AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
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 on Wednesday.
A proposed UN 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 High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Miguel A�ngel Moratinos, who will submit his recommendation for the Plan of Action by the end of this month to the UN Secretary-General for onward presentation for the approval of the UN member states within a few months.
Moratinos was addressing a small group of journalists, along with President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies (FPPMS) Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah. 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.
The initiative was launched by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron, along with political and industry leaders in Paris last May, two months after the Christchurch attack in New Zealand. Several governments, tech companies and global organizations have already announced their support for the initiative.
A spokesperson for the UNAOC High Representative 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.
About the meeting with Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah, the UNAOC chief said he appreciated Sheikh’s contributions to promoting the true spirit of Islam and building bridges with other faiths.
For his part, Sheikh Abdallah said he had invited Moratinos to the 2019 edition of the FPPMS Annual Conference, which will take place the UAE capital Abu Dhabi in December.
The UN Secretary-General had entrusted the UNAOC High Representative 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.
Source: International Islamic News Agency