A/HRC/45/45 90. Serious media outlets have systems for monitoring information at the source, with regard to their own output. For example, The New Yorker, since its establishment in the 1920s, has been known for the rigour and discipline of its fact checkers. These days, however, the media are not generally known for such qualities. In recent years, the issue has taken on a new dimension with the erosion of media credibility, the emergence of 24hour news channels, the rise of the Internet and the power of social networks that are rife with rumours and conspiracy theories, all of which increases the need for information to be checked. Such fact checking as there is has been unable to change the beliefs and behaviour of persons who consume and spread fake news. 91. Some States have enacted – or tried to enact – rules to regulate the Internet, particularly with a view to curbing hate speech and fake news. In 2018, the Act to Improve Enforcement of the Law in Social Networks (NetzDG),52 which provides for heavy fines for platforms that do not remove hate speech, came into force in Germany. In late 2020, the German Government is expected to conduct a study of the Act’s impact. In late 2018, France promulgated a law prohibiting the manipulation of information, 53 but there are doubts about its effectiveness. E. Media education 92. Media and information education in schools is essential to counteract the harm and havoc caused by fake news, to address the credibility crisis affecting media outlets – which should be more rigorous – and to prevent the State from intervening more than it should in regulating information. Through education, students are taught to decipher information and images, sharpen their critical thinking skills and form their own opinions. These abilities are essential for the exercise of enlightened and responsible citizenship in a democracy where freedom of expression is upheld. 54 One of the priorities of the previous European Commission was media literacy, along with the adoption of codes of conduct by major digital platforms. F. The moral climate of an age 93. The dissemination of hate speech and fake news is part of a broader trend marked by attacks on multilateralism and human rights and the rise of exclusionary and xenophobic ideologies based on nationalistic self-interest. In 1942, Stefan Zweig finished writing The World of Yesterday, in which he critically described the moral climate of the age as the suicide of Europe caused by “the most terrible defeat of reason”. The moral climate of an age, when it is pernicious, allows the manifestation of ideas and behaviour that were hitherto considered repugnant because they were unacceptable to democracy and human ethics. 94. In the foreword to the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, the Secretary-General, in addition to denouncing the rise of xenophobia, racism, intolerance, antisemitism, Islamophobia and the persecution of Christians, makes a disturbing observation: Social media and other forms of communication are being exploited as platforms for bigotry. Neo-Nazi and white supremacy movements are on the march. Public discourse is being weaponized for political gain with incendiary rhetoric that stigmatizes and dehumanizes minorities, migrants, refugees and any so-called “other”. This is not an isolated phenomenon or the loud voices of a few people on the fringe of society. Hate is moving into the mainstream – in liberal democracies 52 53 54 16 See www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2019/07/04/lutte-contre-la-haine-en-ligne-l-impossible-bilan-dela-loi-allemande_5485218_4408996.html. Available at www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000037847559 &dateTexte=&categorieLien=id. For example, at the Centre for Media and Information Literacy in France, www.clemi.fr/. GE.20-09155