The World Economic Forum (WEF) is calling for “collective action” to be taken to address the rise of “misinformation” and “disinformation.”
“Collective action is needed to advance safety online, tackling the abuse of user-generated comments, identifying malicious actors spreading disinformation, demonetizing fake news, and disincentivizing the creation of echo chambers for extremist perspectives,” the WEF stated.
The organization then promoted the Global Coalition for Digital Safety, described as a “public-private platform aimed at innovating and collaborating to tackle harmful content and conduct online.”
According to Theo Bertram, the Vice President of Government Relations and Public Policy for Europe at TikTok, “Our community of users increasingly search for news content on TikTok. We want users to be able to find and discover journalists and news organisations that they trust and we want that experience to be authentic and informative.”
“This requires a determined approach to identifying and removing misinformation and disinformation. Working collaboratively with external experts in NGOs, academia, government and industry through partnerships, such as the Coalition for Digital Safety, is absolutely key to achieving that goal,” Bertram said.
To contribute to the role AI plays in media, the WEF created the AI Governance Alliance to “drive multi-stakeholder action to champion the responsible design and release of transparent and inclusive AI systems.”
“The initiative prioritizes three main areas: ensuring safe systems and technologies, promoting sustainable applications and transformation, and contributing to resilient governance and regulation,” the WEF noted.
“[C]ollective multi-stakeholder action is needed to rebuild trust in the media ecosystem and tackle disinformation,” the WEF’s article adds.
Reclaim the Net reported that the WEF has a “6-step solution” to “disinformation,” including “Reducing exposure to harmful content online; Building awareness about the trustworthiness of news media; Enhancing media information literacy; Mitigating the risks and leveraging opportunities emerging from generative AI; Reinforcing trustworthiness through transparency and accountability; and then – increasing interest and engagement in news media.”
