HAPPENING AT THE UN
«What are the implications of the European Union's new social media regulations for the rest of the world? ». The theme of the workshop recently held by the UN and the EU as part of the event dedicated to the Digital Services Act is thorny and complex. It's about understanding what kind of results may be obtained in attempting to regulate the information that anyone can provide online without any control.
During a panel discussion moderated by Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, it was clear that digital platforms have brought many benefits, supporting communities in times of crisis, elevating marginalized voices and helping to mobilize global movements for racial justice and gender equality.
But at the same time, these channels are being used to subvert science, spread disinformation and hate, fuel conflict, threaten democracy and human rights, and compromise public health and climate action. According to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, «the ability to spread disinformation on a large scale to undermine scientifically established facts represents an existential risk for humanity».
Obviously, the only way to address a global problem must be a concerted international response that aims to apply the recommendations contained in the relative document on the integrity of information disseminated on digital platforms, which was launched by Guterres himself in past months. The plan contains proposals to make the digital space safer and more inclusive, while strongly protecting human rights. But the United Nations is also developing a "Code of Conduct" for journalists in view of the "Summit of the Future" to be held next year. The hope is to obtain significant changes from digital platforms, including the commitment to abandon harmful business models and to favour the commitment to human rights, privacy and security.
The question that remains open, however, is the usual: which institutions will be able to enforce these regulations? At the moment, it is difficult to speculate that this is possible. Of course, we must work to limit false news, but it could also be useful to "train" people to select sources and not stop at the headlines of articles. But perhaps that's not enough either. Let's take a concrete example: 98.6% of Italians are literate, but the percentage of citizens aged between 25 and 65 with limitations in understanding a text is closer to 30%. Who will help that 30% select news they don't fully understand? Certainly, the Code of Conduct is a necessary condition, but at the moment it does not seem sufficient.
