The UN calls for a “code of conduct” on social media
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | February 7, 2023
The United Nations is becoming heavily involved in several initiatives to regulate the digital space and online speech, and judging by the priorities the organization has for 2023, outlined on Monday in New York City, this trend is only picking up steam.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke about those priorities and suppressing the spread of online “hate” speech via what he called misinformation and disinformation made it to the list, among issues like rights-based approach, renewable energy, and a dire warning about the world being closer than ever to total catastrophe – all mentioned in his speech.
Guterres spoke about the subject of “mis- and disinformation” on the internet as a call for action to deal with these threats.
And Guterres had “everyone with influence” in mind – governments, regulators, policymakers, technology companies, the media, civil society. It’s notable that he “squeezed in” this warning about the need to “stop the hate” on the internet in the same paragraph he spoke about UN outreach programs that concern the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide.
He then moved on to the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, which included the “call for action.”
“Stop the hate. Set up strong guardrails. Be accountable for language that causes harm,” the UN secretary-general said and explaining the plan on how to do that: by creating a code of conduct for information integrity on digital platforms.
This, Guterres noted, is part of his 2021 report titled, “Our Common Agenda.” In May 2022, a meeting was held at the UN by delegates who gathered to discuss what was dramatically dubbed as “the epidemic of misinformation and disinformation.”
The UN Department of Global Communications was tasked with drafting a code of conduct “to promote integrity in public information.”
In his speech on Monday, Guterres also accused social media platforms of using algorithms to “amplify toxic ideas and funnel extremist views into the mainstream,” and asserted that some platforms tolerate hate speech, which, according to him, is “the first step towards hate crime.”
And as stakeholders, those identified by Guterres, get together to produce the code of conduct for information integrity on digital platforms, “we will also further strengthen how focus on our mis- and disinformation are impacting progress on global issues, including the climate crisis,” he promised.
Critics wonder if this doubling-down on “the war on misinformation” by the UN will serve as an excuse for even more online censorship and if it might clash with members’ own speech protection laws.
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Got His Gun: Lost His Legs, Arms, and Penis
By David Swanson | War is a Crime | October 27, 2013
Ann Jones’ new book, They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America’s Wars: The Untold Story, is devastating, and almost incomprehensibly so when one considers that virtually all of the death and destruction in U.S. wars is on the other side. Statistically, what happens to U.S. troops is almost nothing. In human terms, it’s overwhelming.
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Aletho News 
The U.N. can go truck itself!
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“Guterres spoke about the subject of “mis- and disinformation” on the internet as a call for action to deal with these threats”.
Gee, that’s weird. I’ve never heard him refer to the “Misinformation” and “disinformation”, and Hate Speech that SPEWS from the Mainstream Media. Apparently it’s ok for them, but individuals making critical comments of the absolute rubbish that WE are expected to swallow whole must be stamped out.
By the way mister Guterres, what has the UN achieved in the past 50 years achieving World Peace? Zero from what I have noticed. Your Organisation is usless, toothless, and a complete waste of TAXPAYERS money.
If the UN was shut down tomorrow nobody would notice any difference.
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I couldn’t have said it better myself, Brian! Bravo! The day the U.N. self-destructs, implodes, and blows away will be a day of celebration for all mankind.
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I am still looking and waiting for one of those “loving” demagogues who are so intent on stopping hate and hate speech, mis and dis information, to
give us a definition and example of what they consider hate speech and mis and dis information. They keep talking about it but never give a concrete example. On the other hand those same “loving” individuals do everything they can to suppress truth and fact, while forcing humanity to accept evil and damaging activities such as phony plandemics with bioweapon injections, deprivation of basic necessities for food, heating, medicine and education. All in order to stop another concocted and phony claim about climate change which will hurt humanity. Aren’t they the obvious and unchallenged purveyors of hate, suppression of truth, and promoters of lies?
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There is no such thing as hate speech, there is just speech that certain special interest groups hate. The Oligarchs have been misusing language for hundreds if not thousands of years just to get their way. A good example was the ridiculous term, the war on terror.’ Terror isn’t an enemy, it’s a concept. And, then, it turned out that most if not all the sick head-chopping psychopaths in the Middle East were supported with American/CIA money. What did Americans get for going along with this insanity? Oh, yes, ‘the patriot act.’ And, when it comes to taking your rights away, isn’t it a doozy?
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