UN Panelists Call for Crackdown on Political Speech

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NEW YORK, December 13 (C-Fam) At a recently concluded UN global forum held in Portugal, panelists attributed the rise in “right-wing” movements, including the election of Donald Trump, to “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “hate speech.” The panel requested increased UN involvement in “tackling misinformation,” and some asked for tighter content regulations for influencers.

The UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Global Forum brought together high-level political representatives and civil society leaders to improve “intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation” and “reducing polarization.” During a panel discussion on combatting misinformation/disinformation, speakers criticized the dissemination of “right-wing” rhetoric and lamented the lost “trust” in the mainstream media.

Ezzat Youssef, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Weekly, said “misinformation and disinformation are at the forefront of global challenges” and that the world is now dealing with an “infodemic,” meaning that people “cannot discern reliable texts from false information.”

Arun Venugopal, Senior Reporter, WNYC, said, “Nobody in the media knows what just happened in the US national elections” and that they “are increasingly in a state of confusion when it comes to […] national politics.”

Alluding to the recent election of Donald Trump, Venugopal said, “We live in a news climate where people can attain the highest levels of power in the world on the basis of hate speech.” Venugopal referred to Trump linking the rise in crime with illegal immigration as an example of hate speech.

Venugopal said that “to combat harmful narratives,” journalists should be more willing to “take a stand,” hinting that they are too afraid to advocate for what they believe is right.

Atif Rashid, editor-in-chief at Analyst News and former #UNAOCyouth delegate, recommended that before going to journalism school, people should pick a social cause, “join human rights efforts,” and integrate what they learned into their future work as journalists.

Critics argue that mainstream media reporters are already acting as political advocates and that mainstream US newsrooms are already “taking a stance” in favor of progressive values while ridiculing conservative speech. They claim that mainstream media is taking social policy stances before reporting the facts, leading many to lose trust in mainstream reporting and seek alternative news sources.

A Media Research Center analysis showed that “since July [2024], ABC, CBS, and NBC have treated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to 78 percent positive coverage, while these same networks have pummeled former Republican President Donald Trump with 85 percent negative coverage.” The Economist, a left-leaning outlet, released a study showcasing that the New York Times bestseller list has a strong bias against conservatives.

Rashid said that “it’s a shame that trust in the mainstream media and international institutions is fading “and flagged that the UN “should be at the forefront” of anti-” misinformation” initiatives.

Ms. Rashmi Lamba, Chair at Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, said that there is a need to regulate the content put out by influencers, a sentiment backed by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who noticed that many content creators “are struggling in the face of disinformation and online hate speech and calling for more training.”

UNESCO partnered with the Knight Centre for Journalism in the Americas and launched a global training initiative for online content creators. The training follows the 2023 UNESCO guidelines for digital platforms, which asks platforms to “conduct human rights due diligence.” The UN agencies and UN secretariat are increasingly using the UN2030 agenda to delegitimize anti-abortion and anti-gender ideology speech as “anti-human rights.”

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