[4] For the two platforms with international user bases (Facebook and Twitter), UNESCO researchers identified tensions between the companies’ own policies and practices and governments’ laws and regulations.
There is significant concern amongst some human rights advocates, including for example those working to stop gender-based violence and online hate speech, about companies’ lack of communication with users about how terms of service are developed, interpreted and enforced.
[4] UNESCO recommended that 1) laws and regulations governing intermediaries should be consistent with international human rights norms, including the right to freedom of expression; 2) laws, regulations and governmental policies, as well as corporate policies and rules, should be developed in consultation with all affected stakeholders; 3) transparency reporting and other actions to communicate with the public about company policy and practice should be comprehensive and sufficiently standardized so that it is possible to compare and analyze datasets across multiple companies; 4) data protection regimes at the national level are vital, as are legal frameworks and other mechanisms to ensure that government access to user data and company practices in handling government requests are based on strict principles of necessity, proportionality, and accountability in terms of remedial mechanisms; 5) Intermediaries’ private rules and accompanying enforcement processes, as well as government-supported efforts by companies to collectively self-regulate, should be compatible with human rights norms, including the right to freedom of expression.
They should adhere to core principles of accountability, transparency and due process; 6) It should be possible for people to report grievances and obtain redress from private intermediaries as well as from state authorities, including from national-level human rights institutions; 7) In order for freedom of expression to be protected and respected online, governments and companies have a responsibility to consult with stakeholders on their laws and rules and explain them clearly.
[4] This article incorporates text by Rebecca MacKinnon, Elonnai Hickok, Allon Bar, Hae-in Lim, UNESCO available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license.