Second Letter Reiterates Invitation to Facebook CEO to Public Conversation With Counter Extremism Project Experts

(New York, N.Y.) – In the wake of the tragic shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand that took the lives of 50 and injured dozens of others, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) re-issued their challenge to Facebook Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to join top CEP advisors for a public and transparent conversation about the threat posed by extremist content that proliferates on Facebook. The original invitation followed Zuckerberg’s public commitment to hosting a series of “public discussions about the future of technology in society.”

In a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg, CEP Chief Executive Officer Ambassador Mark D. Wallace again requested his participation in a discussion with several CEP advisors uniquely qualified to speak to the real threat posed to the general public by extremist content on Facebook: Dr. Hany Farid, Albert Bradley 1915 Third Century Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College and incoming School of Information and EECS professor at UC Berkeley; Mitchell Silber, former Director of Intelligence at the New York Police Department (NYPD); and Lucinda Creighton, former Irish Minister for European Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister and Member of the Irish Parliament.

“The tragic shootings at two mosques in Christchurch clearly demonstrate that Facebook must do more in the interest of public safety and security. We understand that the proliferation of extremist content online is a difficult and complicated problem, but what is currently being done is clearly inadequate. Lives are at stake and CEP would welcome the opportunity to engage directly and openly with Mr. Zuckerberg to end the hateful and violence-inciting extremist propaganda on Facebook,” said CEP Executive Director David Ibsen.

The bios for Dr. Farid, Mr. Silber and Ms. Creighton are below.

Dr. Hany Farid

Dr. Farid is the Albert Bradley 1915 Third Century Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Dartmouth and incoming School of Information and EECS professor at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on digital forensics, image analysis, and human perception. He received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from the University of Rochester in 1989 and my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. Following a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, he joined the faculty at Dartmouth in 1999. He is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and he is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is also the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Fourandsix Technologies and a Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project.

Mitchell Silber

Mr. Silber is a founder and principal at the Guardian Group, a security and intelligence advisory firm. Previously, at FTI Consulting, Mr. Silber was the founder and head of the Geopolitical Intelligence practice. Before FTI, he served for more than three years as the Executive Managing Director of the Threat Intelligence and Data Analytics practice areas at K2 Intelligence.

Prior to his work at K2, Mr. Silber served as Director of Intelligence Analysis at the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) and was responsible for building out and managing the Analytic and Cyber Units. He supervised the research, collection and analysis for the Intelligence Division’s entire portfolio of ongoing terrorism related investigations and was responsible for strategic assessments of emerging and future threats to the City of New York. Mr. Silber was involved in internal planning, development and new unit creation for the department and initiated and managed relations with foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Mr. Silber is a visiting lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (“SIPA”) where he teaches a course on Modern Urban Terrorism. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at SIPA and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the chief executive of Parallel Networks, a new non-profit committed to working with former terrorists to combat violent extremism.

Lucinda Creighton

Lucinda Creighton is the senior advisor to the Counter Extremism in Europe. She is a Barrister, qualified New York attorney, former Irish Minister for European Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister and Member of the Irish Parliament. She is an experienced political strategist and negotiator. Lucinda has a deep interest and expertise in foreign policy and security issues. She is an Advisory Board member of the Washington DC based International Republican Institute (IRI) as well as being an active Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). The ECFR comprises many former and serving Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and leading academics. In 2016 she founded Vulcan Consulting Ltd, a public affairs consultancy which advises corporate and non-governmental clients on all aspects of EU policy, regulation and political risk.