Calls for the Prime Minister's 'Christchurch Call' to look beyond immediate concerns about violent extremism and content moderation.

A new study's proposing international action to monitor the computer programs used by giants such as Facebook and YouTube to feed people extremist content.

But lead researcher, Marianne Elliott, told Mike Hosking non-transparent digital media algorithms are also having increasingly negative impacts on our democracy.

"When they worked really, really well in the context of political information or news, that's not serving democracy, so I guess what I would like to see is a process in which standards could be set."

She said Elliott says while consumer pressure on platforms is important, it's not enough.

"What we look at are downward pressure opportunities and that's really where I think governments need to act, both to enforce the legislation and regulation that already exists, and look at where there might need to be new regulations," she said.