Paris Peace Forum – Presentation of the International Observatory on Information and Democracy (14 November 2021)

Following on from the first Summit for Information and Democracy, held in New York on 24 September 2021, M. Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, chaired a working group to present the future International Observatory on Information and Democracy, at the Paris Peace Forum on 13 November. The working group was led by M. Christophe Deloire, Chair of the Forum on Information and Democracy, in the presence of German Foreign Minister Mr Heiko Maas, European Commission Vice-President Ms Věra Jourová, and Ms Maria Ressa, winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

Now that information has become a common good, all the participants stressed the need for concerted responses to establish democratic rules for regulating content and to fight information manipulation, promote independent, pluralist, high-quality, financially sustainable journalism, and strengthen people’s information and media literacy in the digital age.

The Observatory, which will operate according to the IPCC model for the climate, will be responsible for assessing developments in the global information space and publishing regular reports, particularly for the 43 member States of the Partnership for Information and Democracy and for civil society. It will help public officials take the decisions necessary to address the root causes of the failures of the information space and develop automatic procedures so we can defend our freedoms and our principles in the digital information age.

The preparatory work for launching the Observatory was presented by Mr Angel Gurría, former OECD Secretary-General, and Ms Shoshana Zuboff, Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School.