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	10-point plan to address the information crisis by Dmitry Muratov, Maria Ressa Rappler.com   Sep. 2022   'When facts become optional and trust disappears, we will no longer be able to hold power to account,' say Nobel Peace Prize laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov   (Presented by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov at the Freedom of Expression Conference, Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, Norway, on September 2, 2022).   We call for a world in which technology is built in service of humanity and where our global public square protects human rights above profits.   Right now, the huge potential of technology to advance our societies has been undermined by the business model and design of the dominant online platforms. But we remind all those in power that true human progress comes from harnessing technology to advance rights and freedoms for all, not sacrificing them for the wealth and power of a few.   We urge rights-respecting democracies to wake up to the existential threat of information ecosystems being distorted by a Big Tech business model fixated on harvesting people’s data and attention, even as it undermines serious journalism and polarizes debate in society and political life.   When facts become optional and trust disappears, we will no longer be able to hold power to account. We need a public sphere where fostering trust with a healthy exchange of ideas is valued more highly than corporate profits and where rigorous journalism can cut through the noise.   Many governments around the world have exploited these platforms’ greed to grab and consolidate power. That is why they also attack and muzzle the free press. Clearly, these governments cannot be trusted to address this crisis. But nor should we put our rights in the hands of technology companies’ intent on sustaining a broken business model that actively promotes disinformation, hate speech and abuse.   The resulting toxic information ecosystem is not inevitable. Those in power must do their part to build a world that puts human rights, dignity, and security first, including by safeguarding scientific and journalistic methods and tested knowledge. To build that world, we must:   Bring an end to the surveillance-for-profit business model   The invisible ‘editors’ of today’s information ecosystem are the opaque algorithms and recommender systems built by tech companies that track and target us. They amplify misogyny, racism, hate, junk science and disinformation – weaponizing every societal fault line with relentless surveillance to maximize “engagement”.   This surveillance-for-profit business model is built on the con of our supposed consent. But forcing us to choose between allowing platforms and data brokers to feast on our personal data or being shut out from the benefits of the modern world is simply no choice at all.   The vast machinery of corporate surveillance not only abuses our right to privacy, but allows our data to be used against us, undermining our freedoms and enabling discrimination.   This unethical business model must be reined in globally, including by bringing an end to surveillance advertising that people never asked for and of which they are often unaware.   Europe has made a start, with the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts. Now these must be enforced in ways that compel platforms to de-risk their design, detox their algorithms and give users real control. Privacy and data rights, to date largely notional, must also be properly enforced. And advertisers must use their money and influence to protect their customers against a tech industry that is actively harming people.   End tech discrimination and treat people everywhere equally   Global tech companies afford people unequal rights and protection depending on their status, power, nationality, and language. We have seen the painful and destructive consequences of tech companies’ failure to prioritize the safety of all people everywhere equally. Companies must be legally required to rigorously assess human rights risks in every country they seek to expand in, ensuring proportionate language and cultural competency.   They must also be forced to bring their closed-door decisions on content moderation and algorithm changes into the light and end all special exemptions for those with the most power and reach. These safety, design, and product choices that affect billions of people cannot be left to corporations to decide.   Transparency and accountability rules are an essential first step to reclaiming the internet for the public good.   Rebuild independent journalism as the antidote to tyranny   Big tech platforms have unleashed forces that are devastating independent media by swallowing up online advertising while simultaneously enabling a tech-fueled tsunami of lies and hate that drown out facts. For facts to stand a chance, we must end the amplification of disinformation by tech platforms. But this alone is not enough. Just 13% of the world’s population can currently access a free press.   If we are to hold power to account and protect journalists, we need unparalleled investment in a truly independent media persevering in situ or working in exile that ensures its sustainability while incentivizing compliance with ethical norms in journalism.   21st century newsrooms must also forge a new, distinct path, recognizing that to advance justice and rights, they must represent the diversity of the communities they serve. Governments must ensure the safety and independence of journalists who are increasingly being attacked, imprisoned, or killed on the frontlines of this war on facts.   We, as Nobel Laureates, from across the world, send a united message: together we can end this corporate and technological assault on our lives and liberties, but we must act now.   It is time to implement the solutions we already have to rebuild journalism and reclaim the technological architecture of global conversation for all humanity.   We call on all rights-respecting democratic governments to:   1. Require tech companies to carry out independent human rights impact assessments that must be made public as well as demand transparency on all aspects of their business – from content moderation to algorithm impacts to data processing to integrity policies.   2. Protect citizens’ right to privacy with robust data protection laws.   3. Publicly condemn abuses against the free press and journalists globally and commit funding and assistance to independent media and journalists under attack.   We call on the EU to:   4. Be ambitious in enforcing the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts so these laws amount to more than just ‘new paperwork’ for the companies and instead force them to make changes to their business model, such as ending algorithmic amplification that threatens fundamental rights and spreads disinformation and hate, including in cases where the risks originate outside EU borders.   5. Urgently propose legislation to ban surveillance advertising, recognizing this practice is fundamentally incompatible with human rights.   6. Properly enforce the EU General Data Protection Regulation so that people’s data rights are finally made reality.   7. Include strong safeguards for journalists’ safety, media sustainability and democratic guarantees in the digital space in the forthcoming European Media Freedom Act.   8. Protect media freedom by cutting off disinformation upstream. This means there should be no special exemptions or carve-outs for any organisation or individual in any new technology or media legislation. With globalized information flows, this would give a blank check to those governments and non-state actors who produce industrial scale disinformation to harm democracies and polarize societies everywhere.   9. Challenge the extraordinary lobbying machinery, the astroturfing campaigns and recruitment revolving door between big tech companies and European government institutions.   We call on the UN to:   10. Create a special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General focused on the Safety of Journalists (SESJ) who would challenge the current status quo and finally raise the cost of crimes against journalists.   Signed by: Dmitry Muratov, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate   http://www.rappler.com/technology/social-media/full-text-maria-ressa-dmitry-muratov-10-point-plan-address-information-crisis/ http://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/articles/kofi-annan-foundation-endorses-nobel-peace-prize-laureates-call-to-address-information-crisis/ http://www.unesco.org/en/communication-information/safety-journalists/universal-periodical-review http://cpj.org/reports/2023/01/deadly-year-for-journalists-as-killings-rose-sharply-in-2022/ http://cpj.org/reports/2022/11/killing-with-impunity-vast-majority-of-journalists-murderers-go-free/ http://rsf.org/en http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/11/un-human-rights-chief-turk-issues-open-letter-twitters-elon-musk http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/01/freedom-speech-not-freedom-spread-racial-hatred-social-media-un-experts http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/01/1132597   20 Sep. 2022   Civil Society groups and environmental agencies call on Facebook, TikTok, Google & YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platforms to act on Climate Disinformation spread across their networks.   The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has named climate disinformation as a threat to the world’s ability to effectively address climate change. The UN Secretary General António Guterres recently highlighted the threat of misinformation, proliferated by social media companies, in a recent UN General Assembly speech.   Social media companies bear responsibility for their role in amplifying and perpetuating climate disinformation. Platforms owe it to their users and the planet to stop amplifying the climate disinformation that undermines our ability to combat the climate crisis.   (Union of Concerned Scientists, 350.org, FOE, Greenpeace, agencies)   UN Secretary-General's Address to the United Nations General Assembly (Extract):   "The fossil fuel industry is feasting on hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and windfall profits while household budgets shrink and our planet burns.   Let’s tell it like it is. Our world is addicted to fossil fuels. It’s time for an intervention. We need to hold fossil fuel companies and their enablers to account. That includes the banks, private equity, asset managers and other financial institutions that continue to invest and underwrite carbon pollution.   And it includes the massive public relations machine raking in billions to shield the fossil fuel industry from scrutiny. Just as they did for the tobacco industry decades before, lobbyists and spin doctors have spewed harmful misinformation. Fossil fuel interests need to spend less time averting a PR disaster – and more time averting a planetary one".   Apr. 2022   The latest reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirm that “climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people,” urging that if we phase out fossil fuels quickly, we can stabilize the climate. The report released in February on adaptation notes “rhetoric and misinformation on climate change and the deliberate undermining of science have contributed to misperceptions of the scientific consensus, uncertainty, disregarded risk and urgency, and dissent.”   http://techpolicy.press/latest-ipcc-reports-underscore-threat-of-climate-disinformation/ http://www.ucsusa.org/climate/disinformation Visit the related web page
	Modern technology impacts our human rights by Martha Davis, Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, Sushma Raman Carr Center for Human Rights, agencies   Modern technology impacts our human rights. (Extract from Human Rights Issues of 2022: Year in Review, Carr Center for Human Rights)   Martha Davis: Protecting individual privacy and autonomy are real concerns as modern technology continues to be exploited in the service of capitalist interests—but technology can also be a mechanism that brings about greater rights realization for the people.   An increase in participatory governance at the local level is achievable and effective because of the technology that allows a greater number of voices to be heard on more issues. Because of that, technology can facilitate the involvement in policy development of those most affected, and it can increase the transparency of local government decisions.   These benefits of technology can also be utilized to help ensure that rights are protected, but that will only happen if rights holders themselves remain vigilant and demand that local government take a human rights-based approach to the use and regulation of technology.   The rapid embrace of the Smart City paradigm, without adequate concern for the rights impacts of increased networking and surveillance, demonstrates the peril of viewing technology as a neutral force. At the local level, a clear understanding of human rights norms must inform decision-making concerning technology, just as human rights should be integrated into other local government processes. Given the relative accessibility of local government, civil society can play a strong role in ensuring that rights are protected even as technology expands.   Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo: One of the understated ways in which the evolution of modern technology impacts our human rights is the exacerbation of racial discrimination through the design of technologies. Digital technologies are not blind to human color, and we continue to see how people of certain races or ethnicities are treated with bias and discrimination with respect to digital technologies.   The continued evolution of modern technology forces a reconsideration of our conceptualization of the obligations of diverse actors toward the protection and promotion of human rights. We need more dialogue about normative and regulated obligations for the private (tech) sector in ensuring human rights standards. Voluntary measures may no longer suffice.   The need to promote “human rights by design” with an approach that gives utter regard to race, color, and people must be a prioritized agenda on international and national forums that focus on business and human rights discourses. We must intently push for a human rights based approach to the designing of digital technologies.   Sushma Raman: Trust in democracy, science, and the institutions of government and civil society is in decline, with “distrust now societyʼs default emotion.” The dissemination of false and misleading information, through social media and platforms, has negative implications for human rights.   Disinformation affects the right to free and fair elections, the right to health, and the right to non-discrimination, among others. Legislative proposals to counter this disinformation often restrict freedoms of assembly, association, and expression— and governments sometimes use disinformation as a pretext to crack down on journalists, human rights activists, and opposition leaders.   Online hate speech disproportionately targets members of racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly women. And with 40% of people worldwide still underrepresented in the digital age, efforts to bring communities and societies online must be complemented by efforts to protect and promote rights and freedoms in the technological sphere.   A flourishing information ecosystem—or ecosystems—requires us to strengthen community and public media, promote pluralistic public spheres, uphold racial and gender equity and inclusion, and invest in civil society voices and leadership.   http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/publications/human-rights-issues-2022 http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/podcasts http://www.hrw.org/news/2022/12/08/inspiring-stories-human-rights-day-2022 http://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/were-going-to-kill-you-all-facebook-fails-to-detect-death-threats-against-election-workers-in-the-us-while-youtube-and-tiktok-succeed/ http://www.transparency.org/en/news/international-anti-corruption-day-2022-stop-kleptocrats-protect-common-good http://www.icij.org/investigations/ericsson-list/as-us-style-corporate-leniency-deals-for-bribery-and-corruption-go-global-repeat-offenders-are-on-the-rise http://humanrightsfirst.org/events/magnitsky-month-2022/   http://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/human-rights-principles-to-revitalize-the-struggle-by-gareth-evans-2022-12 http://www.globalr2p.org/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2017/09/564422 http://forum.cartercenter.org/roundtables http://forum.cartercenter.org/media/auditing-economic-policy-human-rights-guide-activists-and-advocates http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2022/11/november-gcspf-78-e-news/ http://usp2030.org/ http://www.developmentpathways.co.uk/publications/social-security-human-rights-briefs/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc4736-global-fund-social-protection-international-solidarity-service   http://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/eu-amnesty-international-warns-of-glaring-human-rights-loopholes-in-corporate-sustainability-due-diligence-directive/ http://www.etuc.org/en/document/end-cost-living-crisis-increase-wages-tax-profits http://www.lighthousereports.nl/investigation/pension-funds-gambling-with-savings-and-fuelling-hunger/ http://inequality.org/great-divide/the-fight-against-inflation-doesnt-have-to-be-rich-people-friendly/ http://www.epi.org/publication/inequality-2021-ssa-data/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/15/social-audits-no-cure-retail-supply-chain-labor-abuse http://ishr.ch/latest-updates/the-illusion-of-abundance-human-rights-defenders-urge-states-to-advance-the-international-treaty-on-corporate-accountability/ http://www.business-humanrights.org/en/big-issues/binding-treaty/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/11/human-rights-experts-support-call-un-tax-treaty http://taxjustice.net/press/un-adopts-historic-decision-to-take-on-new-tax-leadership/   http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/concerns-grow-over-the-increasing-ties-between-christianity-and-right-wing-nationalism http://www.france24.com/en/americas/20221013-alex-jones-ordered-to-pay-sandy-hook-families-nearly-1-billion-for-false-claims http://ishr.ch/latest-updates/india-upr-of-worlds-largest-democracy-highlights-growing-pressure-shrinking-space-for-independent-civil-society/ http://euobserver.com/opinion/156531 http://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-republican-led-states-are-targeting-wall-street-with-anti-woke-laws-2022-07-06/ http://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/economy-and-ecology/grappling-with-power-imbalances-6299/ http://www.sei.org/featured/currents2023/ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/05/met-police-illegally-filmed-children-as-young-as-10-at-climate-protest http://www.article19.org/campaigns/freetoprotest-2/ http://tomdispatch.com/an-obituary-for-our-world/ http://priceofoil.org/2022/11/16/investing-in-disaster/
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