UNESCO and UNSSC Webinar

The advent of the internet and social media have greatly expanded ways of expressing information and organizing ourselves. But we are also increasingly conscious that they have become a breeding ground for widespread disinformation, hate speech and conspiracy theories that digital platforms governance systems need to catch up to safeguard freedom of expression and access to information.

In the face of these challenges, greater guidance is urgently needed. Based upon experiences from regulation, in addition to relevant principles, conventions, and declarations over the past decade, UNESCO has recently launched Guidelines for the governance of digital platforms: safeguarding freedom of expression and access to information through a multi-stakeholder approach.

The Guidelines will encourage and contribute to the development of a global multistakeholder space to debate and share good practices about digital platform regulatory processes that protects freedom of expression and access to information while managing content that can be restricted under international human rights law, presenting evidence, gathering different visions and a broad spectrum of perspectives.

The Guidelines seek to contribute to and be informed by ongoing UN-wide processes, such as the implementation of the proposals in “Our Common Agenda.” This includes the development of the Global Digital Compact, the preparation of the UN Summit of the Future to be held in September 2024, and the creation of a Code of Conduct that promotes information integrity on digital platforms. The Guidelines will also feed into discussions about the upcoming 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). This text has further benefited from and aims to contribute to initiatives led by other international governmental organizations, including those of a regional scope.

This Webinar will highlight the new paradigms and challenges of information landscape in the digital era, in particular for content moderation on internet and social media, showcase the current work undertaken by UNESCO on the Guidelines for the governance of the digital platforms, and draw special attention of the big tech companies on their responsibility to build an internet for trust. Bringing into the discussion government representatives and regulators, the presentation will highlight in particular the importance of multi-stakeholder cooperation and collaboration to design an internet for all.

The webinar will be moderated by Mr. Giancarlo Summa - Researcher at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHSS) in Paris, former Director of the United Nations Information Center in Brazil, Mexico and West Africa.

Speakers:

• Ms. Neema Lugangira - Member of Parliament Tanzania and Chair of the African Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance (APNIG)
• Mr. Guilherme Canela - Chief of section of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists at UNESCO
• Ms. Mònica Duran Ruiz - Executive Secretary of the Platform of Regulators of the Audiovisual Sector of Ibero-America (PRAI)

Registration:

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, 22 November 2023, from 14:00-15:00 CET. Interested participants are invited to register here using their official email address.