Information Committee: Disinformation, Misinformation, Malicious Use of New Information Technologies at Heart of Debate
(Note: Due to the financial liquidity crisis affecting the United Nations and the resulting constraints, this meeting was not covered. The following summary is an AI-produced translation of the coverage produced by our French-language team.)
"In the digital age, access to information has expanded, but the threat of disinformation and hate speech has become more precise." This was the clear conclusion of the Israeli delegation on the second day of the general debate of the Committee on Information, which is holding its forty-seventh session until 9 May. Therefore, the fight against disinformation is not only a technical challenge, but also a moral obligation, the representative stressed.
Sharing this concern, most of the Member States that have intervened since yesterday have pointed to the proliferation of disinformation campaigns, particularly on online platforms. They also noted that this undermines the political sovereignty of States, disrupts social cohesion, encourages hate speech and incites violence, intolerance and discrimination. They welcomed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Principles for the Governance of Digital Platforms.
The representative of Germany drew attention to another problem: that of UN peace operations being tested in their working environment, but also in the media space. Peacekeepers, she explained, are increasingly the target of mis- and disinformation campaigns, which put their lives at risk, erode trust in peace operations and weaken support for international engagement. As Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, she said Germany was committed to making this body more visible and readable, in collaboration with the Department of Global Communications, because "even if the Commission does not often make the headlines, its impact is real”.
While the representative of Ukraine yesterday claimed that, since the beginning of its invasion, the Russian Federation had killed at least 102 media workers, including Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna and 7 foreign journalists, the Russian Federation’s speaker responded today, denouncing the "harassment of Russian media and journalists". The Russian Foreign Ministry's website, he claimed, has a constantly updated section on the repression of Russian journalists abroad.
The "Kyiv clique’s" allergy to any other point of view has led its intelligence services to persecute dissident journalists, kidnap them and exert psychological pressure on them, not to mention cases of torture and violence, the Russian Federation has denounced. Since the beginning of the year alone, five Russian journalists and media workers have reportedly been killed and others injured, he said.
He also expressed outrage at the lack of response from international agencies to the existence, since 2014, of the "odious Ukrainian platform Myrotvorets", which publishes veritable "execution lists" with personal data.
It is time, countered the representative of the United Kingdom, to denounce and sanction the Russian Federation agency Social Design Agency, responsible for the Russian Doppleganger network, whose sole purpose is to distort reality and incite anti-Ukrainian demonstrations in Europe. Since its invasion of Ukraine, she stated, the Russian Federation has used disinformation to weaken global support for Ukraine. It has also made the Security Council a platform for disinformation, inviting dozens of individuals to speak out and spread false information about what is happening in Ukraine.
All States have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the UN as a reliable source of information, she said, view shared by, among others, the representative of China, who called on the Department of Global Communications to publish accurate, neutral and credible information, but to ensure that the voice of Member States is heard.
The Iranian representative, responding to the United States representative’s comment on the lack of freedom of expression in Iran, reiterated the United States' support for violations of Palestinian rights and the suppression of the speech of protesters, students and teachers on United States soil.
The United States is certainly not well-positioned to present itself as a defender of human rights, she said, adding it would do better to stop supporting conflicts, causing instability in other countries and regions, and respect the opinions of others.
Having thus concluded its general debate, after hearing yesterday the annual statement by Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General and Head of the Department of Global Communications, the Committee on Information intends to negotiate until 9 May its two annual resolutions entitled "Information in the Service of Humanity" and "UN Global Communications Policies and Activities”.
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* The 2nd Meeting was not covered.