INTA Offers Guidance on Fighting Disinformation and Misinformation Online at WSIS+20 High Level Event

In July, INTA participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 High Level Event 2025 held in Geneva, Switzerland. WSIS is a United Nations–sponsored initiative focused on using information and communication technologies to achieve development goals. Stakeholders from around the world gathered at the WSIS+20 High Level Event to assess the initiative’s progress and outline future goals.

INTA hosted a session titled Disinformation and Misinformation in Online Content and its Impact on Digital Trust. Internet Committee member Lucy Jewett Wheatley (McGuireWoods, USA) helped organize the panel, which was moderated by Christine Strutt (Von Seidels, South Africa), Chair of the Global Governance Subcommittee for the Internet Committee. Speakers included INTA member Tara Harris (Prosus Services, the Netherlands); Mike Mpanya (South Africa), CEO and Founder of Nubi AI; and Lori Schulman, INTA’s Senior Director, Internet Policy.

Speakers discussed the global risks created by misinformation and disinformation online, particularly with regards to the influence of misinformation on large-language model (LLM) artificial intelligence (AI), which is increasingly a primary source of information for younger generations. Mr. Mpanya pointed to the failure of LLMs to properly incorporate information from the Global South, leading to inaccurate outputs for these regions. The panel also discussed how fragmented regulation and lack of harmonization burdens entrepreneurs and SMEs, creating barriers to innovation, and highlighted the importance of the multi-stakeholder model in combating misinformation and disinformation, with both government and private sector participation and direction.

To provide guidance on the issues of misinformation and disinformation, Ms. Schulman introduced INTA’s Board Resolution on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Foundational Principles, which includes:

• Recognizing the difference between human and machine contributions to inputs and outputs;
• Ensuring that final decisions on the granting or revocation of rights are subject to human oversight;
• Enabling rights holders to obtain lawful access to data for enforcing intellectual property rights;
• Informing customers about the source of information received via AI; and
• Balancing transparency with the need to protect proprietary information appropriately. ​

Following the panel, recommendations, including INTA’s Foundational AI Principles, were submitted to WSIS for consideration to be included in a new WSIS action plan. These recommendations are now publicly available through WSIS.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.

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