During this session, UNESCO will share the major outcomes from the first international conference on “Youth and the Internet: Fighting Radicalization and Extremism” (2015), which gathered eminent experts and decision-makers to share policy intervention experiences, projects and processes for reducing the use of Internet as a tool for advancing youth extremism. At this UNESCO conference, the Organization also launched its cross-sectoral initiative A New Integrated Framework of Action - Empowering Youth to Build Peace: Youth 2.0 – Building Skills, Bolstering Peace. In 2016, UNESCO also co-organized with the Government of Québec (and with the support of the Government of Canada) another major International conference "Internet and Radicalization of Youth: Prevent, Act and Live Together", that resulted in the Call of Quebec.

 Regarding ‘fake news’, UNESCO will share the initial outcomes from its last colloquium “Journalism under fire: challenges of our time” held in March 2017. The conference featured lively debates from leading scholars, journalists, and representatives of social media companies and media development organizations which focus on recent challenges posed to journalism by ‘fake news’ as well as “the technological and economic transformations reshaping the media landscape.”

Among the highlights of this session will be the presenting three studies: Countering online hate speech. Social media and youth radicalization and Policy options and regulatory mechanisms for managing radicalization on the Internet, which deal with these subjects and will share the Organization’s major outcomes and recommendations as a basis for discussion. The session seeks to trigger a debate on which policies and strategies should be adopted, and how social media and Internet intermediaries can be reinforced to mobilize young people and foster dialogue, mutual understanding and a culture of peace.

 UNESCO publication on Countering online hate speech provides a global overview of the dynamics characterizing hate speech online and some of the measures that have been adopted to counteract and mitigate it, highlighting good practices that have emerged at the local and global levels. The publication offers a comprehensive analysis of the international, regional and national normative frameworks, with a particular emphasis on social and non-regulatory mechanisms that can help to counter the production, dissemination and impact of hateful messages online. Another study from UNESCO on Social media and youth radicalization will provide a global mapping of the research made on the assumed roles played by social media in radicalization processes in various regions of the world. The research also examines ongoing steps being taken to counter radicalization, and provides an in-depth analysis on their potential impact on online and offline freedoms. Building on these empirical findings, the study includes recommendations for various actors including state actors, Internet companies, news media, civil society and researchers. Besides the above, UNESCO will also present a study on “Policy options and regulatory mechanisms for managing radicalization on the Internet”, which was commissioned to explore policy and regulatory provisions available for managing radicalization in the Internet.