Obama administration officials will meet with executives of major technology and entertainment firms in Washington on Wednesday for a conference aimed at combating the activities of violent extremists online, according to industry and government officials.  The meeting was called by the White House, according to a person who was invited and who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The afternoon meeting at the Justice Department will include speeches by John P. Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security; Megan Smith, the national chief technology officer; and Jen Easterly, the senior director for counterterrorism.  The event is another step toward coordinating government and private sector efforts on national security. After the mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., last year, the White House and presidential candidates pushed for greater accountability by Internet firms to clamp down on extremists who use social media to recruit new members, organize and broadcast their demands to the world.  Last month, the White House and tech chief executives held a security meeting in San Jose to discuss the use of social media by terrorist groups and encryption practices by tech firms to keep consumer data private. Secretary of State John Kerry also met with Hollywood studio executives earlier this month, and entertainment firms have been asked by government officials to help create “counternarratives” to those of terrorists on social media networks.  The afternoon gathering on Wednesday, which will be held at the Justice Department, brings together tech companies in Washington at a time of heightened tension between the administration and Silicon Valley over the contentious battle between Apple and the United States government over access to the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. Some of the tech firms have expressed cautious support of Apple.  Many of the tech companies are willing to work on ways to combat violent extremism on social media. The meeting on Wednesday, called the “Madison Valleywood Project,” in reference to the participation of marketing, tech and entertainment firms, will focus on terrorists’ use of social media to organize and recruit members for violent extremism.  The subject of encryption and Apple’s resistance to being ordered to break through its encrypted software for law enforcement is not on the agenda.  Some social media firms have stepped carefully with counterterrorism efforts, saying it is technologically difficult to weed out true terrorist activity. They have also expressed fears of stifling the free speech of users. Others, including Twitter, have started to more aggressively shut down the accounts of suspected terrorists. Twitter said it would have a representative at the meeting.  ”Over the past year, organizations and companies across a range of industries have asked how they might contribute to efforts to counter radicalization and recruitment activities by ISIL and other violent extremists,” said Marc Raimondi, the Justice Department’s national security spokesman, using a term for the Islamic State. “The U.S. government recognizes that these private sector actors, which include N.G.O.s, social media companies and content producers, have a crucial role to play in developing creative and effective ways to undermine terrorist recruiting and counter the call to violence.”
The administration will seek help from social media companies and the entertainment industry to counter online recruiting efforts by extremists.