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UNITED NATIONS

France appealed Thursday for U.N. member states to work together on an international legal framework that would make social network providers share responsibility for the use of their platforms to spread messages promoting violence.

"There are hate videos, calls for death, propaganda that has not been responded to, and we need to respond,'' Harlem Desir, French state secretary for European affairs, told reporters on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly meeting on the rising threat of anti-Semitism.

The French call for a radical shift in the way governments treat social networking companies such as Facebook and Twitter came two weeks after Islamist militants killed 17 people in Paris at a satirical magazine and a kosher supermarket.

"We must limit the dissemination of these messages,'' Desir said. "We must ... establish a legal framework so the Internet platforms, the large companies managing social networking, so that they're called upon to act responsibly.''

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, described Desir's call as an "interesting proposal'' that would have to be discussed with civil society and the private sector. Power also emphasized the importance of protecting free speech.

"We're very alert to the extent to which social media platforms are being exploited by violent extremists across the board, including by al-Qaida and Islamic State,'' Power said.

Desir called for an international conference to discuss the issue, and Power suggested countries should pool their best practices.

Western governments have cited the use of social networks by Islamic State militants to entice young foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq, where government and U.N. officials say they have participated in beheadings, massacres and other war crimes. More French have joined Islamic State than any other nationality.

Michael Roth, German minister of state for Europe, supported France's appeal.

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France: Social Media Companies Must Help Stop Violence