The UN Global Principles for Information Integrity: our thoughts 

The integrity of information online has become a critical concern for global governance, prompting various efforts at the global, regional and national levels. This includes at the United Nations (UN), which in June 2024 published the United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity: Recommendations for Multi-stakeholder Action, aiming to establish a framework for maintaining truthfulness and reliability in information dissemination. 

The UN Global Principles for Information Integrity were originally presented in a policy brief and subject to a multistakeholder consultation back in 2023. 

GPD responded to this consultation and provided recommendations to improve the text from a human rights perspective. We’re pleased to see that the final version incorporates several of our suggestions and specific recommendations, although we have some concerns about how these recommendations will be implemented.

The UN Global Principles for Information Integrity; an overview

The UN Global Principles for Information Integrity seek to address the issue of false information that undermines democratic processes, fuels conflicts, and erodes public trust. The principles aim to set out a comprehensive framework to guide multistakeholder action for a healthier information ecosystem. 

The document is grounded in five principles: societal trust and resilience; independent, free and pluralistic media; transparency and research; public empowerment; and healthy incentives. These principles and the entire document is underpinned by “an unwavering commitment to human rights”. 

These five principles are accompanied by a series of recommendations that aim to operationalise the five principles into actionable steps. They are targeted at key stakeholder groups, including technology companies, AI actors, advertisers, news media, researchers and civil society, states and political actors, and the United Nations. 

GPD’s assessment: positive changes, with some disappointing omissions

Global Partner Digital has worked to shape these principles, bringing a human rights lens to the forefront of the discussion. In our response to the consultation, we stressed that any initiative on information integrity must be grounded in the protection of human rights, an inclusive and multistakeholder approach, and more robust language on capacity-building and accountability. 

We are therefore pleased that the document explicitly notes how “information integrity entails a pluralistic information space that champions human rights”,  and grounds the principles in international human rights law, as well as international standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights (UNGPs). 

However, we are disappointed that the principle of “respect for human rights” contained in the original policy brief was not ultimately included in the final document. This principle provided a more explicit recognition of the importance of human rights in the context of information integrity, ensuring that responses to mis- and disinformation and hate speech are consistent with international law. While the importance of human rights is still present across the document as a cross-cutting element, it is done so in a less obvious manner. This appears to be a missed opportunity, particularly as there is a standalone section devoted to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and this section fails to make reference to how the SDGs and human rights are intrinsically connected.

We welcome that our previous recommendation to provide more nuanced language on internet shutdowns and stronger commitments to refrain from creating disinformation has been incorporated. While these were previously contained in the human rights principle, there is now a recommendation for states to “abstain from conducting or sponsoring information operations, domestically or transnationally, that wilfully spread disinformation or harness hare speech. Refrain from any form of Internet shutdowns or throttling”. 

We are also pleased that our suggestions for technology companies have been partly reflected, including the need for stronger wording for private sector due diligence, and the need for robust appeal and remedy mechanisms, which is now contained in recommendations to technology companies. Our suggestion to add a new paragraph relating to private sector support for independent media sources appears to have been taken on board, with a well-defined and stand-alone recommendation on the need for the technology companies to support media safety and diversity. 

There are more granular changes to the Global Principles that align with our suggestions, including expanding the definition of researchers for access to data to include academics, journalists, civil society and international organisations. Our suggestion to highlight the risks that mis- and disinformation poses to women, LGBTIQ people, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples has also been taken on board and included within the societal trust and resilience section. Finally, we welcome that the recommendations pertaining to capacity-building are more clear in who they should target.

Implementation and future prospects 

The implementation of the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity will rely heavily on cooperation among various stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, civil society and others. The “Next Steps” section of the document notes that the Global Principles provide a framework for action and “looks to find multilateral solutions at the Summit of Future”. It calls on stakeholders to commit to, adopt and actively publish the Principles and work in broad cross-sector coalitions, as well as collaborating to develop multi-stakeholder action plans.

It is our view that despite their noble intentions, these Global Principles are at risk of inadequate implementation without clear means or mechanisms to hold relevant actors accountable. The voluntary nature of the framework risks falling victim to inconsistent application and insufficient commitment, particularly given the proliferation of other non-binding global frameworks and processes such as the Global Digital Compact, the Pact of the Future, the UNESCO Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms, the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech. 

We would have liked to see more actionable next steps, the identification of concrete methodologies, or some type of follow up mechanism in place to ensure the Global Principles do not simply become a set of well-meaning but ultimately toothless text. 

Concluding thoughts 

The UN Global Principles for Information Integrity represent a positive step towards addressing the challenges posed by the erosion of the accuracy, consistency and reliability of information online. 

We are pleased to have made a number of suggestions that have made their way into the final output. However, their implementation must be approached with more coherent and decisive action by all stakeholders, and shepherded by the United Nations, to make meaningful progress towards a better information ecosystem, progress towards the SDGs and enjoyment of human rights.