Tunisia-HAICA calls for more supervision of social networks

The president of the High Independent Broadcasting Authority (HAICA) , Nouri Lajmi stated that it was necessary to supervise social networks, in order to limit “content calling for hatred and discord”.

In a statement to the TAP, on the sidelines of the work of the Summer University for Regulation and Media Education and Information which was held this Monday in Tunis, Lajmi pleaded for more “cooperation “Web players in the fight against fake news” and” content inciting hatred and terror “.

Social media, today, are no longer a simple dissemination tool but rather an interactive space to create an “oriented” and “influenced” opinion.

To this end, He insisted on the need to put in place a strategy to supervise social networks in order to stem incitement to hatred and counter the flow of “fake news “.

In this regard, he deemed it “essential” to strengthen the partnership with the players concerned to quickly identify and remove “content deemed to be harmful to morals, human dignity and public order”.

“Social networks will be able to fully assume their role in the dissemination of information without, however, prejudicing the constitutional gains made in the area of ​​freedom of expression,” he said.

Regarding this strategy, Lajmi asserted that media regulation is a prerogative of HAICA. In this sense, he said that the body had made contacts with representatives of digital platforms including “Facebook” to examine the means to supervise the activities of the Tunisian media on the web.

“In the light of a desire to control the media, the instrumentalisation, without any control, of new media for political ends, risks undermining the effort carried out on the path of democratic transition”, he added. he warned.

In another context, Lajmi reaffirmed the need to strengthen the legal arsenal regulating the sector, believing that more attention should be paid to regulation on social media.

(TAP)