A Guiding Mantra

Duplicated from “How to Stand Up to A Dictator” by Maria Ressa

2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry
Muratov’s 10-Point Plan To Address the Information Crisis

We call for a world in which technology is built in service of humanity and where our global public square protects human rights above profits. Those in power must do their part to build a world that puts human rights, and dignity, and security first, including by safeguarding scientific and journalistic methods and tested knowledge. To build that world, we must: Bring an end to the surveillance-forprofit business model; and tech discrimination and treat people everywhere equally; and rebuild independent journalism as the antidote to tyranny.

We call on all rights-respecting democratic governments to:

1. Require tech companies to carry out independent human
   rights impact assessments that must be made public as well as demand
   transparency on all aspects of their business-from content moderation
   to algorithm impacts to data processing to integrity policies.
2. Protect citizens’ right to privacy with robust data protection
   laws.
3. Publicly condemn abuses against the free press and journalists
   globally and commit funding and assistance to independent media and
   Journalists under attack.

We call on the European Union to:

1. Be ambitious in enforcing the Digital Services and the Digital Markets Acts so these laws amount to more than just ‘new paperwork’ for the companies and instead force them to make changes to their business model, such as ending algorithmic amplification that threatens fundamental rights and spreads disinformation and hate, including in cases where the risks originate outside EU borders.
2. Urgently propose legislation to ban surveillance advertising, recognizing this practice is fundamentally incompatible with human rights.
3. Properly enforce the EU General Data Protection Regulation so that people’s data rights are finally made reality
4. Include strong safeguards for journalists’ safety, media sustainability and democratic guarantees in the digital space in the forthcoming European Media Freedom act.
5. Protect media freedom by cutting off discrimination upstream. This means there should be no special exemptions or carve-outs for any organization or individual in any new technology or media legislation. With globalized information flows, this would give a blank check to those governments and non-state actors who produce industrial scale disinformation to harm democracies and polarize societies everywhere.
6. Challenge the extraordinary lobbying machinery, the astroturfIng campaigns and recruitment revolving door between big tech companies and European government institutions.

We call on the UN to:

1. Create a special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General focused on the Safety of Journalists (SESJ) who would challenge the current Status quo and finally raise the cost of crimes against journalists