The United Nations (U.N.) is working on a worldwide code of conduct that calls on governments and online platforms to crack down on what it calls “disinformation” and “hate speech,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Monday.
Guterres delivered remarks on a policy brief containing proposals that the U.N. plans to use for the Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms that it is currently developing. He said the U.N. hopes governments, online platforms and additional stakeholders will voluntarily adopt the “set of principles,” including a crackdown on so-called disinformation and hate speech.
The U.N. plans to release the Code Of Conduct before its Summit of the Future in 2024, according to Guterres’s remarks. The resolutions in the brief seek to assist governments in collaborating to establish “guidelines that promote facts, while exposing conspiracies and lies, and safeguarding freedom of expression and information.”
The first recommendation in the brief is a pledge from governments, technology companies and other relevant parties “to refrain from using, supporting, or amplifying disinformation and hate speech for any purpose.”
The brief also recommends that platforms should have consistent global standards for online “disinformation.” It alleges there are “double standards that allow hate speech and disinformation to flourish in some languages and countries, while they are prevented more effectively in others. ”
Guterres also suggested that advertisers should not monetize and contribute to harmful content dissemination. “Disinformation and hate should not generate maximum exposure and massive profits,” he said.
Multiple large corporations reduced or paused spending on Twitter after Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over the company, with ad agencies stating it was due to misinformation and hateful content, according to the New York Times.
The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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