Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, and influential regulators from the UK and the European Commission (EC) will address the issue of “online harms” at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2023 annual meeting, according to Reclaim the Net (RTN).
The panel, titled “Tackling Harm in the Digital Era,” will explore ways to “build safer digital spaces and tackle online harms” through “evolving regulation and industry technological innovations,” according to the panel description.
The discussion will focus on addressing what it considers to be online abuse and other harmful content on social media, in the cloud, and in gaming.
It is directly linked to the Global Coalition for Digital Safety Initiative of the WEF, which targets legal content deemed harmful, such as “health misinformation” and “anti-vaccine content.”
The panel description doesn’t define or provide any examples of what the WEF or the panelists deem to be abuse or harm, RTN notes. But the Global Coalition for Digital Safety Initiative targets a wide range of legal content that’s branded as harmful including “health misinformation” and “anti-vaccine content.”
Members of the initiative include government officials and regulators from Australia, the UK, Indonesia, Ukraine, Bangladesh, and Singapore, as well as an executive from Microsoft and the founder of Two Hat Security, an AI-powered content moderation and profanity filter platform.
Some panelists, such as EC Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová and Chief Executive of the UK’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) Melanie Dawes, have previously supported censorship of content they consider abusive or harmful.
The ‘Online Safety Bill,’ which grants Ofcom new powers, is currently being considered in the UK.
