The video discusses the transformative impact social media has had on global communications, particularly in the context of the United Nations' outreach efforts. Initially, social media platforms offered an unprecedented opportunity for direct communication with the general public, enabling the UN to facilitate grassroots movements and connect displaced individuals. Over time, however, negative aspects have emerged, including the spread of misinformation and the manipulation of platforms by "bad actors" to foster hostility and misinformation.

The video highlights specific challenges the UN has faced due to misinformation, such as vaccine hesitancy influenced by online misinformation campaigns. These campaigns have significantly impacted public health efforts, particularly in regions that were initially receptive to vaccinations. Additionally, social media has been weaponized in conflicts to promote atrocities and sow confusion, posing a threat to peacekeepers and humanitarian efforts by distorting information and inciting violence.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. exponential [ˌɛkspəˈnɛnʃəl] - (adjective) - Increasing rapidly at an accelerating rate, particularly a mathematical growth process. - Synonyms: (rapid, swift, increasing)

And our presence on social media soon grew exponentially.

2. grassroots [ˈɡræsˌruts] - (adjective) - The most basic level of an activity or organization; bottom-up effort. - Synonyms: (community-based, bottom-up, local)

They have helped create grassroots movements that have created political change.

3. disinformation [ˌdɪsɪnfərˈmeɪʃən] - (noun) - False information spread deliberately to deceive. - Synonyms: (misinformation, falsehoods, lies)

...just twelve accounts that were responsible for 65% of the disinformation that was spreading across the world...

4. conspiracy [kənˈspɪrəsi] - (noun) - A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful, harmful, or illicit. - Synonyms: (plot, scheme, collusion)

They had been so infected by these conspiracies that they weren't only refusing the Covid-19 vaccines...

5. genocide [ˈdʒɛnəˌsaɪd] - (noun) - Deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. - Synonyms: (mass murder, ethnic cleansing, extermination)

A free tool used by genocidal governments to say it's okay to murder and to rape and to drive out fellow citizens.

6. perpetrating [ˈpɜrpɪtreɪtɪŋ] - (verb) - Carrying out or committing a harmful, illegal, or immoral action. - Synonyms: (committing, executing, conducting)

...found that Facebook played a significant role in perpetrating that violence.

7. dehumanize [diˈhjuməˌnaɪz] - (verb) - To deprive of positive human qualities, diminishing dignity and humanity. - Synonyms: (degrade, demonize, vilify)

...social media platforms deployed in many wars to dehumanize the enemy...

8. algorithmic [ˌælɡəˈrɪðmɪk] - (adjective) - Relating to or using algorithms, which are a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or problem-solving. - Synonyms: (computational, procedural, systematic)

...Meta, for example, has acknowledged that the UN falls under a category called civic down ranking, which actually puts us at an algorithmic disadvantage...

9. antisemitism [ˌæntɪˈsɛmɪˌtɪzəm] - (noun) - Hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jewish people. - Synonyms: (prejudice, discrimination, racism)

We're seeing huge spikes in antisemitism, in racism, and another hate speech normalizing this hate speech.

10. rhetoric [ˈrɛtərɪk] - (noun) - Language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect, often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful content. - Synonyms: (persuasion, oratory, eloquence)

... social media is also being harnessed to undermine and distort and abuse those who are promoting the science around climate change.

Healing our troubled information ecosystem - Melissa Fleming - Nobel Prize Summit 2023

Well, I've been in this communications business for the United Nations for a long time, and I remember when social media burst onto the scene. We communicators were really excited because we were used to working only through journalists, getting a little diluted, what came up. But then we could communicate with people directly at scale. We could ask them even to join forces with us to improve the world. And our presence on social media soon grew exponentially. This is just our UN channels, but the whole UN system. We have 60 million followers. And, you know, the platforms have arguably done much good. They have helped create grassroots movements that have created political change. They've connected the isolated and reunited families displaced by war.

But before long, we saw a dark side, and I had myself a few personal aha moments. I was spokesperson for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. And I remember in 2015 when a million refugees came to Europe, and we saw such an outpouring of welcome on our social media platforms, on our tvs. I witnessed the best of humanity there. But soon, bad actors started spreading ugly lies online to frighten the public, and the welcome soon soured. Policies became more hostile. Walls came up. And a year later, I had my own wake up call. I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. And the course I was told to take, chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, was kind of scary. And I did what most of us do. You've heard of doctor Google? I went to Facebook, too, and I started looking for a community.

One of the most prominent findings, or pages that popped up was a site called the truth about cancer. And the truth about cancer gave the following. Don't treat your cancer with chemotherapy. There are natural remedies. Instead. If I had taken their advice, I would not be standing here with you today. And the reason I raised this is because that same group is still going strong on Facebook and Twitter and other platforms with the truth about vaccines. They're trying to convince people to refuse life saving vaccines. And during the Covid-19 pandemic, the center for Countering Digital Hate found that the couple behind both of these pages were part of what they coined the disinformation dozen, just twelve accounts that were responsible for 65% of the disinformation that was spreading across the world on social media, infecting the minds of millions.

And, you know, why is this relevant to the UN? Well, when we finally got the vaccines to other parts of the world, in Africa in particular, which was very. Had publics that were very vaccine positive, we were finding people refusing to take them. They had been so infected by these conspiracies that they weren't only refusing the Covid-19 vaccines, but also childhood vaccines as well. We're also seeing that in conflicts, social media is being weaponized to provoke the worst in human nature. A free tool used by genocidal governments to say it's okay to murder and to rape and to drive out fellow citizens. I met many victims and I'm thinking of the Rohingya refugee population in Bangladesh. Women whose babies were torn from their arms and thrown into fires. UN colleagues doing a study, later found that Facebook played a significant role in perpetrating that violence.

And since then, we've seen social media platforms deployed in many wars to dehumanize the enemy, but also to increase the density of the fog, and the fog around atrocities and war crimes. And this is happening against a wider backdrop of online hate. We're seeing huge spikes in antisemitism, in racism, and another hate speech normalizing this hate speech. And even the UN is under attack. False allegations spread online are targeting UN peacekeepers. This is from a recent survey which found that 75% of peacekeepers are saying their own safety and security is being threatened by disinformation, as if they didn't have enough challenge to face. And it's also hampering their own operating environment.

According to them, as we've heard by many other speakers, social media is also being harnessed to undermine and distort and abuse those who are promoting the science around climate change. The goal? To silence the scientists and the activists and secure a livable future for the planet. I'm seeing a number of news reports in the last couple of days and surveys citing climate scientists who are fleeing Twitter in droves. This is sad, because we need those voices to promote the science and secure a livable future for our planet.

We're also obviously very concerned that the new huge leaps in generative AI could take disinformation to new levels. While it's good to hear the AI founders begging for regulation before it's too late, we must continue to push all big tech to deliver on their early promises. But obviously, experience has shown that we can't leave it to the social media platforms or the other tech platforms alone. And the UN is working on multiple fronts to bring more balance into our information ecosystems by stepping up our online communications. And in many ways, we're trying to make un content cool.

But just to note, we do face lots of challenges. Social media certain social media policies hamper our reach. Meta, for example, has acknowledged that the UN falls under a category called civic down ranking, which actually puts us at an algorithmic disadvantage at a starting point. And of course, firings at Twitter have left us with no one to call to flag content that is abusive or even incitement to violence. We're now seeing that almost anyone can promote disinformation for the price of a blue tick. So we've still, it's not all bad. We have teamed up with the platforms to elevate reliable information around Covid and climate to amplify trusted messengers. And we have quite an army of them out there who want to take un content and promote it within their followings, and also educating users on how to slow the spread of disinformation. Our new slogan that we want to have everybody have in their ear when they're online is pause. Take care before you share.

But yet, we do feel like we are in an information war and that we need to massively ramp up our response. So we're creating at the UN a central capacity to monitor and also have the ability to rapidly react when mis and disinformation and hate speech is threatening not just our people, our operations, but also the issues and the causes that we're working on. But also we are going to be gearing up our verified initiative around climate change and developing this UN code of conduct on information integrity on digital platforms, hoping to set global standards that we can all advocate around so that we can collectively work for a more humane Internet. So we obviously can't do this alone. And it is so inspiring to, to have all of you here in the room who are working in so many different ways to create a more humane information ecosystem. I think that we vastly outnumber the haters altogether, right? And if we do join forces, I think we can also together heal our troubled information ecosystem.

United Nations, Social Media, Technology, Disinformation, Global, Communications, Nobel Prize