Amid the intensification of disinformation and hate speech online, which UNESCO has said is a “a major threat to stability and social cohesion,” the organisation has revealed its action plan for regulating social media platforms moving forward.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) action plan is the result of a large-scale consultation process, with over 10,000 contributions from 134 countries collected over the last year and a half.

It outlines the principles that should be respected, as well as the concrete measures which should be implemented by all stakeholders, meaning governments, regulatory authorities, civil society, and the social media platforms themselves.

The measures are organised around 7 fundamental principles:

1. The impact on human rights becomes the compass for all decision-making, at every stage and by every stakeholder.
2. Independent, public regulators are set up everywhere in the world, with clearly defined roles and sufficient resources to carry out their mission.
3. These independent regulators work in close coordination as part of a wider network, to prevent digital companies from taking advantage of disparities between national regulations.
4. Content moderation is feasible and effective at scale, in all regions and in all languages.
5. Accountability and transparency are established in these platforms’ algorithms, which are too often geared towards maximising engagement at the cost of reliable information.
6. Platforms take more initiative to educate and train users to think critically.
7. Regulators and platforms take stronger measures during particularly sensitive moments like elections and crises.

Representatives from independent regulators have welcomed the initiative, and several of them — including in Africa and Latin America — have indicated they’re ready to begin implementing the measures.

To help its member states to apply the action plan into their own laws, UNESCO said it will offer support, not least dedicated funding, with the European Commission already pledging one million Euros towards this effort.

Speaking on the need for effective social media platform regulation, Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO director-general, said: “Digital technology has enabled immense progress on freedom of speech.

“But social media platforms have also accelerated and amplified the spread of false information and hate speech, posing major risks to societal cohesion, peace and stability.

“To protect access to information, we must regulate these platforms without delay, while at the same time protecting freedom of expression and human rights.”

A corresponding opinion poll, conducted by IPSOS for UNESCO, surveyed over 8,000 respondents across 16 countries. It found that 85% of citizens are worried about the impact of online disinformation, especially at a time when social media platforms are often used as de-facto news and information sources.

Further, the survey also indicated that 87% believe misinformation has already had a major impact on their country’s political life, with 88% calling on governments and regulators to resolve this problem quickly.

In the UK specifically, a new bill — the Online Safety Bill — became law last month, which is aimed at making the UK “the safest place in the world to be online.” However, the bill did not include any legislation on widespread disinformation campaigns which have been growing in frequency since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recommended reading

• Users Want More Fact-checking From Social Media Networks
• EU to Big Tech: Crack Down on Disinformation, Or We’ll Crack Down On You
• EU Calls Out Meta & TikTok Amid Flurry of Disinformation Claims

Regarding disinformation, DIGIT recently covered reports from researchers that disinformation is proliferating on social media amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.

Relatedly, the European Union also recently announced that it opened an investigation into social media platform X over the “alleged spreading of illegal content and disinformation.”

Justin Peden, or “IntelCrab” — a researcher known for his fact-checking and coverage of the war in Ukraine on social media — said that “For many reasons, this is the hardest time I’ve ever had covering a crisis on here [X].”