ABU DHABI 6 July 2019: The United Nations is considering measures to hold social media companies accountable for hate speech disseminated through their platforms, a senior UN official said here.
A proposed United Nations’ Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites will recommend to fix responsibility of “these silicon valley corporations – Facebook, Instagram etc. They have to stop dissemination of this hate speech. All that is part of the Plan,” said Miguel Angel Moratinos, the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC).
He will submit his recommendation for the Plan of Action by the end of this month to the UN Secretary-General who will present it for the approval of the UN member countries within a few months, said Wam.
Moratinos was addressing a small group of journalists, along with Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah, President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, after a meeting between them in the capital.
Christchurch Call
The UN official said his recommendations on social media companies were inspired by the Christchurch Call, a voluntary commitment by governments and tech companies to tackle extremist content online.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron launched the initiative in Paris in May, along with political and industry leaders, two months after the Christchurch attack in New Zealand.
Several governments, tech companies and global organisations have already announced their support to the initiative.
A spokesperson for the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) told the Emirates News Agency, WAM, that Moratinos’s recommendations will include action against traditional media as well. “The plan will see what kind of code of ethics can be put in place to regulate both traditional and social media to stop disseminating hate speech,” she said on the sidelines of the press briefing.
Build Bridges
About the meeting with Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah, Moratinos said he appreciated Sheikh’s contributions to promote true spirit of Islam and build bridges with other faiths.
Sheikh Abdallah said he had invited Moratinos to the 2019 edition of the Annual Conference of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, which will be held in December in Abu Dhabi.
The United Nations Secretary-General had entrusted Moratinos to make recommendations for the proposed Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites, an action-oriented Plan that would have an impact to help ensure the safety of worshippers in religious sites across the globe.
