebook with the intention of developing collaborative methods to police and remove hate speech on the social network. Emmanuel Macron and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will meet regularly at locations across the EU to formulate concrete recommendations for both parties.
The Paris Peace Forum, chaired by French President and initiator of the event Emmanuel Macron, is an annual meeting for “actors of global governance” – politicians, journalists, businesses, international groups, trade unions, religions and citizens – to foster international cooperation and form collective solutions to global problems.
Within its wider abstract goals, the Paris Peace Forum also aims to achieve the following:
- Providing a recognisable concrete contribution to the UN’s sustainable development goals;
- Raising awareness of and reaffirming participants’ support for multilateral organisations;
- Providing a forum for bilateral meetings and mediations;
- Promoting and publicising the launch of global governance initiatives;
- Devising digital solutions to international challenges; and
- Encouraging dialogue between countries and generations around issues of interconnected governance, such as development, security and environmental concerns.
Projects under discussion at the Paris Peace Forum include an initiative to develop 3D-printed satellites; a multidisciplinary research presentation about ethics in artificial intelligence; a mentoring service connecting young refugees with business leaders; and a proposed legal framework which would criminalise internationally the sale of fake medicines.
