Under Secretary Zeya’s Introductory Remarks at the Summit for Democracy Panel on “Upholding Information Integrity Online to Reinforce Democracy and Human Rights” 

Good afternoon, and thank you Ambassador van der Vliet and our Dutch, Danish, and Wikimedia hosts.  It is a pleasure to engage distinguished representatives of government, civil society and the private sector on a topic of critical importance – upholding information integrity online.

As Secretary Blinken said yesterday, reliable information is foundational for every issue in every country. It empowers us to understand and engage with what’s going on around us, to build informed opinions and participate meaningfully in political processes and public life – cornerstones of healthy democratic societies. Erosion of trust and integrity in the digital information sphere endangers the very future of democracy itself.  

At this complex and consequential moment of digital innovation, malign state and non-state actors increasingly use disinformation and other forms of information manipulation to curtail information integrity and weaken democracies.  They seek to shred the fabric of free and democratic societies by undermining their policies, and influencing people’s beliefs, political participation, and outcomes.  They fuel societal exclusion and divisions, including through online and offline harassment, threats or fabrications to keep women, LGBTQI+ persons, and marginalized communities from fully engaging in political processes.  For example, two days before Slovakia’s closely contested 2023 election, millions heard an AI-generated audio deepfake recording over social media falsely accusing a leading political candidate of buying votes from a minority group. 

During electoral cycles, malign actors are increasingly misusing and exploiting technology to deploy gendered disinformation campaigns, including by creating “deepfakes” targeting women in public life, from politicians to journalists.  Take for example, Ukrainian parliamentarian Svitlana Zalishchuk, who after giving a speech at the United Nations on the impact of Russia’s war on Ukrainian women, experienced a year-long social media disinformation campaign consisting of fabricated sexualized information and images.

In this historic year for elections globally, it is critical that we work together to combat threats to the online information environment because information integrity is a cornerstone of electoral integrity.  So let me highlight three key ways the United States is catalyzing collective action:

First, we are working with our partners and allies to build a common understanding of the threat of information manipulation and build capacity around rights-respecting responses to it.  To this end, the United States and 10 like-minded governments endorsed earlier this year a Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation, which lays out action areas where governments can respond to state-sponsored disinfo in ways that protect free and open societies.  Building partner capacity and collaboration around these important issues is also essential.  One way we are doing this is through the European Digital Diplomacy Exchange, a project that expands the digital strategic communication capacities of European governments, to foster public trust and increase accountability—reducing the space for and influence of disinformation. 

Second, as we strengthen government-to-government collaboration, we are bolstering multistakeholder forums aimed at expanding partnership and learning with civil society, the private sector and others on information integrity.  We are co-chairing, alongside France, the OECD’s DIS/MIS Information Resource Hub to expand collaboration across different sectors on lessons learned and best practices on information integrity.  As 2023 Chair of the Freedom Online Coalition, we helped launch a new Task Force to further develop shared responses to the threat of information manipulation, including its impact on democratic processes.  We are also working to support approaches that sustain Internet access during and after electoral cycles, in the face of network shutdowns and disruptions all too often seen as voters head to the polls.   

Finally, we are working to support human rights defenders, journalists, democratic reformers, and others who are directly targeted by information manipulation as a means of silencing their voices.  To this end, the United States released public guidance this week to help technology companies prevent, mitigate, and support remediation of for attacks targeting human rights defenders online.  This guidance builds from joint recommendations developed by the United States and European Union after months of consultation with HRDs, civil society organizations, and industry.   The State Department is also working to counter gendered disinformation and build tools to support women politicians, political candidates, and civil society leaders disproportionately targeted because of their gender.  The 14-nation Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse will convene a multi-stakeholder Conference on Gendered Disinformation next week to better prevent, disrupt, and reduce the spread of online campaigns against women public figures in election contexts. 

Despite all of these important efforts, we know there is still more work to do.  Well beyond this week’s Summit, we must continue to explore how governments can best foster a whole-of-society approach to countering the impact of disinformation and bolstering information integrity.  Simply put, governments cannot do this alone.  The protection and support of independent media and the promotion of independent fact-checking and media and digital literacy are critical.  It is also essential to elevate the pivotal role civil society, academia, the private sector, and others play in building information integrity and enabling civic education and learning that enhances critical thinking, including around elections.  All of these actors are interconnected, and the task of upholding information integrity online is one that can only be accomplished if government, civil society and the private sector work together.  Let us use today’s session and this record-breaking year for elections globally to redouble our efforts to promote and protect an online information ecosystem that fortifies democracy and promotes human rights. 

Thank you.