18 June 2025, GENEVA – The global decline in freedom of expression is endangering free and fair elections and must be reversed for the sake of democracy as well as human rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, said today, presenting her latest report to the Human Rights Council.
“Polarised politics in backsliding democracies, social media platforms awash with disinformation and hate speech and a media sector too weak to debunk the lies have imperilled both freedom of expression and the right to vote,” Khan said.
“While lies are not new during elections, digital technology and social media platforms have changed the game, enabling and amplifying the degradation of the electoral information environment as never before,” the expert said.
“Vilifying minorities and marginalised groups, smearing women politicians, discrediting independent journalists, targeting electoral officials, delegitimising electoral outcomes were worrying trends in many recent elections,” she said.
The Special Rapporteur said public officials and politicians bear a significant responsibility for the degradation of the information environment, as they weaponise their own freedom of expression to incite hate and violence while denouncing the prohibition of incitement as censorship.
“The advocacy of hatred to incite violence, rampant on some campaign trails and platforms, is prohibited under international law even when it masquerades as political speech,” Khan said.
The report notes that while some States have adopted good practices based on freedom of expression, others have spread disinformation, denied access to information, attacked independent media and fact-checkers and criminalised political expression under the guise of fighting disinformation.
“Undermining freedom of expression in the name of fighting disinformation is short-sighted and counter-productive.” Khan said.
“At a time of rising hate and lies I am alarmed that large social media platforms and search engines are rolling back electoral integrity, safety, transparency and risk management for political and ideological reasons as well as economic and technological ones,” she said.
“Platforms and search engines, as major vectors of the right to information, must prioritise human safety and human rights over political and commercial interests,” the expert said.
“Democracies need a healthy media sector, and governments must also urgently address the decline of media freedom, independence, diversity, and pluralism,” Khan said. “Multi-stakeholder strategies grounded in human rights are the most effective antidote for a degraded information environment.”
“Public trust in the integrity of elections is at an all-time low. States, companies and civil society must work together to close the trust deficit urgently,” she said.
The expert also presented reports following her country visits to the Philippines and Zambia.
Irene Khan is the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.
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