In June, the United Nations launched its Global Principles for Information Integrity in response to the problem. At the launch, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated:
“At a time when billions of people are exposed to false narratives, distortions and lies, these principles lay out a clear path forward, firmly rooted in human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and opinion.”The Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) was one of the leading advisors for the UN. We advocate for the entire advertising and media industry to act now and start adopting these principles where they can.
The Five Global Principles
The UN is calling for governments, tech companies, advertisers, media and other stakeholders to take action and help address this global threat by following these five principles:
- Societal Trust and Resilience
- Healthy Incentives
- Public Empowerment
- Independent, Free, and Pluralistic Media
- Transparency and Research
Why We Need to Act
Whilst targeted advertising and content monetisation have been acknowledged to have opened up opportunities for businesses worldwide, it cannot be ignored that they have also had a negative impact.
The current digital advertising process lacks transparency and can incentivise disinformation and hate by exploiting user behaviour data to maximise engagement and revenue. This makes it possible for
advertisers to inadvertently fund undesirable individuals, entities, or ideas. This poses a risk to both brand safety and the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
Advertisers – What You Can Do
The guidance has set out recommendations for stakeholders across the information ecosystem. Here is a summary of what they have recommended for advertisers:
Establish human rights-responsible advertising: Establish safeguards, avoid discriminatory targeting practices, and advertise with media outlets that bolster information integrity.
Harness industry standards: Make use of industry standards to develop clear policies to minimise risks to information integrity and help ensure brand safety.
Form coalitions: Collaborate across industry and civil society to assess the impacts of advertising, and systematic mitigation of risks and potential harms from advertising and content monetisation.
Require data: Establish an ongoing and full overview of advert adjacency, conduct suitability reviews before advert placement, and carry out thorough audits of advertising campaigns.
Obligate transparency: Require ad tech companies to adopt transparency standards and share full advertising campaign data with clients and researchers, including placement and blocking data at the log level.
Undertake audits: Require ad tech companies to carry out independent third-party audits and vetting of ad exchange supply partners.
As advertisers and ad agencies, it is imperative that we start to take action within and work together to help make a successful and long-term change.
A note from our Co Chairs
“The United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity are a huge step forward in the fight against misinformation and hate speech. We are delighted to have played an important role in fostering, through the Global Principles, a trustworthy advertising landscape, which will directly contribute to the overall integrity of the information environment”
– Jake Dubbins and Harriet Kingaby.
At CAN, we combine our advertising and human rights expertise to help implement industry, platform, and policy interventions – and embed human rights within relevant commercial and political decision-making, globally. To find out more about us and how to become a member, head here.
