Statement by H.E. Mr. Andrejs Pildegovičs
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Latvia
at the Digital Democracy Dialogues:
Disinformation, digital technology and elections
13 April 2021
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
I am glad and honoured to participate in “Digital Democracy Dialogues”, focusing on disinformation, digital technology and elections. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to make some remarks. I would like to focus more on the disinformation dimension, yet – all three mentioned areas are interlinked.
Let me structure my intervention in three broad parts. First, I would like to focus on describing the challenge or the problem. Second, I would like to outline the main elements of the progress achieved so far. And, lastly, I would conclude by providing a possible way forward or what more needs to be done.
The problem/challenge
We have faced disinformation long before the COVID-19 pandemic started. Disinformation can be attributed to both state and non-state actors, and are aimed against any crucial area of functioning of any democratic society. We look at the disinformation as being part of a broader hybrid challenge. One of the main aims of spreading disinformation is undermining society’s trust in democratic institutions, exposing our vulnerabilities and testing our resilience.
One of the recent key challenges has been COVID-19 related disinformation/misinformation or the so called ‘infodemic’. The pandemic opened up the new avenues for disinformation. Misinformation and disinformation became a challenge both for states and for online platforms.
Considerable part of the spread of the virus is attributable to disinformation affecting people in every country of the world. Denial of virus, baseless rumors, conspiracy theories and harmful health advice risk to cause massive damage to public health globally. Infodemic stems from cumulative effect of the deadly pandemic with virtually unlimited access to – and circulation of – information. Negative effects of disinformation impact all phases of combating Covid-19.
Response/solution – our experience
Our response should be national, regional and global. And it should engage all stake-holders – governmental, civil society and private – in a complementary and interactive way.
At the national level, in Latvia the crisis has clearly shown that we can deal with this challenge. The Latvian society has proven remarkably resilient to disinformation during the pandemic. Some of the main reasons: 1) an already high level of awareness of the risks of disinformation; 2) efficient and well-coordinated government communications; 3) trust in independent media. Consumption of quality independent media, including public service media, has grown during the crisis, while interest in dubious media fell.
Our response to disinformation should focus on building resilience. The governments need to invest in communications, monitoring and analytical capabilities, but the main elements need to involve whole of society. This means 1) raising awareness of disinformation; 2) strengthening independent and pluralistic media; 3) engaging with civil society; 4) and teaching media literacy.
Latvia puts a strong focus on strengthening independent, pluralistic media. Among the practical measures to this effect is the independent Media Support Fund. Its aim is to address the challenges faced by media in a small media market. The government has allocated additional funding to the Media Support Fund to deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Latvian civil society has proved to be a leading and innovative actor in efforts to tackle the issue of disinformation through strengthening the media environment. The Baltic Centre for Media Excellence uses new approaches to raise the quality of journalism and media literacy in the Baltic States and beyond.
Latvia is also proud to host the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence. The centre has world-leading expertise in the area and has published a lot of useful research on disinformation and solutions to this issue. We invite everyone to take the opportunity to look at their studies.
Latvia puts strong emphasis also on international cooperation, including at the UN in New York. Last June, Latvia initiated the “Cross-regional statement on infodemic in the context of COVID-19”. It received support of 130 UN member states from all regions, which inspired us to continue the work on the issue of disinformation also in the UN.
Last December, Latvia, together with France, India, Indonesia and Australia organized a side-event during the UNGA Special Session on COVID-19. It was about sharing the best practice of how to address the infodemic challenge. We were glad to hear the views of the President of GA, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Latvia and Australia.
In addition, Latvia was among the initiators of the recently adopted United Nations General Assembly resolution on Global Media and Information Literacy Week. It is the first UN General Assembly resolution on media and information literacy, which also calls for action against the spread of disinformation and misinformation. We are glad it was co-sponsored by all EU Member States and also glad it was co-sponsored by 96 UN Member States from all regions.
Way forward – what more needs to be done?
And the concluding part of my intervention is to coming up with some key suggestions on the way forward or what more needs to be done.
Overall, governments, international organisations, media organisations, social media companies, scientific community and pharma companies must continue to work jointly. Collectively we must come out of pandemic more knowledgeable and resilient, including on disinformation.
I believe that these efforts are also an essential part of the broader long-term UN agenda – to strengthen good governance, improve democratic institutions, foster trust in and accountability of governments.
It is commonly agreed that online platforms should increasingly contribute to strengthening the “health or the immune system of our information space”. The pandemic has exposed the need for more accountability and transparency on the part of the online platforms.
While they are an essential source of information, online platforms have also become a convenient tool for spread of falsehoods and manipulation. Further action by the online platforms is needed to address disinformation. At the same time, they also must do more to uphold and strengthen freedom of expression and data privacy online. And another key aspect is to increase the ability of social media platforms to monitor and operate in small languages.
There are multiple issues where the online platforms need to act more responsibly and transparently. This includes, inter alia, demonetizing disinformation, weeding out inauthentic activity, socially responsible algorithm design and transparency concerning their effect on public debate, providing researchers and fact-checkers with anonymized data to help uncover and expose disinformation campaigns.
And lastly, in the context of the mentioned GA resolution on Global Media and Information Literacy, we should continue to promote is as an effective ‘vaccine’ against disinformation, conspiracy theories and hate speech.