Manila, Philippines – Nobel Peace Prize laureates Maria Resa and Dmitry Muratov have launched a plan to “rebuild independent journalism” to fight the data crisis and the profit-driven business model of surveillance by the giant tech companies.
He presented this at the Freedom of Expression Conference held in Oslo, Norway on Friday, September 2.
Resa tweeted that Big Tech’s business models, which “deliberately promote hatred and lies for profit,” are “a threat to the survival of democracy and peace.”
“Currently, the enormous potential of technology to advance our society has been undermined by the business model and design of major online platforms,” Resa and Muratov said.
“However, we remind all those in power that true human progress is based on the use of technology to uphold the rights and freedoms of all, and not to sacrifice wealth and power for the few,” he added.
“Radical action is needed to dismantle major online platforms and restore a democratic vision of the Internet for the 21st century,” Ressa tweeted.
She called on tech platforms to stop promoting fake news and invest in journalism to fight tyranny.
Rappler CEO Resa and Muratov, editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya newspaper Muratov He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 “for his efforts to protect freedom of expression, which is a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace.”
Stop the ‘surveillance-for-profit business model’
The Nobel laureates say that the current information ecosystem is driven by “obscure algorithms and advisory systems developed by technology companies that track us.”
“This monitor-for-profit business model is built around our license. But it has no choice but to allow platforms and data brokers to feed on our personal data, or force us to opt out of the benefits of the modern world.
“The organization’s massive surveillance machinery not only abuses our right to privacy, but also allows our information to be used against us, harming our freedom and allowing discrimination,” he added.
According to Resa and Muratov, Europe has started to solve the problem through digital services and digital markets legislation, but “these platforms need to be implemented in a way that forces them to compromise their design, dismantle their algorithms and give real control to users.”
“Privacy and data rights, largely reasonable to date, must also be properly enforced. And advertisers should use their money and influence to protect their customers from the technology industry’s active harm to people, he said.
‘Stop Technology Discrimination’
According to Resa and Muratov, international technology companies have failed to prioritize and provide equal protection to their users.
“Companies should be required by law to rigorously assess human rights concerns in every country they wish to expand to, with balanced language and cultural competence. They should also be forced to bring closed doors on content moderation and algorithmic changes to the light of their decisions and end all special liberties for those with high power and access,” he said.
“These security, design and product choices that affect billions of people cannot be left to companies to make. Transparency and accountability rules are a critical first step in reclaiming the Internet for the public good,” he added.
‘Building Free Journalism as Antidote to Oppression’
Resa and Muratov also refer to the “powers” unleashed by big tech platforms, which “swallow online advertising and destroy free media and drown out facts with a technological tsunami of lies and hate.”
Noting the fact that “currently 13 percent of the world’s population has access to a free press,” he said that ending the proliferation of false information by technology platforms is not enough to rebuild free journalism.
“If we want to hold power and protect journalists, we need an unparalleled investment in a truly independent media that encourages compliance with ethical standards in journalism and ensures its sustainability, working in the field with persistence or exile,” he said.
He added, “21st century newsrooms must create a new, different way of representing the diversity of communities that serve to advance justice and rights.” In this war on reality, the journalists who are being attacked, arrested or killed must ensure the safety and freedom of the journalists.
to practicality
Resa and Muratov presented a 10-point plan of action to “build a world that prioritizes human rights, dignity and security.”
Nine other Nobel laureates and more than 90 experts and civil society groups have endorsed the action plan.
“We, as Nobel laureates from around the world, send a message together: Together we can stop the corporate and technological assault on our lives and freedoms, but we must act now.” According to Resa and Muratov, it is time to implement our current solutions to rebuild journalism and reclaim the technological engineering of global dialogue.
In the year On August 31, former and current lawmakers from Southeast Asian countries called on governments, civil society and the public sector to address disinformation as a regional and global concern.
ASEAN parliamentarians have conducted a fact-finding mission to the Philippines following the country’s May 2022 national elections.
The son of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won the presidential race in May by a landslide, stemming from former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “institutionalization” of disinformation on social media. Since Marcos’ propaganda was years before he achieved his 2022 Malacañang return, the spread of information on social media proved to be a key factor in influencing the outcome of the election.
– Rappler.com
