At its 24th Plenary meeting (29 November - 1 December 2023), the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) adopted a Guidance Note on countering the spread of online mis- and disinformation through fact-checking and platform design solutions in a human rights compliant manner elaborated by its subordinate body, Committee of Experts on the integrity of online information (MSI-INF). This instrument structured around three pillars: fact-checking, platform-design solutions and user empowerment, provides practical guidance and recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders on countering the dissemination of online mis- and disinformation.
The Guidance Note stresses the centrality of fact-checking as a key institution of public debate and calls for independence of fact-checking organisations vis-à-vis states and other stakeholders with potential interests. There should be transparency of the fact-checking processes and support from both states and digital platforms to ensure financial sustainability of fact-checking. Quality control is vital and so is the responsibility of platforms to integrate external fact-checking into their content curation systems.
Platform design should involve ‘human rights by design’ and ‘safety by design’ features, and platforms should conduct human rights impact assessments. Their design is to focus on processes through which they rank, moderate and remove content, rather than on content itself, and they should employ granular responses in terms of content moderation techniques.
The section on user empowerment proposes a number of measures for building user resilience to disinformation, including by enhancing capacity for collective action within communities. Collaboration between states, civil society, platforms, public service media, news organisations, fact-checkers, civil society organisations, user communities, etc. is necessary to maximise the impact of user empowerment initiatives.
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