Impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realization of human rights by UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee 10:22am 19th May, 2026   Lies spread faster than the truth. Impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realization of human rights - United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (Extract):    Digital technologies and social media platforms have drastically changed the global information environment. These advancements have democratized access to information and enhanced the communication and dissemination of ideas of all kinds, facilitating the dissemination of and access to disinformation.    While disinformation and the involvement of State, corporate and other actors are not new, disinformation is now spread at a larger scale owing to digital technologies, posing a risk to the integrity of the information system, including to existing processes for assessing the veracity of information.    The inability to verify information undermines freedom of information. Disinformation is used as a weapon against minorities and opponents to threaten, discriminate and silence, and thus corrodes freedom of expression and other rights.    This evolution is taking place against the backdrop of growing authoritarianism and democratic backsliding, the undermining of the international public order, diminishing trust in conventional media and public institutions, poor media literacy, the digital divide, wealth inequalities, polarization and a triple planetary crisis (climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution).    As acknowledged and shown in United Nations resolutions, reports and other documents, disinformation can pose a threat to democracy and the protection and realization of human rights worldwide. For that reason, the United Nations has encouraged measures to enhance access to accurate and trustworthy information and to tackle manipulated and fake information that is intended to cause harm.    United Nations reports make it clear that businesses’ hunger for profit spurs disinformation, and social media companies’ thirst for profit drives the online disinformation machinery. Politicians with conflicting interests have financial and other incentives to spread disinformation. As a result, the ability of Governments to adopt policies based on the best available scientific evidence across all domains is significantly undermined.    The deliberate spread of false information can manipulate public discourse, silence dissenting voices and hinder the free flow of ideas, including with respect to access to scientific and evidence-based information and diverse sources. This has an impact on the ability to engage in informed decision-making, on human agency and on the exercise of other rights, such as the right to health.    Social factors that facilitate the spread and impact of disinformation include political polarization; a lack of media and information literacy; economic barriers in accessing information; an overall decline in trust in society, in particular towards established actors such as traditional media and journalists, which is further compounded by increased harassment of and violence against journalists and decreased funding of traditional media; and the emergence of digital content creators and influencers as new information channels.    Legal factors enabling disinformation include impunity and weak rule of law, the misuse of legal measures, insufficient protection in law or practice of the right to freedom of expression and media independence, the inability of institutions to adapt to fast-changing technological developments, and a lack of accountability, transparency and human rights due diligence on the part of digital platforms.    While States and their conduct in practice and regulation play a central role in the spread of disinformation, it is also facilitated by new digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and the business models of the largest technology companies. Social media platforms and search engines, programmed to optimize the spread of inflammatory content, targeted advertising and the data-harvesting practices of companies drive users towards extreme content and conspiracy theories in ways that feed and amplify disinformation, while diminishing users’ capacities to develop their own views.    In accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, technology and social media companies have a responsibility to prevent, mitigate and remedy human rights abuses; this includes refraining from amplifying or ignoring disinformation that features or perpetuates false and violent content for the sake of engagement and profit.    The State must protect against human rights abuses, including by business enterprises, and take appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish and redress such abuse through effective policies, legislation, regulations, adjudication and international cooperation. However, both State and businesses’ responses to threats to human rights have been inadequate and inappropriate.    Often in collaboration with States and other actors, technology companies wield control over information at the expense of the public by having access to an unprecedented volume of data. The asymmetry of power in favour of the profit-driven businesses is enhanced by keeping digital advertising processes complex and opaque, with minimal human oversight.    New and emerging technologies play a vital role in creating and disseminating disinformation. On social platforms, in particular, users upload information, which algorithms then position based on its virality. Platforms can create echo chambers, allowing false narratives to take root and spread within specific communities. This can reinforce existing biases, incite hatred, fuel stereotyping and prevent exposure to diverse perspectives.    As for the individual spreaders of disinformation online, one survey indicates that influencers and personalities (according to 47% of respondents), along with national politicians (also referenced by 47% of respondents), are seen as the biggest threat worldwide.    Artificial intelligence has significantly amplified these challenges. Artificial intelligence-powered tools can generate convincing fake content, including deepfakes (manipulated videos and audio) that are increasingly difficult for humans to detect as manipulated.    Artificial intelligence algorithms can also be used to automate the creation and dissemination of disinformation campaigns, allowing malicious actors to operate at scale and speed, overwhelming traditional fact-checking and content moderation efforts.    Disinformation may challenge access to the free flow of information because it can silence some voices or come to dominate the information space, making it more difficult for people to assess the source of information. This weakens the ability to form informed opinions, participate meaningfully in democratic processes and make informed decisions about one’s life.    Access to health-related information is considered an underlying determinant of the right to health, and entails the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas concerning health issues. False claims about the causes, treatments or prevention of diseases can have serious consequences for public health.    Misleading information about vaccines, for example, can lead to vaccine hesitancy and lower vaccination rates, jeopardizing public health efforts. The World Health Organization (WHO) has noted the negative impact of disinformation on preparedness and response to health emergencies, and on people’s physical and mental health.    Disinformation also has a negative impact on the right, as recognized by the General Assembly, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. It undercuts the procedural components of that right: access to information, public participation and access to justice. It also erodes the substantive components in terms of undermining environmental rule-making and the implementation of standards.    Disinformation affects women in specific ways due to existing gender inequalities and discriminatory social norms. Disinformation targeting women often exploits gender-based stereotypes, reinforces misogyny and uses sexualized or violent narratives to silence and marginalize their voices, particularly in public life.    Disinformation particularly harms historically and systemically marginalized groups, including racial, ethnic and religious minorities, Indigenous Peoples, and other socially excluded communities, such as persons experiencing homelessness. It reinforces stereotypes, spreads falsehoods, incites discrimination and ultimately deepens existing inequalities.    Racially charged disinformation, in particular, has been used to scapegoat communities, distort historical narratives and justify exclusionary or repressive policies.    Disinformation is often deployed to amplify existing prejudices and social hierarchies. Marginalized groups are frequent targets of false narratives that dehumanize or criminalize them or delegitimize their presence in public discourse. These tactics further erode trust in institutions, contribute to social division and diminish political participation among affected communities.    Disinformation poses a profound threat to human rights defenders, undermining their work, safety and legitimacy. Deliberate campaigns of false or misleading information are used to delegitimize human rights advocacy, discredit defenders and restrict civic space. These attacks involve State and non-State actors exploiting digital platforms to manipulate narratives, incite public hostility and justify surveillance, harassment or criminalization.    An emergent concern identified in the study is disinformation specifically directed at “human rights”, the United Nations system, multilateralism and multiculturalism. Disinformation campaigns increasingly use false information to discredit the general notion of international cooperation and to erode international and regional human rights institutions, international law, United Nations entities, in particular certain agencies, high-level United Nations representatives and international and supranational courts.    Furthermore, such disinformation campaigns are aimed at delegitimizing the work of human rights organizations by portraying them as biased, corrupt or foreign agents. Such disinformation can be applied in a deliberate attempt to distort the understanding of human rights and international law.    Human rights treaties are deliberately misrepresented in order to undermine their public and political support. This creates an environment in which the upholding and progressive development of human rights standards are undermined, and human rights violations are more likely to occur or go unchallenged.    Armed conflicts are fertile ground for disinformation. Disinformation is used to justify the conflict, shift responsibilities and dehumanize the enemy, other groups or populations.    Today, disinformation is considered a key part of information or hybrid warfare. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression has noted that digital technology has made it easier for States and non-State actors to interfere in conflicts from across borders.    She has highlighted that State-led disinformation has a potent impact on human rights, the rule of law, democratic processes, national sovereignty and geopolitical stability because of the resources and reach of States and because of their ability to simultaneously suppress independent voices so that there can be no challenge to the official narratives.    Disinformation in armed conflict is all the more devastating, as the right to information in armed conflict functions as a “survival right”, upon which people’s lives, health and safety directly depend.66 Disinformation in conflict zones can misdirect civilians into danger, create panic and undermine humanitarian efforts. It affects not only conflict and warfare, but also peacekeeping and monitoring.    Lack of access to conflict zones by journalists greatly enables the spread of State propaganda and disinformation. The warring countries’ State-owned and State-controlled media can create and amplify disinformation on air, in print and on social media platforms.    Disinformation poses a profound threat to democratic processes, including elections. Election integrity and information integrity are closely connected. By manipulating public opinion, eroding trust and distorting decision-making, disinformation undermines the integrity of elections, weakens democratic institutions and polarizes societies.    Disinformation campaigns can be used to suppress dissent and manipulate political narratives. In that regard, disinformation can be weaponized by political actors in pursuit of specific political objectives. In particular, populist politicians and authoritarian Governments resort to information manipulation, which in turn is enabled and amplified by digital technology into a tsunami of disinformation, misinformation and hate speech.    Modern societies depend on epistemic trust, which allows ordinary people to rely on scientific conclusions as reliable and relevant guidance for their lives. Disinformation ruptures this trust by undermining peoples’ ability to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources.    “Conspiracy theories” – deliberate instruments of disinformation campaigns – provide simple, emotionally satisfying narratives that reduce scientific complexity and nuance to simplistic dualities.    “Conspiracy theories” create false equivalence by presenting theories based on disinformation as legitimate alternatives to scientific consensus. To undermine established science, disinformation is directed at traditional science-generating entities such as universities, public health agencies and climate research bodies.    For decades, major fossil fuel corporations and other businesses, including in the chemicals, plastics and agroindustry sectors, have been funding efforts to cast doubt on environmental science and delay global action to protect the environment.    They have exploited insufficient regulatory frameworks and the absence of adequate accountability to undermine awareness of the severity of the triple planetary crisis and redirect responsibility to consumers; falsely framed emissions reduction as economically unfeasible; promoted ineffective and unproven technological solutions; launched targeted campaigns against scientists, whistle-blowers and environmental human rights defenders; and used litigation, such as strategic litigation against public participation, to counter efforts to hold them accountable for their human rights and environmental violations.    Today, environmental disinformation is spread through a vast number of methods targeting a broad range of issues beyond climate change, including land degradation, plastic and chemical pollution, extractive activities and food and water security.    Disinformation not only distorts public understanding of environmental issues, but also actively obstructs policymaking. It undermines urgent climate action, including for a just transition, and erodes public trust in climate science by spreading false narratives about climate science, policy and solutions.    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has argued that climate disinformation contributes to misperceptions of the scientific consensus, creates uncertainty and disregards the risk and urgency of the climate crisis.    The Secretary-General has warned that the ability to disseminate large-scale disinformation undermines scientifically established facts is an existential risk to humanity.    All States should create and foster an environment in which everyone has access to reliable, accurate and evidence-based information, and in which the value of that information is affirmed.    States should strengthen efforts through policy frameworks, regulations and the development of national action plans on business and human rights to hold social media and artificial intelligence companies responsible for respecting human rights and implementing practices on due diligence, transparency and accountability, as outlined in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other relevant United Nations frameworks.    Lies spread faster than the truth. These problems are about to become exponentially bigger with the omnipresence of artificial intelligence, pushing societies into an epistemological crisis - (how we know things, what knowledge is, and how we prove what is true).. Visit the related web page
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