IGF 2020 WS #180 Trust, Media Ethics & Governance During COVID-19 Crisis

Information

Session

Thematic Track:

Topic(s):

Human Rights
Information and disinformation
Platforms

Organizer 1: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 2: Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Speaker 1: Amrita Choudhury, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 2: Elinor Carmi, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: shu wang, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 4: Rolf Weber, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Yun Long, Government, Asia-Pacific Group

Format:

Panel - Auditorium - 90 Min

Description:

Since the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic has been spreading globally. On January 30th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the situation as a global public health emergency, which drew a wave of media coverage and various debates across the globe. Simultaneously, online dis-/mis-/mal-information and media ethics are also on the spotlight with regard to providing essential information, professionalism and responsibility of social media in the emergent communication during public health crisis. “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) at a gathering of foreign policy and security experts in Munich, Germany, in mid- February 2020. Infodemics are an excessive amount of information about a problem, which prevents a meaningful and balanced discussion to understand it better and look for possible solutions in various areas. They can spread misinformation, disinformation and rumours during a health emergency, for example, that 5G radiation is causing the disease. Infodemics can hamper an effective public health response and create confusion and distrust among people. In response, according to news reports, search and media companies like Facebook, Google, Tencent, Sina Weibo, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube are aggressively filtering out unfounded medical advice, hoaxes and other false information that they say could risk public health. At the same time, because they cannot rely on their human content moderators and use automated machine learning processes for content moderation they are also filtering out essential information like people creating DIY face-masks. Other actors are also seek measures to counter the spread of rumours, A series of questions regarding the roles of both legacy and digital media, platforms, public, governments and technology are captured by wide attention in the coronavirus outbreak crisis including: • how did social media and digital platform report and present the outbreak and interact with the public? What is the impact of them on the public trust and free flow of information? Should media and technology companies be the only stakeholders invited to the decision making table? • How can we tackle structural inequalities in societies (around gender, race, socio-economic status, ableism) that prevent specific groups of people to participate, engage and understand this pandemic? What types of digital skills, critical understanding and proactive practices can be developed to empower citizens to better understand the pandemic and establish a trust relationship with governments and news media? • How did the general public participate in the online discussion, such as expressing individual experiences and sharing stories on social media? What kinds of data literacies do people from various backgrounds need to participate in a meaningful debate on the topic as well as tackle disinformation? What are the impact of them on the public trust and free flow of information? • What are the responsibilities of digital platforms and public authorities in regulating or policing content during the public health crisis, and where and how should the balance be struck between freedom of expression, privacy and public safety? • What kinds of collaboration between Internet platforms, academics, civil society and media outlets could work to fight online disinformation, fake news, and hate speech? • The proliferation of disinformation and misinformation poses threats to the integrity of journalism and the decisions that people make based on that information in face of Covid-19 crisis. How can technology, academics, civil societies and journalists play a role in tackling them and restoring trust? Underpinning these questions is a holistic critique towards the capacity of social media, digital platform and governance system in responding to such a public health emergency, in particular arguing that this is a social issue that cannot rely exclusively on technological solutions. We also put forward that there is a need for critical re-evaluation of media and data literacy education tailored for different groups of society, as well as developing ethical principles and regulatory laws of social media and digital platform. Combing both local and global perspectives on internet governance and media communication during public crisis, this workshop aims to build an international platform for experts, scholars, policymakers, and practitioners from relevant fields to jointly discuss the above important and timely issues on an interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional approaches. Speakers and moderators from China, Europe, India and USA will discuss above questions from diverse geographic and stakeholder’s perspectives. Speakers: Professor Yun Long, Director of Digital Ethics Institute, Communication University of China; Chair of the Digital Communication Ethics Division, Chinese Society for Science and Technology Journalism Wang Shu, Deputy Chief Editor, Sina Weibo, China Ms. Amrita Choudhury, Director of CCAOI, India Prof Rolf Weber, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich Dr. Elinor Carmi/Professor Simeon Yates, University of Liverpool Onsite Moderator: Dr. Yik Chan Chin, Assistant Professor, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University Online Moderator: Mr. Kuo-wei Wu, APNIC Intended Panel Agenda: 1) Setting the scene: onsite moderator, Dr. Chin, 3 minutes 2) Five presentations, each speaks for 7 minutes with 2 minute of immediate audience response • Yun Long • Shu Wang • Amrita Choudhury • Rolf Weber • Elinor Carmi 3) Discussions amongst speakers 7 minutes moderated by Dr. Chin 4) Interactive question and answer session, 30 minutes moderated by Dr. Chin and Mr. Wu 5) wrap-up of the moderator, 5 minutes.

Issues:

The workshop will address the impact of public health crisis Covid-19 upon the global internet systems and citizens in relation to trust, media and democracy. Special issues and challenges include: 1) the roles and responsibilities of digital platforms, social media, governments and the public in articulating and empowering free flow of information and in protecting human rights and public security during the Covid-19 pandemic ; 2) the best practices to refute disinformation, “fake news”, hate speech during an pandemic crisis; 3) the roles of technology, academics and civil society in developing tools and education programs to empower citizens to have adequate data literacies to tackle fake news and misinformation; 4) the best practices of upholding the integrity of online journalism and public trust.

Policy Question(s):

1) How did social media and digital platform report and present the Covid-19 outbreak and interact with the public? What are the impacts of them on the public trust and quality and free flow of information during the crisis? What are the best practices to improve the online media reporting and rebuilding the trust? 2) How did the general public participate in the online discussion, such as expressing individual experiences and sharing stories on social media? Who is included in the debate and who is not? Whose voice was prioritized and amplified and who was not? (focusing on gender, race, ableism, socio-economic aspects)? How can citizens from various backgrounds can participate in the debate in meaningful ways? 3) What are the responsibilities of digital platforms and public authorities in regulating or policing content during the Covid-19 public health crisis, and where and how should the balance be struck between freedom of expression, privacy and public safety? 4) What kind of collaboration among Internet platforms, civil society and media outlets could work to fight online disinformation, ‘fake news’ and hate speech ? 5) The proliferation of disinformation and misinformation poses threats to the integrity of journalism and the decisions that people make based on that information in facing of Covid-19 crisis. How can technology, academics and civil society play a role in tackling them and restoring trust?

Expected Outcomes:

) Develop a framework for collaborative internet response that includes multi-stakeholders (not only technology companies) such as academics, educators, civil society and other specialists to provide a meaningful platform that tackles the structural inequalities that this pandemic exacerbates. 2) Facilitate the debate as well as shaping the evolution of norms, principles, best practices of online disinformation and fake news refutation, capacity building, and model of Internet governance. 3) Identify differing viewpoints regarding Internet governance approaches regarding help the creation of an environment in which all stakeholders are able to prosper and thrive 4) Policy recommendations and key messages report to the IGF community and stakeholders' organizations.

Relevance to Internet Governance: Trust is a prerequisite for the Internet to develop its potential as a tool for empowerment, agency, and self determination, a channel of free speech and an engine of economic development. The proposed workshop will discuss the timely issues of impact of Covid-19 public health crisis on global information security, online safety and public trust. It will also explore the responsibility and best practices of the public, academics, civil society, digital platforms, social media, legacy media, government and technical sector in articulating and regulating the free flow of information and content and building up trust amid the pandemic crisis in the Internet governance. It will involve speakers from the private sector, civil society, and policy maker at major Covid-19 pandemic centers (China, Europe, US, India) across developed and developing regions to share their professional knowledge, experiences, best practices, and policy framework. The proposed workshop will facilitate the global debate as well as shaping the evolution of norms, principles, best practices of online disinformation and ‘fake news’ mitigation, best practices of capacity building, and model of Internet governance.

Relevance to Theme: This workshop directly addresses the theme of Trust and its subtheme of Trust, Media and Democracy. This theme is to discuss strategies and best practices for protecting security, safety, stability & resilience of both the global internet and citizens, the appropriate roles and responsibilities of governments, academics, industry and other stakeholders , and the relationship between security and people’s human rights through multidisciplinary perspectives. The panel will directly address above theme by specifically looking at the subtheme Trust, Media and Democracy. It will explore topics of impact of public health crisis Covid-19 upon the global internet systems and citizens in relation to trust, media and democracy. Specifically, the workshop will discuss: 1) the roles and responsibilities of digital platforms, social media, governments and the public in articulating and empowering free flow of information and in protecting human rights and public security during the Covid-19 pandemic ; 2) the best practices to refute disinformation, “fake news”, hate speech during an pandemic crisis; 3) the roles of technology, academics and civil society in developing tools and education programs to empower citizens to have adequate data literacies to tackle fake news and misinformation; 4) the best practices of upholding the integrity of online journalism and public trust;

Discussion Facilitation:

The session will be opened by the moderator Dr. Chin to provide participants an overview of the policy questions discussed in the session, the professional background of the speakers, and the format of interaction. The moderator Dr. Chin will ensure the audience from online being able to ask questions to the speakers immediately following their presentations to encourage active participation. In the part 3), the session will move to debate. The moderator will invite each speaker to express their views on a set of questions generated from their presentations and guide the debate amongst speakers and the audience to foreground their common ground and differences. In the part 4) Two moderators will invite questions from online participants, the question time will last about 20 minutes in order to provide sufficient interactions amongst speakers and online participants. Online participants will be given priority to speak, and their participation will be encouraged by moderators. The moderators and speakers will summarise the findings and recommendations and future actions of the panel. Online Participation: The moderators will participate in the online training course for the Official Online Participation Platform provided by the IGF Secretariat's technical team to ensure the online participation tool will be properly and smoothly used during the session.

Online Participation:

Usage of IGF Official Tool.

SDGs:

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Agenda:

Setting the scene: moderator, Dr. Chin, 3 minutes
Five presentations, each speaks for 10 minutes with 1 minute of immediate response

Yun Long: Director of Digital Ethics Institute, Communication University of China; Chair of the Digital Communication Ethics Division, Chinese Society for Science and Technology Journalism
Shu Wang: Deputy Chief Editor, Sina Weibo, China
Amrita Choudhury: Director of CCAOI, India
Rolf Weber: Faculty of Law, University of Zurich
Elinor Carmi: Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool

Discussions amongst speakers 7 minutes moderated by Dr. Chin
Interactive question and answer session, 20 minutes moderated by Dr. Chin and Mr. Wu
wrap-up 5 minutes