"The G20 has worked together to make sure these big companies pay their taxes, I'm sure we can work together to make sure they protect our citizens, by ensuring that the tools that they have developed are not used by terrorists as weapons to advance their agendas of hate."

But with Mr Morrison facing the possibility of election defeat, it may fall to Mr Shorten to take up the fight at the G20, and the Labor Leader echoed the Prime Minister's view that social media companies should have the technology to hit the "kill switch" on extremist material.

"They've got some of the most sophisticated algorithms in the world. You can order something online and within a minute they can geo-target you, they can taste-target you. I do not believe it is beyond their technology to not be able to better monitor the material before they publish it," Mr Shorten said.

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong said social media had demonstrably failed to meet its responsibilities and "if there are laws that need to be changed they need to be considered".

"They are the publisher, not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility." — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she would work in unison with international partners targeting social media companies.

"They are the publisher, not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility," she said.

In addition to the controversy over the live-streaming of the massacre, the attack has shone the spotlight on the internet ecosystem inhabited by white supremacy groups and far-right extremists, forcing tech giants on the defensive.


Facebook released updated information stating the video was viewed fewer than 200 times during the 17-minute live broadcast, and no users reported it while it was being streamed. In total, the video was viewed about 4000 times before being removed from Facebook.

Google said it removed tens of thousands of videos and terminated hundreds of accounts created to promote or glorify Tarrant.

As part of this, its servers automatically rejected all attempts to upload any footage from the attack, including legitimate news stories that contained excerpts.

"The volume of related videos uploaded to YouTube in the 24 hours after the attack was unprecedented both in scale and speed, at times as fast as a new upload every second," a spokesman said.

Internet service providers Telstra, Optus and Vodafone are temporarily blocking websites hosting video footage of the mosque shootings.

Head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, Fergus Hanson, questioned whether governments could effectively regulate social media companies. He expected companies would take the initiative to protect their corporate reputations.

"Facebook wants to create a platform that is family-friendly and has wide appeal. They have no interest in being a haven for terrorists or crazy people," he said.