Session organized by the UN Human Rights Office
Webcast of the session:Meeting linkMeeting number: 841 558 315
Password: smgwPdAP
Background
The UN Secretary General has recognised that fear is the “best-selling brand in the world today… It gets ratings. It wins votes. It generates clicks”. Following this year’s attacks in Christchurch, Pittsburgh, Colombo or El Paso, the role of online content in the violence faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar, or the spikes of violence towards migrants and minorities associated with migration after the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, states and tech companies have been seeking to strengthen efforts to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.
With over $600 billion spent on advertising globally every year, a more conscious approach by advertisers represents a key aspect in effectively tackling the funding and spread of xenophobia, racism, religious hatred, anti-migrant narratives and other content inciting hatred against people based on discriminatory grounds, and help ensure stronger support for accurate and responsible journalism.
The UN Secretary-General’s strategy and action plan on hate speech recognises the role of media and business actors in addressing hate. The Global Compact for Migration also affirms that advertising is a business ethics issue, and that the private sector has a vital role to play in tackling the economics of hate. Spurred on by these calls to action, businesses, governments and civil society are now coming together to find creative solutions and fix this economic model.
In the UK, much progress has been achieved: the newly-launched Global Alliance for Responsible Media brings together leading advertisers, agencies, media companies, and industry bodies to address “dangerous, hateful, disruptive and fake content”. The Conscious Advertising Network, which also launched this year, is a voluntary coalition of over 30 organisations set up to ensure that industry ethics catches up with the technology of modern advertising, through a series of voluntary codes covering a range of issues including hate speech, fake news, and diversity.
ObjectivesThe aim of this session is to discuss the progress made so far, and the opportunities for strengthening international co-operation in the global effort to uphold human rights, equality and diversity and push back against hatred and extremism.
In addition, the session will seek to unpack how businesses, particularly advertisers and media, can contribute to the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (responsibility to respect human rights) and the Global Compact for Migration; and call on states to meet their duty to protect, including through effective regulation, and foster responsible action by advertisers and media companies.
