5/7/2025–|Last update: 02:49 (Mecca time)
Irin Khan, the United Nations Special Restaurant for Freedom and Expression, said that there are major trends that threaten freedom of expression, including social media that is overwhelmed by misleading information and hate speech.
This came in a report I submitted at the 59th session of the Council human rights In Geneva, Switzerland, on the main weaknesses that hinder the right to freedom of expression in the electoral contexts in the digital age.
Khan explained in her report that the political climate “is characterized by authoritarian tendencies and a decline in human rights and democracy”, and considered that the weak traditional media that is attacked and unable to refute lies is a major threat to freedom of expression.
The UN headine stressed that the right to freedom of opinion and expression “is one of the pillars of democratic societies and a guarantee for free and fair elections.”
She warned that when freedom of expression is suppressed, electoral processes are at risk and general confidence in the elections is affected, and stressed that the integrity of the elections and the integrity of information are “closely related.”
She said that free, fair and safe elections require “a healthy and open information space, where accurate and independent information is easily available to voters.”
In the report, she emphasized that populist politicians and authoritarian governments are using “manipulation of information as a tool”, while digital technology and social platforms allow them to amplify these methods to overwhelm the public space with misleading and false information and hate speech.
The special decision stated that she wrote this report on freedom of expression and elections because it is “deeply concerned about the existence of an ideal storm that at the same time destroyed our right to vote and our right to freedom of expression.”
The report prepared by Khan was based on broad consultations, its UN -established leadership, over the past year, which included civil society organizations, electoral institutions, human rights defenders, journalists and representatives of social media companies.
The report also warned that information manipulation is also used as a tool to restrict the participation of opposition candidates, and to escalate political discourse that strip people of their humanity and marginalize them because of their sweat, religion, language, or social type even in liberal democracies.
Khan concluded that the failure to address these challenges urgently will lead to “great harm to everyone who has the right to express and the right to vote.”