Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms: Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Access to Information Through a Multistakeholder Approach

"Safeguarding freedom of expression and the right to information while dealing with dis- and misinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories requires a multistakeholder approach."



These guidelines outline a set of duties, responsibilities, and roles for multiple stakeholders to enable an environment where freedom of expression, access to information, diverse cultural content, and all other human rights are at the core of digital platforms' governance processes. These multiple stakeholders include States, digital platforms, intergovernmental organisations, civil society, media, academia, and the technical community.



Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the guidelines were developed through a multi-stakeholder consultation process led by UNESCO, which is the leading UN agency for the promotion and protection of freedom of expression and information. The consultation process began in September 2022 and gathered more than 10,000 comments from 134 countries. These global-scale consultations sought to foster inclusive participation, ensuring that a diversity of voices were reflected, including those from groups in situations of marginalisation and vulnerability (see Related Summaries below for more information about the process).



As UNESCO explains, "Digital platforms have become a new front in the pursuit of peace. The transformative role that digital platforms have played in advancing human rights is undeniable. Yet the same digital platforms that have democratized access to knowledge and culture, and fostered global connection, have also become ecosystems of misinformation, disinformation, ideological polarization, and incitement to violence, discrimination, and hate. Such features have undermined democracies and threatened human rights across the world. Thus, while companies lack transparency, accountability and due diligence, many countries have embarked on regulatory processes without a human right respecting approach and as a solo solution, weakening deeply the civic space and leading to different kinds of censorship." These guidelines, therefore, set out to realise a human-rights-centred model for digital governance that involves all stakeholders.



As outlined in the guidelines, their overall goal is "to safeguard the right to freedom of expression, including access to information, and other human rights in digital platform governance, while dealing with content that can be permissibly restricted under international human rights law and standards. By extension, digital platform governance that is grounded in human rights would further promote cultural diversity, cultural expression, and cultural diverse content."



The specific objectives of the guidelines are to:

• Encourage and contribute to the development of global multi-stakeholder networks and common spaces to debate and share good practices about digital platform governance, gathering different visions and a broad spectrum of perspectives;
• Serve as a tool for all relevant stakeholders to advocate for human-rights-respecting regulation and to hold governments and digital platforms accountable;
• Advance evidence-based and human-rights-based policy approaches; and
• Encourage as much worldwide convergence as possible in platform governance policies to avoid internet fragmentation.

As such, they are meant to serve as a resource for a range of stakeholders:

• for policymakers in identifying legitimate objectives, human rights principles, and inclusive and participatory processes that could be considered in policymaking;
• for regulatory and other governance bodies dealing with the implementation and evaluation of policies, codes of conduct, or regulation;
• for digital platforms in their policies and practices;
• for other stakeholders, such as civil society, in their advocacy and accountability efforts; and
• for news media in their ongoing efforts to hold powerful actors accountable.

The guidelines start by describing the enabling environment needed to safeguard freedom of expression, access to information, and other human rights, while ensuring an open, safe, and secure environment for digital platform users and non-users. It then looks at the responsibilities of different stakeholders in this regard. These include:

• States' duties to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights in accordance with international human rights standards. For example, they should:
  • Avoid using arbitrary or disproportionate measures to deal with these harms.
  • Put in place policies aligned with international human rights law.
  • Promote free, independent, and plural media, and guarantee strong protections for journalists.
  • Refrain from imposing measures such as internet shutdowns.
• The responsibilities of digital platforms to respect human rights. They should, for example:
  • Be requested and able to manage and mitigate human rights risks related to potential harmful content.
  • Commit to align their design processes, as well as content moderation and curation policies and practices, to international human rights standards.
  • Be transparent and accountable.
  • Be able to give their user tools to engage critically with their products.
• The role of intergovernmental organisations, which are encouraged to support stakeholders in providing technical assistance and to monitor and report human rights violations.
• The role of civil society, media, academia, the technical community, and other stakeholders in the promotion of human rights, who are important watchdogs. They monitor, evaluate, and report on laws, policies, and regulatory actions, among others, that impact human rights, as well as the behaviour of digital platforms.
• The role of independent regulators, who should be equipped with the means to enforce international human rights standards in the digital ecosystem.

While each internet governance situation may be different and require different solutions, the guidelines highlight five overarching principles that should be followed in all governance systems that impact freedom of expression and access to information on digital platforms - independently of the specific regulatory arrangement and the thematic focus. In brief, the principles for the governance of digital platforms are as follows:

• Platforms' content curation and moderation policies and processes should be transparent.
• Checks and balances should be formally institutionalised.
• Governance processes should be open and accessible to all stakeholders, including the most vulnerable and marginalised groups.
• Diverse expertise should be a common feature of all regulatory arrangements.
• Governance should protect and promote cultural diversity and the diversity of cultural expressions.

As stated in the guidelines, the next steps in this initiative involve the planning of further discussions on how to operationalise the guidelines and use them as an advocacy tool.