UN-led dialogue calls for coordinated, practical response to a global information crisis

# What happened

# Why participants said action is needed

Speakers described three drivers of the crisis: dominant platform business models that prioritize engagement and profit, rapid deployment of unregulated and untested technologies, and chronic underfunding and attacks on journalists, scientists and other information defenders. The combination, participants said, degrades trust and makes it harder for people to find accurate information needed for public life and decision-making.

# Practical approaches showcased

Climate information integrity was a central example of how global norms can translate into local action. The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change supports projects that:

• advance platform accountability measures.

Organizers argued these methods can be applied to other areas such as elections, peace and security, child online safety, human-rights defenders and disaster response.

The session also examined advertising and business incentives that can finance harmful online content. Work with advertisers to promote human-rights-responsible advertising was discussed as a mechanism to reduce inadvertent funding of harmful practices.

# Networks and next steps

Participants reaffirmed the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity as a common framework and outlined concrete steps to scale solutions and share learning. A key tangible follow-up is the Global Information Integrity Exchange (GIIEx), a UN initiative intended to connect practitioners, researchers and policymakers. GIIEx will house research, tools, training materials and policy developments and will be fed by UN Centres of Excellence for Information Integrity.

Other calls to action included more regional cooperation — with a specific request for a pan-African UN–African Union conference on information integrity — greater availability of research tools and stronger protections and funding for people defending information integrity.

# The AI angle

Artificial intelligence was a prominent theme across UNGA81 and in this dialogue. Participants flagged unregulated AI systems and other emerging technologies as intensifying existing risks. The discussion followed broader UN remarks during the General Assembly week that stressed the need for guardrails to limit harm while involving governments, companies, scientists and civil society in decision-making.

# Takeaway for policymakers and practitioners