CELE on World Press Freedom Day: UNESCO improves its draft on platform regulation, but more efforts are needed in the process
On May 1, UNESCO organized the second face-to-face consultation on its guidelines for platform regulation. Agustina Del Campo, director of CELE, participated in the talks in New York. The event was held as part of the celebrations scheduled at the United Nations headquarters for the World Day of Press Freedom (on May 3).
The consultation marked the second international, multi-stakeholder event led by UNESCO to discuss concrete regulatory guidelines for holding companies accountable for “harmful” speech. According to UNESCO, the guidelines aim to "support regulators, governments, legislatures and companies dealing with content that potentially harms human rights and democracy, while protecting freedom of expression and the availability of accurate and reliable information." .
CELE participated in preliminary discussions on these guidelines, providing feedback on the first iterations of the draft and submitting written comments in the two formal consultations in January and March 2023, respectively. In addition, we participate in the Conference “Internet for Trust” held in Paris from February 21 to 23.
A welcome development
At presentations and interventions, we emphasize the need for more nuanced and structured discussions of key concepts contained in earlier versions of the proposals that were too vague and broad and therefore incompatible with international free expression standards. In fact, this was the consensus among the many experts who met in Paris, including current and former rapporteurs for freedom of expression within the universal and regional systems.
La last version of the draft guidelines, published on April 27, constitutes a significant improvement in this regard, since mentions of vague and overly broad concepts such as "content that puts democracy at risk" or "harmful" content have been removed or significantly reduced. » and «toxic».
Accordingly, we welcome this remarkable improvement and call on UNESCO to continue to uphold human rights standards, such as the tripartite test, and to consider human rights best practices such as the Rabat Action Plan when discussing concepts that could become the basis of limitations on freedom of expression.
There is still a lot to improve
Despite the advances mentioned, the proposal and the conversation in general do not devote enough time and energy to address important political and social contextual issues essential for the quality of public debate and democracy. What remains to be done is comprehensive approaches to strengthen democratic institutions, promote the responsibility of public officials, emphasize their role in public discourse, and promote and strengthen the ethics of traditional media. These efforts must be articulated with those aimed at improving the transparency and responsibility of Internet platforms.
It is not yet clear if the guidelines are intended to promote state regulatory efforts or if, instead, they provide only a framework that states should consider if they decide to regulate. Beyond that, close attention should be paid to the rule of law situation in countries that intend to regulate digital platforms when designing recommendations. The OAS Special Rapporteur has already raised this issue in Paris.
In light of these concerns, CELE suggested that the guidelines could include a recommendation for states to conduct human rights impact assessments on regulatory proposals. We also affirm that periodic evaluations of its operation should be carried out to test how its application impacts (positively or negatively) the enjoyment of fundamental rights.
In addition, experts have suggested that UNESCO could subject the final version of the guidelines themselves to an impact assessment, to ensure that there are no unforeseen negative impacts.
We believe that these two are valuable suggestions that UNESCO should seriously consider. By advancing in this direction, UNESCO would be demonstrating its commitment to uphold human rights and ensure that its policies and guidelines are fit for purpose.
We will continue to participate in this process and keep you informed about our interventions.
