Unesco invites Lula, Barroso, and Felipe Neto to a forum on social media regulation

Unesco has invited President Lula, Supreme Court Justice Luis Roberto Barroso, and youtuber Felipe Neto to a forum on social media regulation between February 21 and 23 in Paris.

On several occasions, Lula supported the idea.

“We need, to some extent, to regulate the internet and social media so that they follow the rails of civility and ethics,” said the President at a recent event in Espírito Santo.

He will participate remotely via videoconference.

According to Barroso’s press office, the minister will explain how “hate speech” is disseminated on social networks and how supposed terrorist groups seek to carry out “coups d’état” through the Internet.

Felipe Neto was called because of his more than 44 million followers on YouTube, besides having been a “victim of fake news”, according to Unesco.

The event will be Unesco’s first global organization on social media regulation, bringing together more than 1,500 representatives from governments and big techs, universities, regulators, and people from civil society.

Unesco said the Internet is an important tool for communication and disseminating knowledge.

“However, social media platforms are also spreading disinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories, which damage the fabric of our societies by sowing distrust, exacerbating political polarization, helping to sow the seeds of extremism, and undermining the conditions for peaceful coexistence – in particular free and fair elections,” Unesco said.

With information from Revista Oeste