Lifesite - Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced the release of a declaration signed by multiple countries that calls on each nation to combat online “disinformation” by using legislation if needed to enact “global norms” to fight “misinformation.
”The “Global Declaration on Information Integrity Online” was launched by Joly alongside Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Hanke Bruins Slot in New York at the United Nations General Assembly on September 20. According to a joint statement by Canada and the Netherlands, “Information integrity is essential to help ensure the strength of democratic processes and to protect fundamental rights.” The statement reads that the “erosion” of information integrity, “including the propagation of disinformation,” weakens the “strength of democratic engagement.”
Since first taking office in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party have pushed a radical agenda that has targeted free speech on the internet. The recent declaration comes only shortly after the Trudeau government forged ahead with its own ways to combat “disinformation” through the passage of internet censorship bill C-18. The controversial “Online News Act” has been described as “Orwellian” by critics. Speaking about the declaration on September 20, Joly said that it is a “concrete step toward establishing global norms on disinformation, misinformation, and information integrity.”
Bruins Slot said about the declaration that “every day” the world is “flooded” with “flooded “disinformation and misinformation” and that technology such as AI has made it more “difficult to tell fact from fiction.” A total of 30 counties signed the declaration, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany. The declaration claims that there is a need to “address the erosion of information integrity online,” due to the spread of “misinformation and disinformation campaigns by state and non-state actors.”
“We are at a global inflection point where taking action to protect the digital information ecosystem is necessary to preserve safe and productive online environments and continue to enjoy the benefits the digital age provides,” the declaration reads. To combat the “disinformation,” the declaration states that there are a set of “high-level international commitments by participating States to protect and promote information integrity online,” which it claims are “grounded in international law.”
It adds that more “steps” are needed to “address misinformation and disinformation targeted at women, LGBTIQ+ persons, persons with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples.” (more)
