PARIS, France – Digital platforms have modified how we work together, and pressing motion is required to cease the manipulation of customers and hate speech, a UN convention in Paris heard Wednesday.
Hundreds of officers, tech agency representatives, teachers and members of civil society have been invited to the two-day assembly hosted by the UN’s cultural fund to brainstorm the right way to greatest vet content material whereas upholding human rights.
“Digital platforms have changed the way we connect and face the world, the way we face each other,” UNESCO director common Audrey Azoulay mentioned in opening remarks.
But “only by fully evaluating this technological revolution can we ensure it is a revolution that does not compromise human rights, freedom of expression and democracy.”
Despite their advantages in communication and information sharing, UNESCO has warned that social media platforms depend on algorithms that “often prioritize engagement over safety and human rights”.
Azoulay mentioned too few assets have been assigned to coach customers or average content material, “which remains non-existent or questionable in most languages.”
‘A polluted river’
Filipina investigative journalist Maria Ressa, who collectively received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for exposing abuses beneath former president Rodrigo Duterte, mentioned social media had allowed lies to flourish.
“Our communication systems today are insidiously manipulating us,” she informed attendees.
“We focus only on content moderation. It’s like there is a polluted river. We take a glass… we clean up the water and then dump it back” in, she mentioned.
But “what we have to do is to go all the way to the factory polluting the river, shut it down and then resuscitate the river.”
She mentioned that, on the top of on-line campaigns towards her for her work, she had obtained as much as 98 hate messages an hour.
Somewhat over half sought to undermine her credibility as a journalist, together with false claims that she peddled “fake news”, she mentioned.
The relaxation have been private assaults focusing on her gender, “skin color and sexuality” — and even “threats of rape and murder”.
‘This should cease’
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula earlier addressed the convention in a letter, pointing to how disgruntled supporters of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro on January 8 invaded the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court in Brasilia.
“What happened that day was the culmination of a campaign, initiated much before, and that used, as ammunition, lies and disinformation,” he mentioned.
“To a large extent, this campaign was nurtured, organized, and disseminated through several digital platforms and messaging apps,” he added.
“This must stop. The international community needs, from now on, to work to give effective answers to this challenging question of our times.”
Facebook whistleblower Christopher Wylie was additionally to contribute to the discussions.
The information scientist has revealed how he helped Cambridge Analytica, based by ex-US president Donald Trump’s former right-hand man Steve Bannon, to make use of unauthorized private information harvested from Facebook to assist swing a string of elections, together with Trump’s US presidential win in 2016.
“Many countries around the world have issued or are currently considering national legislation to address the spread of harmful content,” UNESCO mentioned in a press release forward of the convention.
But “some of this legislation risks infringing the human rights of their populations, particularly the right to freedom of expression and opinion”, it warned.
As a results of the convention, UNESCO goals to attract up world tips to combat disinformation and hate speech for governments, regulatory our bodies and digital corporations by mid-2023. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
