United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres encouraged world governments on Tuesday to “rein in hate speech and disinformation spreading online” through a global censorship framework.
Guterres suggested that “unchecked digital platforms” were amplifying the “worst impulses of humanity” and threatening global stability and peace, requiring world governments to buy into U.N. programs such as the “Global Digital Compact” to silence speech the world body considers threatening. He made his remarks on the same day that the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared global intervention to “educate” online social influencers in how to avoid “misinformation” was an “urgent” priority. UNESCO launched an expansive campaign in early 2023 to promote global censorship regulations to silence “hate speech,” equating online discussions that run afoul of U.N. speech norms to “insects thriving in the dark.”
More recently, U.N. leaders used their platforms at the G20 summit this month to pressure the world’s most powerful economies to silence “disinformation” through a program promoting “information integrity on climate change.” The U.N. paired on that initiative with radical leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose government is leading a sprawling, violent effort to use the court system and police raids to intimidate conservative voices into silence online.
Guterres made his comments on Tuesday at the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations global forum, hosted this year in his native Portugal. The Alliance describes itself as “a unique and inclusive platform for Member States, the private sector, youth, civil society and the media to exchange views and commit to dialogue and new partnerships.” The U.N. chief listed silencing “disinformation” as his second priority for the event.
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