The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has called for a global dialogue to find ways to regulate social media platforms and limit their role in the misinformation spread around the world.
The Internet For Trust Conference, which has brought together 4,300 participants, was a response to the United Nations Secretary-General's call to combat the misinformation spread.
Stakeholders Gathered in Paris to Discuss Misinformation
During the two-day conference held starting from Wednesday, February 22, the organization’s chief, Audrey Azoulay, addressed a gathering of journalists, lawmakers, and civil society actors from all over the world to discuss ways to regulate the social media companies to help make the internet a safe and factual space.
“The blurring of boundaries between true and false, the highly-organized denial of scientific facts, the amplification of disinformation and conspiracies – these did not originate on social networks. But, in the absence of regulation, they flourish there much better than the truth,” Ms. Azoulay said.
The meeting, held in Paris, aimed to formulate new structured guidelines to help regulators and governments manage content that undermines democracy and human rights. According to the organization, the event was also a chance to support freedom of expression and promote access to accurate information.
According to Ms. Azoulay, the stakeholders were gathered to discuss legal tools and principles of accountability and responsibility for social media companies to contribute to the “public good.” “It would limit the risks that we see today, that we live today, disinformation (and) conspiracy theories spreading faster than the truth,” she told the Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference
Journalist Maria Ressa, a longtime social media critic, said that creating laws preventing social media companies from proliferating misinformation on their platforms is long overdue.
According to Ressa, social media platforms have put democracy at risk and distracted societies from solving problems like climate change and the rise of authoritarianism.
She added: “Democracy is not just about talking. It’s about listening. It’s about finding compromises that are impossible in the world of technology today.”
Twitter has recently delivered a report to the European Union about how the company fights disinformation online. The report was later considered by European officials “lackluster” and “short of information.” The European officials warned that they expected more from Twitter ahead of the new regulations enforcement in the region.
The report was part of the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation, considered a set of regulatory standards that 34 companies agreed to follow.
Last year, the European Union passed landmark legislation that will compel 34 big tech companies like Meta and Google to regulate their platforms more strictly to protect European citizens from disinformation and hate speech.
This regulation was considered the EU’s third significant law related to the tech industry. The new rules should make tech companies more accountable for content amplified by their platforms’ algorithms in Europe.
This Act will also force the companies to make it easier for users to flag problems, ban online ads aimed at kids, and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with billions in fines to better protect European users from hate speech, disinformation, and other harmful online content.
EU Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager added: “with today’s agreement, we ensure that platforms are held accountable for the risks their services can pose to society and citizens.”
Are Social Media Platforms Responsible for Misinformation?
Misinformation generators and websites often use social media to reach more visitors.
According to our previous blog about the social media platforms’ responsibility in spreading misinformation, Facebook spread “Fake News” the fastest, worse than Google and other platforms.
Other platforms made it easier to share claims and gain more attraction and interactions from users, including TikTok, which stirred several controversies about spreading harmful content targeting minors and fragile users.
Since then, social media platforms have implemented many initiatives to tackle misinformation, like Facebook, which uses certified fact-checkers and tools for users to report false narratives. Instagram also developed a new strategy to combat misinformation and harmful content.
The platform removes such content from the explore page and hides it from the used hashtags. The post, then, becomes labeled “False Information,” in addition to a warning sent to the account user.
However, fighting misinformation is not only about implementing strict regulations and laws. It became a joint responsibility of all stakeholders, including individuals, businesses, and governments.
As the media landscape changes over time, and while several misinformation generators are looking for economic gains, it became crucial to educate people on how to fact-check the news and develop strong critical thinking instead of falling prey to online misinformation.
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