- The human right to impart information protects ideas that may shock or disturb and it is even not limited to “correct statements”, though it “does not justify the dissemination of knowingly or recklessly false statements by official or State actors”, or by organized and powerful private actors;
- “States may only impose restrictions on the right to freedom of expression in accordance with the test for such restrictions under international law, namely that they be provided for by law, serve one of the legitimate interests recognized under international law, and be necessary and proportionate to protect that interest.”
- “General prohibitions on the dissemination of information based on vague and ambiguous ideas, including ‘false(fake???) news’ or ‘non-objective information’, are incompatible with international standards for restrictions on freedom of expression”;
- It is necessary to consider various forms of disinformation in this debate, ranging from news without any factual basis, created intentionally to deceive (for political or economic reasons), to decontextualized or unbalanced information. The identification of falsehood in the first case differs from the others.
- States and Intermediaries should refrain from taking “measures to limit access to or the dissemination of digital content, including through automated processes, such as algorithms or digital recognition-based content removal systems, which are not transparent in nature, which fail to respect minimum due process standards and/or which unduly restrict access to or the dissemination of content”;
- States and Intermediaries should engage in efforts to ensure clear and complete information about payed political advertisement over the internet and to promote algorithmic transparency;
- All the stakeholders should promote a media and digital literacy, as well as free, independent and diverse communications environment, including media diversity, which is a key means of addressing disinformation and propaganda. In democratic societies, it is the confrontation of ideas and the existence of open and plural debates that can combat misinformation.
- All the stakeholders should “consider other measures to promote equality, non-discrimination, inter-cultural understanding and other democratic values, including with a view to addressing the negative effects of disinformation and propaganda.”
Signatories:
- Coding Rights, Brazil
- Intervozes, Brazil
- Fundación Karisma, Colombia
- Hiperderecho, Peru
- R3D, México
- IPANDETEC, Panamá
- Acoso Online, Chile
- PROTESTE Consumers Association, Brazil
- Internet Without Borders, Brazil
- Tedic, Paraguay
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Institito de Referência em Internet & Sociedade – IRIS, Brazil
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Agencia Latinoamericana de Información – ALAI
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Movimento Mega Não, Brazil
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- Movimento Mega Não, Brazil
- Instituto Bem Estar Brasil