melissa fleming

How the UN is combating disinformation in the age of AI

UN General Assembly

How the UN is combating disinformation in the age of AI

Disinformation is running rampant in today’s world. The internet, social media, and AI — combined with declining trust in major institutions — have created an ecosystem ripe for exploitation by nefarious actors aiming to spread false and hateful narratives. Meanwhile, governments worldwide are struggling to get big tech companies to take substantive steps to combat disinformation. And at the global level, the UN’s priorities are also being hit hard by these trends.

Climate disinformation back to denying it exists, says UN's Melissa Fleming

Crisis Recovery

Climate disinformation back to denying it exists, says UN's Melissa Fleming

People are a lot more worried about climate change than they used to be. And they are also very concerned about disinformation related to climate. "We're seeing a disturbing spike in disinformation around climate change," Melissa Fleming, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, says during a Global Stage livestream conversation hosted by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft.

2022 has been rough. Will 2023 be any better?

Crisis Recovery

2022 has been rough. Will 2023 be any better?

2022 has been the year of converging crises: the ongoing pandemic, climate change, economic turmoil, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lots of gloom and doom indeed. But in all these crises there is an opportunity to bounce back with solutions to make the world a better place. How? We asked several experts during the Global Stage livestream conversation "The Road to 2030: Getting Global Goals Back on Track" hosted by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft.

Why is Russia on the UN Security Council?

Crisis Recovery

Why is Russia on the UN Security Council?

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has launched a discussion about how the UN Security Council works, and how it is dysfunctional - especially when Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, is the invading country, said Melissa Fleming, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. In an interview with GZERO Media on the sidelines of the 77^th General Assembly, Fleming reflected on the return to in-person diplomacy after years of disruption caused by pandemic. "There is this real feeling that the UN is the only place for global cooperation,” she said. “We cannot solve the world's intractable problems of climate change, of war, of refugees without multilateralism, and multilateralism is the UN. It is nations working together to solve problems.”

Should internet be free for everyone? A Global Stage debate

Should internet be free for everyone? A Global Stage debate

Providing more than three billion people with affordable, reliable internet access sounds like a no-brainer, but the devil is in the details. Who'll pay for it and how do we measure success? Several experts weighed in during a Global Stage virtual conversation hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft during the 76th UN General Assembly.