UN Secretary-General Proposes ‘Global Digital Compact’ to Push Laws Against Online ‘Hate’

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deliver remarks to reporters outside the U.N. Security Council at U.N., headquarters in New York City, on April 20, 2023. Mike Segar/Reuters

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, proposed a “Global Digital Compact,” (GDC) to push sweeping international laws against “hate and lies” online.

“The proliferation of hate & lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm. This clear & present global threat demands clear and coordinated global action. We don’t have a moment to lose,” he wrote in a tweet announcing the compact.

The UN policy brief, which was released on June 12, called for handing control of the internet to international bodies, as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

Guterres also referred to another UN brief, “Information and Integrity on Digital Platforms“ (IIDP), which he said will be used as a guide to coordinate global efforts against ”hate.”

The IIDP warned about what it calls, the “darker side of the digital ecosystem,” which could enable “the rapid spread of lies and hate, causing real harm on a global scale.”

Guterres said that the internet is being misused to deny science and spread disinformation and hate to billions of people, in a veiled reference to vaccine skeptics and growing populist movements.

“The proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm. This clear and present global threat demands clear and coordinated global action. We don’t have a moment to lose,” he declared in his call for global censorship.

UN Calls for Nations to Suppress Online Disinformation

The GDC is focused on eliminating the “divide across regions, gender, income, language, and age groups” regarding internet access and decries the fact that “some 89 percent of people in Europe are online, but only 21 percent of women in low-income countries use the internet.”

“Inequality is rising,” it claimed, adding that “enormous investments in technology have not been accompanied by spending on public education and infrastructure.”

“Digital technology has led to massive gains in productivity and value, but these benefits are not resulting in shared prosperity,” said the brief.

The GDC blamed “hate speech” and “disinformation,” on malicious hackers, criminal activity, authoritarian state controls, and “predatory business models,” calling them “serious risks to human rights.”

It believes that the only solution is to develop “robust accountability criteria and standards for digital platforms and users to address disinformation, hate speech, and other harmful online content.”

IIDP expanded on that point by claiming that “social media-enabled hate speech and disinformation can lead to violence and death. The ability to disseminate large-scale disinformation to undermine scientifically established facts poses an existential risk to humanity.”

However, the writers of the UN report admitted that “the distinction between mis- and disinformation can be subtle and difficult to determine,” without providing any further details.

These statements raised alarm for those concerned with freedom of speech and in countries that have long traditions of free debate and expression.

Some countries with state-controlled media, like communist China, could utilize the international body’s panel on online censorship to crush overseas opposition to its views and policies worldwide.

Climate and Vaccine Skeptics to Be Targeted

The UN policy brief condemned any criticism of international climate change policy, which the international body sees as a settled science.

Skeptics of green policy were accused of being guilty of “greenwashing,” which was defined as “misleading the public into believing that a company or entity is doing more to protect the environment, and less to harm it, than it is.”

The report also called for banning online “disinformation” during key elections, where “the spread of mis- and disinformation can undermine public trust in electoral institutions and the electoral process itself.”

This proposal would definitely interfere with the internal politics of sovereign states, at a time when election disputes are still being hotly debated, such as with the 2020 and 2022 U.S. elections.

The UN further proposed a digital code of conduct, which laid out some of the proposed rules, but provided little detail on how they would be enforced or how violators would be judged.

The code of conduct only suggested that member states “ensure that responses to mis- and disinformation and hate speech are consistent with international law, including international human rights law, and are not misused to block any legitimate expression of views of opinion.”

The paper also called on major tech companies to “invest in human and artificial intelligence content moderation systems,” which could be programmed to block any views in opposition to the globalist agenda.

“Digital platforms should move away from business models that prioritize engagement above human rights, privacy, and safety,” it added.

“From health and gender equality to peace, justice, education, and climate action, measures that limit the impact of mis- and disinformation and hate speech will boost efforts to achieve a sustainable future and leave no one behind,” the report concluded.