Monitoring Desk
PARIS: UN conference in Paris on Wednesday maintained that digital platforms have changed how we interact, and urgent action is needed to stop the manipulation of users and hate speech.
Hundreds of officials, academics, tech firm representatives and civil society members were invited to the two-day conference hosted by the UN’s cultural fund to discuss how to best vet content while upholding human rights.
In opening remarks, UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay said digital platforms had changed how we connect and face the world and each other.
Despite their communication and knowledge-sharing benefits, UNESCO has warned that social media platforms rely on algorithms that “often prioritize engagement over safety and human rights.”
Audrey Azoulay said too few resources were assigned to moderate content or educate users, “which remains questionable or non-existent in most languages.”
Online Manipulation and Hate Speech
Filipina investigative journalist Maria Ressa said social media had allowed lies to flourish.
Maria said that, at the height of online campaigns against her criticizing her work, she had received up to 98 hate messages within the span of an hour.
Earlier, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula addressed the UN conference in a letter, pointing to how supporters of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro on January 8 invaded the Brazilian presidential palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court in Brasilia.
“What happened that day was the height of a campaign initiated much before and used as ammunition, disinformation, and lies,” he said.
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“This must stop now. From now on, the international community needs to work to effectively address this challenging issue of our times.”
As a result of the conference, UNESCO aims to draw up global guidelines to fight against hate speech and disinformation for governments, digital companies, and regulatory bodies by mid-2023.
