With smartphones, editing apps, and innovative approaches, some UN peacekeeping operations across the world are building a "digital army" aimed at combating mis- and disinformation on social media networks and beyond.
Designing ways to fight back against falsehoods that can trigger tensions, violence, or even death, the UN has been monitoring how mis- and disinformation and hate speech can attack health, security, stability as well as progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"It has become clear that business as usual is not an option," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a policy brief launched in June on information integrity on digital platforms.
"The ability to disseminate large-scale disinformation to undermine scientifically established facts poses an existential risk to humanity and endangers democratic institutions and fundamental human rights," he wrote in the brief.
