The heads of many of the world’s biggest social media platforms were urged on Friday to change their business models and become more accountable in the battle against rising hate speech online.
Propaganda and disinformation are nothing new in war, but digital technology and social media are fuelling it like never before, creating an ‘extremely dangerous’ situation in Ukraine and other warzones, for vulnerable civilians exercising their rights.
Societies everywhere are beset by “global diseases” including systemic inequality which have helped fuel a rise in disinformation, or the deliberate spreading of falsehoods, said the UN human rights chief on Tuesday, addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
At the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, Member States adopted a plan of action to tackle disinformation, at the request of Ukraine and with widespread – but not universal - support.
Unreliable and false information is spreading around the world to such an extent, that some commentators are now referring to the new avalanche of misinformation that’s accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘disinfodemic’.