A free, open and safe Internet is an essential tool for promoting exchanges, inclusion and development. As digital platforms form a significant part of the Internet, their social responsibility must not be ignored.
The Francophonie is a community of language and values, of women and men whose common language is French, and of the 88 member countries of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) which promote the same values: democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as a constant commitment to cultural and linguistic diversity.
While a source of progress and opportunities, the digital transformation also raises multiple challenges for OIF member countries: fighting the digital divide, promoting inclusion, protecting fundamental rights, promoting pluralism of currents of thought and opinion, maintaining the integrity of electoral processes and promoting and protecting the right to reliable, high-quality information, and to be protected from fraudulent, malicious and hate content, as well as all forms of discrimination.
This Call is intended to help address these challenges by inviting digital platforms to step up their commitment to a safer and more honest digital space.
To this end, We, the Heads of State and Government of countries which have a shared relationship with French, meeting on 4 and 5 October 2024 for the 19th Francophonie Summit in the French Republic,
Intending to work to develop, within the Francophonie and beyond, a digital space which is inclusive, respectful of democracy and human rights and encourages cultural and linguistic diversity, in accordance with our commitments in the Bamako Declaration (2000), the Saint-Boniface Declaration (2006), the 2022-2026 Strategy for Digital Francophonie, the Declaration on the French Language in the linguistic diversity of Francophonie (2022) and the Declaration of the 18th Francophonie Summit in Djerba (2022);
Drawing on the guidelines applicable to digital cooperation and the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) provided by international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but also the specific instruments of the acquis of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), incorporated in the Geneva Declaration of Principles and the Geneva Plan of Action, as well as in the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the NETmundial+10 Multistakeholder Statement, the UNESCO Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms and the Global Digital Compact;
Continue to pay special attention to the specific needs of all people in the Francophone space, in all their diversity.
Call on digital platforms to step up their efforts and commitments to an inclusive, pluralistic, high-quality and trustworthy digital space, especially by implementing the following actions and measures:
Providing greater transparency, diversity and proximity
1. Guarantee access, in French and in the largest possible number of national and official local languages of OIF member countries, in clear and understandable language, to the terms of service, as well as their policies and content moderation methods;
2. Implement simple mechanisms which are easily accessible to all, in French and in the largest possible number of local languages of OIF member countries, in order to highlight content which is considered illegal or runs contrary to the terms of service;
3. Report to the relevant stakeholders, including the users, public authorities and regulatory authorities, on the implementation of their terms of service and content-related policies;
4. Facilitate Francophone researchers' and academics' access to application interfaces and data, under conditions which appropriately protect legitimate rights and interests, including compliance with and protection of users' personal data and the confidentiality of algorithmic processes protected by trade secrets;
5. Provide protection for personal data based on transparent, accessible procedures which are understandable by all, in French and in the languages of the countries providing a service, and ensure that there are sufficient human capacities to undertake this role.
Taking greater responsibility in terms of content moderation
6. Appoint single regional and subregional contact points with sufficient capabilities to ensure direct communication with the public authorities of OIF member countries, and effective processing of user requests, in French and local languages;
7. Forge deeper ties with the relevant regulatory authorities, based on the model of commitments made with the Francophone Network of Media Regulators (REFRAM) at the Abidjan Conference on 23 and 24 April 2024;
8. Set up moderation policies and methods for online content, scaled according to needs and capable of taking account of diverse cultures and national and regional languages, whether they be carried out automatically or are supervised by humans;
9. Acknowledge the key role of associations, action groups, non-governmental organizations, and more generally, recognized bodies in Francophone civil societies as trusted flaggers, which can produce well-founded, reasoned requests to facilitate priority processing by digital platforms.
Helping better protect Francophone societies and information spaces from risks linked to the use of their services
Under all circumstances:
10. Assess, within public reports, the risks of large-scale dissemination in OIF member countries of content which could channel hate speech or lead to violence on any discriminatory grounds; propose, in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, preventive measures aimed at reducing such discrimination;
11. Strengthen the legal and normative frameworks which organize the protection of the rights of the child in the digital space, in accordance with international human rights law and in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
12. Set up measures to provide high levels of confidentiality, safety and security for minors using their services;
13. Collaborate, in accordance with the 2019 Christchurch Call, on quickly and effectively eliminating illegal terrorist and violent extremist content online;
14. Take special care to prevent risks relating to misinformation and foreign interference; to this end, support independent fact-checking initiatives, including by backing the work of the OIF in this area, such as its ODIL platform;
15. Use recommendations systems which provide a wide variety of information sources, as well as the free expression of pluralism of currents of thought and opinion, including by identifying and promoting content which is labelled by independent professionals, such as the Journalism Trust Initiative, all in compliance with national legislation;
16. Help develop ethical and responsible artificial intelligence, which respects human rights, development and peace, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals;
In election periods:
17. While strictly observing countries' sovereignty and complying with their legislation, help strengthen democratic institutions by maintaining the integrity of electoral processes, including by setting up public assessment and risk-reduction protocols specifically dealing with the integrity of elections or referendums in OIF member countries, before, during and after each process;
18. Transparently identify public policies, particularly during electoral cycles; monitor the monetization of publications by political parties and their representatives and store these ads and all information enabling them to be analysed in a library with exhaustive content, which is accessible online and regularly updated;
In crisis periods:
19. In emergency or crisis situations such as armed conflict, environmental or public health crises, analyse the impact of operations, products, services and advertising systems of companies on fundamental rights and the dynamics of said situations.
Contributing to cultural and linguistic diversity and fair remuneration for content creation
20. Actively and tangibly promote cultural and linguistic diversity in creating, producing, distributing, disseminating, accessing and using cultural goods and services online, including in developing artificial intelligence;
21. Help develop artificial intelligence which encourages cultural and linguistic diversity to combat the risk of homogenous, culturally-poor content;
22. Help promote the use of various languages in this area, particularly in order to incorporate this cultural and linguistic plurality/diversity into the training for generative artificial intelligence models;
23. Help with the discoverability of Francophone cultural and scientific content and in national and local languages spoken within the Francophone space as well as making available and promoting digital content which is representative of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Francophonie, including by (i) presenting collected data to create models without prejudice to applicable intellectual property rules and (ii) promoting algorithmic explainability in the interests of users;
24. Provide effective protection for works protected by copyright and related rights without depriving users of the effective benefit of exceptions to copyright and related rights;
25. Guarantee fair and equal remuneration for creators in all countries in the Francophone space and for rights holders when they have consented to their work being used on digital platforms through licensing agreements.
Contributing to digital inclusion and the training of users to create Francophone digital citizens
26. Actively contribute to strengthening digital literacy and training in digital careers for people from OIF member countries, particularly young people and women, by supporting and collaborating with the “D-Clic, Formez-vous au numérique” project, thus improving the digital literacy of all Francophone users regarding products, services, processes and risks associated with the platforms in their design, operations and uses;
27. Help implement media and information education programmes to give users more autonomy and develop their critical thinking with regard to information with which they interact online, in French and in the local languages of OIF member countries, including by supporting OIF action in the areas like the ODIL platform, and by collaborating with the relevant public authorities, universities, civil society organizations which work with groups in vulnerable situations, researchers, librarians, teachers, special educators, IT and media professionals, journalists, artists and cultural professionals;
28. Contribute to cooperation between OIF member countries in the area of education on the media, IT and digital citizenship, encouraging shared experiences, best practice and resources.
We continue to work towards the objectives set out in this Call and to support the actions enabling us to meet them;
To this end, we ask the International Organisation of La Francophonie to regularly monitor this Call, in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders within the framework of the Strategy for Digital Francophonie and work already underway in this area;
We call on digital platforms to hear this Call and help achieve its objectives, in particular by cooperating with the relevant stakeholders.
Source: Press Service, Presidency of the French Republic