Story by Dominic Hlordzi in Paris, France.
The UNESCO conference on Internet for Trust, which deliberated on the draft global guidelines for regulating digital platforms to safeguard freedom of expression and access to information, has ended.
Among the critical issues highlighted were how to make platforms more transparent and have content governance policies and practices consistent with human rights standards; striking a balance between AI and human moderation; fostering greater engagement by civil society, youth, influencers and other actors in shaping an internet of trust.
Many have raised concerns about the negative happenings in the digital ecosystem that undermine socio-political, cultural practices and believes of nations.
Should the internet be trusted? Presently, some people don’t. Others do to some extent.
The use of hate language, website credibility, malware, hacking, bad ergonomics, illegal downloading of contents, cyberbullying, online predators, identity theft, and scamming are some drawbacks of the Internet.
UNESCO and its partners are taking steps to ensure that contents online are trusted hence the Interest for Trust Conference.
To ensure sanity, content creators and app developers and all other players must observe some guidelines and protocols that respect human dignity and rights.
Hence, the constant demand for the right regulations and guidelines.
While one school of thought is demanding stiffer regulations to protect humans rights and society another is looking at avoiding regulations that are “restrictive” to the digital ecosystem.
The discussions on the guidelines were welcomed by various actors, among them the European Commissioner for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová.
Participants alluded to the fact that there are still many gray areas to be discussed following a multistakeholder process, especially with actors from the Global South.
The areas of reflection arising from the various panel discussions and comments from the audience present and online, will be examined in the coming months.
UNESCO will continue to receive comments on the guidelines until March 8.
A new draft is expected to be available by end of March, 2023.
UNESCO, the UN agency with a global mandate to defend and promote freedom of expression, seeks to guide the processes of regulation of the digital ecosystem with a human rights-based approach.
The conference brought together 4,300 stakeholders in-person and online from different sectors, including governments, independent regulators, digital companies, academia, the technical community, media, and civil society.
Full guideline link here:
