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Social Media 4 Peace at the UNESCO Internet For Trust Global Conference
Implemented since 2021 in four beneficiary countries, namely Bosnia-and-Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia and Kenya, the UNESCO project funded by the looks at finding enabling responses to tackle the spread of online harmful content. After conducting research in the respective countries, a recommendation has emerged: the creation of local multistakeholder coalitions on freedom of expression and content moderation to bridge the gap between internet companies, regulators and civil society organizations.
Over 50 main partners from the four countries involved in the forming of the national coalitions were invited to take part in the UNESCO Internet For Trust Global Conference “Towards Guidelines for Regulating Digital Platforms for Information as a Public Good” organized at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 22 and 23 February 2023. Gathering for the first time all together on 21 February 2023, Day 0 of the conference, the partners first attended a closed-door dialogue with UNESCO colleagues from around the globe, , a partner of the project, and representatives of the EU Foreign Policy Instrument.
The discussion was introduced by Guy Berger and Alison Gillwald, Executive Director at Research ICT Africa who presented the UNESCO World Trends Report on Digital governance and the challenges of interpreting global policies locally and having dialogues between regulators, tech companies and civil society organizations at national level. Researchers from ARTICLE 19, , , , , and underlined key findings of their research conducted as part of the project. Finally, participants were able to exchange experiences and share their expectations for the national coalitions.
We must think about content moderation focusing on the need for transparency and accountability of social media platforms. It is important to build coalitions which respect the diversity among different members.
In the afternoon, an open side-event gathering over 200 participants on site and online was organized by UNESCO together with the project partner ARTICLE 19 to discuss the question “How multistakeholder national coalitions can inform the global discussion on digital platform regulations?”. The event was opened by high-level panelists Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Peter Wagner, Head of Service of the EU Foreign Policy Instrument, Commissioner Ourveena Geereesha Topsy-Sonoo, Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and access to information in Africa, and Catalina Botero-Marino, Co-chair of the .
We want social media to be used for peace-building purposes and not social media that is conducive for the dissemination of disinformation, harmful content, harassment, cyberbullying, (…) 91鶹Ʒ decided to take the initiative to come up with global regulatory guidelines to make the internet not only ‘free for all’ but also ‘safe for all’.
Our work and mission revolve around conflict prevention and peacebuilding, and our partnership with UNESCO on the project Social Media 4 Peace is an example of this innovative approach to address the issues. We focus on increasing the awareness of civil society organizations, media actors, and all other relevant stakeholders about the risks and opportunities of social media.
During this session, the context and challenges of social media in three different countries were first highlighted. Damar Juniarto gave his insights on the Indonesian digital media landscape and underlined three main challenges: the lack of resources to report harmful content to platforms, the lack of commitment by digital platforms to counteract harmful content online (targeting especially women, journalists, and human-rights activists) and the need for a legal reform. According to him, the national coalitions could fill these gaps.
In Indonesia social media is no longer a space for democracy but a political and social arena to challenge the others.
Victor Bwire explained that in Kenya, civil society organizations and regulators have come together to counteract the spread of online harmful content as people are increasingly demanding for more accountability from digital platforms. Brazilian digital influencer and communicator, Felipe Neto testified about the mobilizing role of social media in the recent political events in his country and expressed the need to invest in education to teach youth how to use responsibly social media. He also called for the creation of a multistakeholder regulatory council on content moderation which would bring tech companies to the table, instead of attacking them.
Digital experts were also present to share their thoughts on the challenges and solutions to regulate platforms. Eliska Pirkova explained that Access Now monitors how companies apply their content moderation practices across the world but that platforms respond unequally and in a non-transparent manner. She believes that we need to create space for contextual nuances in the defining of international standard on the regulation of digital platforms. Menno Cox presented the recently adopted Digital Services Act in the European Union which aims to create a safer digital a space and address some of the issues mentioned during the panel including to mitigate risks regarding the recommendation of problematic content and flawed content moderation processes.
I see the Digital Services Act as a moment in which we are moving from identifying the problem to looking for possible solutions. It is an initiative that brings together 27 countries to approach dissemination of harmful content online.
Kateryna Kruk highlighted some of Meta’s initiatives to improve the regulation of its platform: the third-party fact-checking program, the trusted partners’ flagger program. Responding to the call for greater engagement from platforms, she stressed that Meta is willing to listen to constructive criticism from the civil society to improve the functioning of the platform. Being responsible Central and Eastern Europe, she committed to increase engagement with project stakeholders from Bosnia-and-Herzegovina.
