New Risk Management Guide to Counter Disinformation and Hate Speech on Social Media 

The guide presents recommendations for social media platform companies to protect Ukraine and its users, with a focus on access to information and freedom of speech. The guide comes with cases and research specific to the armed conflict in Ukraine and is the first of its kind in the country.

On 12 March, experts from NGO Internews Ukraine and IMS (International Media Support) presented a Guide for Risk Management in emergencies, armed conflicts, and crises. Accompanied by an appendix, this guide aims to provide concrete and actionable recommendations for actions that involve both social media platform companies, government, regulators, media, activists, and civil society in Ukraine.

“During Russia’s aggression, Ukraine needs support in maintaining information security and integrity. That is why, with UNESCO and the People of Japan, we have developed the first Risk Management Guide for social media platform companies. Our goal is to effectively share the critical learnings and recommendations from Ukraine with the companies and the world,” Nynne Storm Refsing, Tech Adviser at IMS and co-author of the Guide, commented. 

At the core of the project has been a working group of 24 national experts from state institutions, NGOs, and media, including YaroslavYurchyshyn, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Freedom of Speech Committee; HannaKrasnostup, Head of the Information Policy and Information Security Department at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine; and IhorRozkladai, deputy director of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM). However, the project has been a multi-stakeholder effort with valuable inputs also from regional and international high-level experts and from social media platform companies.

Based on the expertise and broad experiences of the national working group, they identified ten key risks that posed a threat to peace and stability and to human rights like access to information and freedom of expression.  The key recommendations include:  

• Preserving content documenting war crimes.
• Fast removing false or harmful content, including AI-generated content.
• Ensuring access to reliable public information during conflict.
• Considering local context in moderation decisions.
• Collaborating more actively with local representatives to access verified information in the temporarily occupied territories.

“The guide should serve not only as a tool for working with Ukraine but also as a resource to assist countries that may face similar threats in the future,” saidPavlo Belousov, one of the guide’s authors, Digital Security Expert at Internews Ukraine. 

Following the guide’s presentation, the IMS team will work with relevant stakeholders, including the social media platform companies and regulators, to implement the guide.

Download both English and Ukrainian versions here

The materials were developed as part of the SHIELD project: Strengthening Honesty, Integrity, and Ethics for Legitimate Discourse, implemented by IMS (International Media Support) and NGO Internews Ukraine in partnership with UNESCO and with support from Japan.

The project builds on UNESCO’s Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms | UNESCO from 2023.