UN Secretary General António Guterres called upon to elaborate rules to regulate the extent of responsibility of social networks for the content they distribute
Source: RBC
“The question is about clear rules, which it is important for us to develop so that there is clarity on the issue of social media responsibility. We live in a kind of legal vacuum in which social networks can do whatever they want, they can spread whatever they want and it has no legal consequences. The social networks are not legally responsible for what they publish,” Guterres said at a press conference.
This is exactly what Russia has been calling for over the years.
Why didn’t the Secretary General notice it?
It is our country that has adopted legal norms at the legislative level to regulate the responsibility of social media. However, instead of support, this was not met with fierce criticism, but rather a veritable uproar from the West. In particular, in accordance with amendments to the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technology, and the Protection of Information” from 1 February 2021, the owners of social networks are obliged to identify and block unlawful content themselves.
At the time, the reaction in the West was, to put it mildly, nervous. “This is bad news for Russia, and it sets a dangerous precedent for other countries. Russia should stop implementing this system and instead engage in the development of a free and open Internet,” commented Human Rights Watch Deputy Director for Europe Rachel Denber.
From the State Department’s 2021 report on human rights in Russia: “The law marks a growing trend for Russian authorities to put pressure on digital platforms to censor and remove objectionable content.
We have traditionally spoken out in favour of the need to address the legal vacuum in the context of social media. Exactly what the UN Secretary General is now saying. But our position has been constantly criticised by adherents of the neoliberal approach of permissiveness.
Back in January 2021, we handed over to António Guterres the text of an official statement of the Federation Council on the numerous violations of freedom of speech by the American Internet monopolies.
I do not recall Mr. Dujarric saying anything positive on this subject. I suggest that we go back to discussing the Russian initiative, which has been gathering dust on the desk of the UN Secretary General for almost two years now.
Let us move on. The Secretary General also said yesterday that he “would be shocked to see press freedom threatened, journalists not allowed to do their jobs and hate speech continuing to be broadcast”.
“Will be shocked if he sees it”? Haven’t seen it until now? Or didn’t want to see? Or not allowed to see? Or not shown?
In Ukraine and in the USA, in Britain and in continental Europe, in the Baltics, numerous cases of media harassment have been recorded. Mr. Antoninu, how could it not be seen?
Through the efforts of the “collective West”, we have witnessed a blatant act of totalitarian mass censorship, the most extensive that has ever occurred in history. Entire segments of the global information space have been virtually cleansed of Russian media presence. All imaginable and unimaginable forms of restriction were applied to Russian sources of information, and the global IT giants actively joined in. During this year alone, more than 40 Russian media resources were blocked and taken off the air: unwanted journalists and entire editorial boards of the “wrong” media in the opinion of the West were subjected to systematic pressure from the security services, criminal prosecution, outright harassment and even physical violence.
One more thing. Last year, when I addressed the 43rd session of the UN Committee on Information, I called for taking seriously the “digital dictatorship” and the threat of unchecked domination of global internet companies.
There is an urgent need to intensify joint efforts to formulate generally accepted norms that will place Internet platforms on a firm footing in international law. There is a need to negotiate and address this issue before it is too late.
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