Sunday, June 18, 2023

Policy Brief - Information Integrity on Digital Platforms

The United Nations has just published Our Common Agenda: Policy Brief 8: Information Integrity on Digital Platforms. It proposes a Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms built on "the following principles: Commitment to information integrity; Respect for human rights; Support for independent media; Increased transparency; User empowerment; Strengthened research and data access; Scaled up responses; Stronger disincentives; Enhanced trust and safety" (p21)
The press release is here https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/06/1137562 and the report here https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/our-common-agenda-policy-brief-information-integrity-en.pdf
In highlighting the report on the HIFA (Healthcare Information For All) mailing list on 13 June 2023, Neil Pakenham-Walsh observes "As a general comment, the report (like most such reports) focuses too much on 'combatting misinformation' and ignores what I believe is the most important challenge: the need for a global strategy to improve access to reliable information and to help people differentiate reliable from unreliable information. Such a strategy would in my view be far more effective than any amount of 'combatting misinformation' (although of course we need to do the latter as well)." which I think is a pertinent critique.
Photo by Sheila Webber: eco roof, May 2023

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