LONDON (Reuters) -Britain, the United States and Canada remain “deeply concerned” about foreign information manipulation and other actions aimed at undermining democracies and human rights globally, the three Western countries said in a joint statement.
“The time is now for a collective approach to the foreign information manipulation threat that builds a coalition of like-minded countries committed to strengthening resilience and response to information manipulation,” said the statement released by the British government.
Major world powers are increasingly worried about the spread of misinformation through social media platforms that are harder to contain, especially in a year where countries making up over 60% of global economic output, including the U.S., Britain and India, are due to hold elections.
The countries behind Friday’s joint statement endorsed a framework on countering foreign state information, published by the United States in January, and said they intended to use it to build resilience in partner countries.
“Given the borderless nature of information manipulation, we call on all like-minded countries committed to the rules-based order to work together to identify and counter this threat,” the statement said.
“Securing the integrity of the global information ecosystem is central to popular confidence in governance institutions and processes, trust in elected leaders, and the preservation of democracy.”
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, writing by Muvija M, editing by William James)