Our common agenda – Fighting disinformation – The Secretary-General presents today the policy brief on the integrity of information on digital platforms
June 12, 2023
As part of the policy documents the Secretary-General launches periodically to detail his vision for the future of global cooperation, “Our Common Agenda,” Antonio Guterres presents today his Policy Brief Number 8, titled “Integrity of Information on Digital Platforms.”
The Secretary-General proposes urgent action to address the serious global harm caused by the proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space, with a framework to provide a concerted global response through a code of conduct, outlining potential guardrails to contain this runaway threat while safeguarding freedom of expression and information.
The challenges we are facing, Guterres explains in the document, can only be addressed through stronger international cooperation. The Summit of the Future, to be held in 2024, is an opportunity to agree on multilateral solutions for a better tomorrow, strengthening global governance for both present and future generations (General Assembly Resolution 76/307).
In my capacity as Secretary-General, I have been invited to make contributions to the preparations for the Summit in the form of action-oriented recommendations, based on the proposals contained in my report entitled “Our Common Agenda” (A/75/982 ), which was itself a response to the declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations (General Assembly Resolution 75/1). Policy Brief No. 8 launched today is one such input. It serves to elaborate on the ideas initially proposed in our common agenda, taking into account subsequent guidance from member states and more than a year of intergovernmental and multilateral consultations, and rooted in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments.
The paper focuses on how threats to information integrity impact global, national, and local progress. In Our Common Agenda, I called for an empirical consensus on facts, science, and knowledge. To that end, this brief outlines potential principles for a code of conduct that will help guide member states, digital platforms, and other stakeholders in their efforts to make the digital space more inclusive and secure for all by vigorously defending the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right of access to information. The Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms is being developed in the context of preparations for the Future Summit. My hope is that it will provide a gold standard to guide the action intended to strengthen information integrity.
Digital platforms are crucial tools that have transformed social, cultural and political interactions everywhere. Around the world, they connect concerned global citizens on issues that matter. Platforms help the United Nations to directly inform and engage people as we fight for peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet. They have given people hope in times of crisis and struggle, amplified previously unheard voices, and sparked global movements.
Yet these same platforms have also exposed a dark side of the digital ecosystem. They have enabled the rapid spread of lies and hate, causing real damage on a global scale. Optimism about the potential of social media to connect and engage people was dampened when misinformation and hate speech as well as incitement to hate rose from the margins of the digital space to the mainstream.
The danger cannot be overstated. Hate incitement and disinformation enabled by social media can lead to violence and death. The ability to spread disinformation on a large scale to undermine scientifically established facts poses an existential risk to humanity (A/75/982, para. 26) and endangers democratic institutions and basic human rights.
These risks have intensified further due to rapid technological advances, such as generative artificial intelligence. Around the world, the United Nations is monitoring how misinformation, disinformation and hate incitement can threaten progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
It has become clear that business as usual is not an option.