Jacinda Ardern’s 2022 UN Speech On Hate Speech & Censorship Sparks Debate

As a year-old video of a speech by Harvard fellow and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acquires popularity on social media platforms, issues of free speech, hate speech, and censorship have come to the forefront.

While some people regard her statement as an “attack on free speech,” others think it’s imperative, especially in this day and age, to stop false information from propagating under the pretense of “free speech”.

The speech she gave during the general debate of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, which took place in September 2022, is thought to be the source of the footage.

The first part of Ardern’s address focused on the idea of nuclear conflict, in which she referred to it as a “weapon of the past.” She quickly changed the topic to “new weapons,” which she defined as “cyber attacks, widespread disinformation, and the manipulation of entire communities and societies.”

Ardern brought up the issue of what happens when false information is continuously spread across several platforms, leading people to pick up arms, endanger their security, ignore atrocities, or even participate in them.

We can start by combating violent extremism and terrorist content online, Ardern said, using the horrible terrorist incident in 2019 as an example. The Muslim community in New Zealand was the victim of a terrible terrorist attack on March 15.

During prayer, more than 50 individuals died. To garner attention and spread hatred, the attacker live-streamed the incident on a well-known social media site. She stated that it was difficult to stop such behaviors at the time.

Ardern’s attention has since switched to prevention and an understanding of the complex relationships between online settings and external variables that can contribute to radicalization. How can a war be effectively ended when people think it is not only morally just but also justifiable? she asked.

“How do you combat climate change when there is disbelief in its existence? How do you safeguard the human rights of others when they face hateful and perilous rhetoric and ideologies? Although the weapons may have evolved, the objectives of those who employ them often remain the same—to sow chaos, undermine others’ defenses, disband communities, and weaken the collective strength of cooperating nations.”