United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres encouraged world governments on Tuesday to “rein in hate speech and disinformation spreading online” through a global censorship framework.
Guterres suggested that “unchecked digital platforms” were amplifying the “worst impulses of humanity” and threatening global stability and peace, requiring world governments to buy into U.N. programs such as the “Global Digital Compact” to silence speech the world body considers threatening. He made his remarks on the same day that the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared global intervention to “educate” online social influencers in how to avoid “misinformation” was an “urgent” priority. UNESCO launched an expansive campaign in early 2023 to promote global censorship regulations to silence “hate speech,” equating online discussions that run afoul of U.N. speech norms to “insects thriving in the dark.”
More recently, U.N. leaders used their platforms at the G20 summit this month to pressure the world’s most powerful economies to silence “disinformation” through a program promoting “information integrity on climate change.” The U.N. paired on that initiative with radical leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose government is leading a sprawling, violent effort to use the court system and police raids to intimidate conservative voices into silence online.
Guterres made his comments on Tuesday at the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations global forum, hosted this year in his native Portugal. The Alliance describes itself as “a unique and inclusive platform for Member States, the private sector, youth, civil society and the media to exchange views and commit to dialogue and new partnerships.” The U.N. chief listed silencing “disinformation” as his second priority for the event.
“We must rein in hate speech and disinformation spreading online,” he proclaimed. “Hate-filled frenzies are perpetuating stereotypes and misconceptions. Misinformation and outright lies are fueling repulsive antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry and attacks on minority Christian communities, among others.”
Guterres also warned that artificial intelligence was allowing the rapid spread of alleged “hate speech” and amplifying “the worst impulses of humanity.” To solve the problem, he suggested, countries can sign onto U.N. initiatives such as the “Global Principles for Information Integrity” and the “Global Digital Compact.”
Guterres debuted the “Global Digital Compact” in June 2023, a plan to implement global laws against “hate and lies in the digital space.”
“The proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm. This clear and present global threat demands clear and coordinated global action. We don’t have a moment to lose,” he said at the time, describing the Compact as a “framework” for controlling online conversations by creating “robust accountability criteria and standards for digital platforms and users to address disinformation, hate speech, and other harmful online content.” The Compact would also grant the United Nations an unspecified role in helping police “disinformation” during elections, as presented in 2023.
Guterres concluded his comments at the Alliance meeting event on Tuesday by declaring, “we need to keep working to strengthen global governance.”
“In these turbulent times, too many people are convinced that differences must define us,” he asserted. “But the most powerful force of all is the recognition that we are more united by our common fate than divided by our distinct identities.”
UNESCO separately held an event on Tuesday calling for “urgent” moves to spread “fact-checking” on social media, focusing on its plan to hold classes for social media influences to teach them how to spot and combat “disinformation.” The Guardian, writing on a report UNESCO published this week about online disinformation, noted that the U.N. agency was especially concerned with how infrequently social media influencers engage in fact-checking the content they ultimately publish.
“The low prevalence of factchecking highlights their vulnerability to misinformation, which can have far-reaching consequences for public discourse and trust in media,” UNESCO fretted. “The prevalent lack of rigorous critical evaluation of information highlights an urgent need to enhance creators’ media information literacy skills.”
UNESCO has divided its campaign against alleged “misinformation” and “disinformation” by topic. On November 19, alongside the government of Brazil at the G20 summit, the agency debuted what it called the “Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change,” intended to “strengthen research and measures to address disinformation seeking to delay and derail climate action.”
Lula, the president of Brazil, spoke at the event, lamenting “denialism and disinformation” as a global problem that the new initiative would address on an international level.
Leftists in Brazil have dramatically expanded censorship of dissident voices even before Lula returned for his third term in office in January 2023. In 2020, under conservative President Jair Bolsonaro, the nation’s top court ordered violent raids on 29 individuals supportive of the president, including journalists, comedians, and online influencers for allegedly engaging in “fake news” violations. Conservative former Congressman Daniel Silveira was sentenced to eight years in prison while in office for publishing a Youtube video critical of the Supreme Court. Under Lula, Brazil banned the social media platform Twitter until owner Elon Musk accepted sprawling censorship demands from the Brazilian government.
Lula, the host of the G20, appeared to successfully convince the group to add “misinformation” language to its joint declaration at this year’s summit.
“[T]he digitization of the information realm and the accelerated evolution of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), has dramatically impacted the speed, scale and reach of misinformation and disinformation, hate speech and other forms of online harms,” the joint declaration read. “In this sense, we emphasize the need for digital platformsˋ transparency and responsibility in line with relevant policies and applicable legal frameworks and will work with platforms and relevant stakeholders in this regard.”