UN Secretary-General Guterres: "International Law Needed to Regulate SNS"

"SNS Influence Growing Worrying... Can Adjust Behavior and Political Perspectives"

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General
Photo by Xinhua News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Ant?nio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, stated that as the influence of social networking services (SNS) such as Twitter and Facebook grows, there is a need for international laws to regulate SNS.

On the 28th (local time), AP News reported that at a press conference, Secretary-General Guterres said, "I believe that Twitter should not be a company powerful enough to decide whether to shut down former U.S. President Donald Trump's Twitter account," emphasizing the necessity of regulating SNS.

His mention of Trump's account suspension appears to be aimed at illustrating the influence of SNS rather than revealing any political stance.

Secretary-General Guterres said, "We should not live in a world where too much power is given to a few companies," adding, "There needs to be a means to regulate so that account suspensions can be carried out based on law."

Earlier this month, Twitter suspended former U.S. President Trump's account, citing concerns that Trump's tweets incited supporters and could trigger incidents like the January 6th Capitol riot by Trump supporters. Following Twitter, Facebook and Instagram also suspended Trump's accounts. Twitter's decision sparked controversy over alleged violations of the First Amendment right to freedom of expression in the United States.

Secretary-General Guterres expressed particular concern about the growing power of SNS. He said, "Each of us is bombarded with massive amounts of information, but there are insufficient ways to control it," warning that SNS could be used not only for commercial purposes to promote companies but also to change our behavior and influence citizens' political thoughts.

In June last year, Secretary-General Guterres unveiled the 'Roadmap for Digital Cooperation' plan.

He said the purpose of the roadmap is to create a safer and fairer digital world and that serious discussions are needed. The roadmap contains guidelines across eight areas, including universal internet access, trust enhancement, and security.

Secretary-General Guterres pointed out, "The development of digital technologies related to political agendas remains at a very low level."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.