UN Global Principles For Information Integrity

Context

The United Nations Secretary-General recently unveiled the Global Principles for Information Integrity, a comprehensive framework aimed at addressing the threats posed by misinformation, and hate speech.

Hate Speech

Hate speech is described as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or show which could incite violence or prejudicial motion against or by any man or woman or group, or as it disparages or intimidates a particular man or woman or institution.

Impact of Hate Speech

• It undermines social equality as it reaffirms historical marginalization, oppression & discrimination.
• It is enacted to cause mental and physical harm to its sufferers because it incites violence.
• It is used to initiate individuals or society to commit acts of terrorism, genocides, ethnic cleansing and so on.
• It is a tool to create panic by hearsay mongering against focused human beings. For instance, the Northeast exodus.

Comprehensive pointers

• Combating disinformation and hate speech: All stakeholders, consisting of governments, tech organizations, advertisers, and media, need to avoid the use of, assisting, or amplifying disinformation and hate speech for any motive.
• Promoting media freedom: Governments ought to ensure well timed access to information, keep a unfastened, viable, impartial, and plural media landscape, and offer robust protections for journalists, researchers, and civil society.
• Enhancing tech company duties: Technology corporations should incorporate safety and privateness through layout in all products, practice rules constantly across countries and languages, and provide particular attention to companies regularly targeted on-line. 
• Ethical AI improvement: AI builders should take instant, inclusive, and obvious measures to ensure AI applications are designed, deployed, and used ethically and thoroughly, upholding human rights.
• Reforming commercial enterprise models: Tech businesses should discover business models that don’t depend upon programmatic marketing and prioritize human rights, privateness, and protection. Users need to have more control over their online experiences and personal data.
• Transparency in marketing: Advertisers have to demand transparency in digital advertising tactics to make certain their budgets do not inadvertently fund disinformation or hate and do not undermine human rights.
• Data transparency and responsibility: Tech businesses and AI developers must make certain significant transparency, allow researchers and teachers access to facts even as respecting personal privacy, commission independent audits, and co-develop responsibility frameworks.
• Protecting youngsters: Special measures ought to be taken to guard and empower youth, with government service sources for parents, guardians, and educators.

Laws and policies on hate speech in India

• Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860: It incorporates provisions that restrict hate speech, including :
• Section 153A: It offers with movements selling enmity among exclusive organizations on grounds of religion, race, area of delivery, residence, language, and so on., and doing acts prejudicial to upkeep of concord. 
• Section 295A: It offers with planned and malicious acts, meant to outrage spiritual feelings of any class by means of insulting its faith or religious beliefs.
• Section 505: It pertains to statements developing or promoting enmity, hatred or sick-will between training)
• Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973: It affords for the arrest of individuals who’ve committed a cognizable offense, which includes hate speech.
• Indian Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000: It regulates online speech, such as hate speech. Under the act, intermediaries which include social media structures are required to eliminate content material that is in violation of the regulation within 36 hours of being notified.

Court Judgements

• Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015): The court struck down Section 66A of the IT Act, which had criminalized online speech, declaring that it violated the right to freedom of speech and expression.
• Sukumar v. State of Tamil Nadu (2019): The court held that hate speech on social media structures isn’t always covered by way of the right to freedom of speech and expression.

Concluding remark

The release of the Global Principles for Information Integrity marks a critical step towards addressing the complicated challenges posed by the digital statistics landscape, advocating for a united and principled technique to safeguard human rights and keeping the integrity of statistics worldwide.

Source: The DTE

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. Social media freedom should not become an impediment in curbing the spread of hate speeches online. Comment. (250 words)

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