Lawyers from a Canadian charity whose goal is to defend democracy and the vulnerable have met with an agency of the United Nations to express concerns about its plans to regulate social media content.On November 6 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a specialized agency of the United Nations with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture, announced a plan to regulate social media platforms.The Democracy Fund (TDF) immediately wrote to UNESCO expressing its grave reservations about efforts to regulate social media, especially by invoking undefined and contested terms such as "misinformation" or "disinformation."On December 7, TDF lawyers met with representatives from UNESCO, including the chief of the section of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists. During the meeting, TDF lawyers outlined the epistemic problems implicit in private or government censorship of online content based on its purported truthfulness. UNESCO suggested it was aware of these issues, but described its plan as one that protects freedom of speech.TDF will be formalizing its concerns in a letter to UNESCO, which has agreed to meet again with TDF lawyers to continue discussions.According to its website, TDF is dedicated to strengthening democracy by defending civil liberties, promoting independent journalism and helping the world’s vulnerable. TDF senior litigation counsel Mark Joseph said in a press release that empowering governments to define truth is dangerous."The assumption behind attempts to regulate online content is that governments are philosophically and practically able to determine truth from falsehood better than regular citizens or at all. This assumption is unproven at best and demonstrably false at worst,” he said.“And as the historical records show, governments are often the most prolific authors of falsehoods. Giving governments, or governments and big tech, the authority to determine truth and falsehood, particularly of moral or political propositions, is antithetical to the democratic project."In an November 6 press release, UNESCO painted its attempts to regulate social media as a means to ensure freedom of expression.“Digital technology has enabled immense progress on freedom of speech. But social media platforms have also accelerated and amplified the spread of false information and hate speech, posing major risks to societal cohesion, peace and stability." "To protect access to information, we must regulate these platforms without delay, while at the same time protecting freedom of expression and human rights,” said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General.UNESCO said its action plan is the result of 10,000 contributions from 134 countries collected over 18 months. The 58-page document has principles and directives for governments, regulatory authorities, civil society and social media platforms. “Our work has been guided by one central requirement: the protection at all times of freedom of expression and all other human rights. Restricting or limiting speech would be a terrible solution. Having media outlets and information tools that are independent, qualitative and free, is [the] best long-term response to disinformation,” Azoulay underscored.Representatives from independent regulators have already welcomed UNESCO's initiative and several of them, notably in Africa and Latin America, have indicated they are ready to begin implementing these measures. To this end, UNESCO will organize the first World Conference of Regulators in mid-2024. The organization has also pledged to support its member states in transposing this action plan into their own laws and regulations. To this end, UNESCO is mobilizing dedicated funding, including 1 million Euros already pledged by the European Commission.Read more: Alarms raised over UN cyber-thought crimes treaty
