Inside the UN Plan to Control Speech Online

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The UN is escalating its war against ‘conspiracy theories’ and ‘misinformation’ by creating an ‘internet of trust.’

A powerful United Nations agency has unveiled a plan to regulate social media and online communication while cracking down on what it describes as โ€œfalse informationโ€ and โ€œconspiracy theories,โ€ sparking alarm among free-speech advocates and top U.S. lawmakers.

In its 59-page report released this month, the U.N. Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) outlined a series of โ€œconcrete measures which must be implemented by all stakeholders: governments, regulatory authorities, civil society, and the platforms themselves.โ€

This approach includes the imposition of global policies, through institutions such as governments and businesses, designed to stop the spread of various forms of speech while promoting objectives such as โ€œcultural diversityโ€ and โ€œgender equality.โ€

In particular, the U.N. agency aims to create an โ€œInternet of Trustโ€ by targeting what it calls โ€œmisinformation,โ€ โ€œdisinformation,โ€ โ€œhate speech,โ€ and โ€œconspiracy theories.โ€

Examples of expression flagged to be stopped or restricted include concerns about elections, public health measures, and advocacy that could constitute โ€œincitement to discrimination.โ€

Critics are warning that allegations of โ€œdisinformationโ€ and โ€œconspiracy theoriesโ€ have increasingly been used by powerful forces in government and Big Tech to silence true information and even core political speech.

Just this month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee released a report blasting the โ€œpseudoscience of disinformation.โ€

Among other concerns, the committee found this โ€œpseudoscienceโ€ has been โ€œweaponizedโ€ by what lawmakers refer to as the โ€œCensorship Industrial Complex.โ€

The goal: silence constitutionally-protected political speech, mostly by conservatives.

“The pseudoscience of disinformation is nowโ€”and has always beenโ€”nothing more than a political ruse most frequently targeted at communities and individuals holding views contrary to the prevailing narratives,โ€ states the congressional report, “The Weaponization of โ€˜Disinformationโ€™ Pseudo-Experts and Bureaucrats.”

Indeed, many of the policies called for by UNESCO have already been implemented by U.S.-based digital platforms, often at the behest of the Biden administration, the latest congressional report makes clear.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers nevertheless expressed alarm about the new UNESCO plan.

โ€œI have repeatedly and publicly criticized the Biden administrationโ€™s misguided decision to rejoin UNESCO, putting U.S. taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars,โ€ House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told The Epoch Times regarding the social-media plan.

By Alex Newman

Read Full Article on TheEpochTimes.com

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