The United States said on Wednesday it would not join international efforts to stop calls for extremism on the Internet, but stressed its support for the initiative’s goals.

“Although the United States is not in a position now to allow us to join the pledge, we continue to support our goals” in the Christchurch Appeal, the White House said.

The initiative bears the name of the New Zealand city that witnessed a massacre in March 2019 when a white supremacist shot two mosques, killing 51 people. The attack was broadcast directly on Facebook from a camera mounted on his head.

“We continue our proactive efforts to confront terrorist content on the Internet, and we continue to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” the White House said.

“We encourage technology companies to implement their own terms of service and community standards that prohibit the use of their platforms for terrorist purposes.”

Twenty-six countries and a giant Internet company signed a pledge called “Christchurch Appeal” to stop the use of social media as a tool to promote terrorism.

At the Paris Summit, it was agreed that countries and companies should cooperate to close accounts of people who spread extremist or hateful ideas.

It was also agreed to improve the monitoring of extremist content and to reduce the loading of violent content.