Addressing Hate Speech and Disinformation for Peaceful 2024 Election
The Social Media 4 Peace project by UNESCO organized a high-level meeting on June 22, 2023, to address hate speech and disinformation ahead of the 2024 General Election. The meeting brought together representatives from the Damai Coalition, social media platforms, Indonesian government bodies (KPU, Bawaslu, Ministry of Communications and Informatics), media, and rights institutions. Arya Fernandes, the Head of Department of Politics and Social Changes of Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and researcher for Safer Internet Lab (SAIL), was invited to be present at the meeting. The meeting aimed to discuss the challenges and opportunities in balancing freedom of expression with combating disinformation and hate speech for peaceful election narratives. It also aimed to facilitate dialogue among various stakeholders, including technology companies, civil society organizations, government bodies, and intergovernmental organizations, to ensure access to accurate information, freedom of expression, and journalist safety during the upcoming election. The meeting concluded by securing commitments from stakeholders and outlining a roadmap for future working-level meetings involving multiple participants.