Impact of the war – Subtopic 3:
Protecting citizens in times of crisis
Rapporteur: Katarina Bojović, Geneva Internet Platform
- Promoting and upholding human rights, democracy, and the rule of law is and has always been the best defence against aggression and authoritarianism. To protect people in times of crisis, there must be proper procedures and approaches before the crisis breaks out. In addition, state institutions and other key stakeholders must be adequately prepared to combat hate speech and build resilience against disinformation.
- Journalism is vital in the situation of conflict or aggression. Therefore, it is crucial to acknowledge the role of journalists and provide them with protection, access to information, and adequate work conditions. Journalists must adhere to ethical standards of professionalism, a rule-based approach and respect for basic principles when reporting, especially in times of crisis. One should always get to the bottom of the information and adhere to basic values and principles when evaluating it.
Internet fragmentation – Subtopic 3:
How can the Global Digital Compact prevent Internet fragmentation?
Rapporteur: Mark Carvell, independent Internet governance policy adviser and member of the EuroDIG Support Association
- The Global Digital Compact should include detailed and transparent commitments by stakeholders – including governments, regulators and the technical community – to prevent fragmentation of the Internet’s core technical resources and of their governance.
- The GDC process should continue to engage stakeholders, including the national and regional IGFs, in the finalisation and implementation of the Compact.
Digital platforms – Subtopic 3:
Platforms as critical infrastructure for democratic discourse
Rapporteur: Katarina Bojović, Geneva Internet Platform
- Decentralised platforms have the potential to provide an alternative and overcome some of the concerning features of dominant social platforms, such as surveillance capitalism, the attention economy, and digital colonialism. Yet, many questions and challenges still need to be addressed, such as sustainable financing and the lack of scalable business models.
- The surge in large language models such as ChatGPT and other possibilities to create synthetic text creates greater pressure on content filtering and a much bigger need for transparency. Big tech companies must adopt clear and transparent content moderation policies that prioritise accuracy and accountability, with clear procedures for removing harmful content. Companies must also ensure their content moderation systems and rules are fair, transparent, and easily accessible in user languages.
Messages overview
