The United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres appealed for coordinated action to combat the rise of hate speech on recently launched social media and messaging services. In a statement reported by UN News — Global, he highlighted that the harmful content is proliferating quickly and reaching deep into online communities.

Guterres emphasized that the responsibility to address the problem rests with three key groups: national authorities, technology companies that host the platforms, and civil‑society organisations that work on digital rights and inclusion. He urged governments to update legal frameworks, enforce existing regulations and allocate resources for monitoring and response mechanisms.

Technology providers were urged to strengthen moderation tools, improve transparency around content‑removal policies, and collaborate with independent experts to identify emerging patterns of hate. The Secretary‑General also called for greater investment in user‑education programmes that promote digital literacy and resilience against extremist narratives.

Civil‑society actors were asked to play a proactive role in reporting abusive material, supporting victims, and contributing to the development of standards that balance freedom of expression with protection from harm. Guterres noted that a multi‑stakeholder approach is essential to keep pace with the speed at which new platforms can amplify toxic messages.

The appeal comes amid growing concern that novel services, which often lack robust content‑governance structures, are being exploited to spread discriminatory rhetoric, incite violence and target vulnerable groups. While the UN has not released specific statistics in this briefing, the Secretary‑General’s remarks signal an escalation in diplomatic and policy attention to the issue.

The UN continues to monitor the situation and is expected to convene further discussions among member states, industry leaders and NGOs to formulate concrete measures aimed at curbing online hate across the digital ecosystem.

Reporting attribution: based on reporting by UN News — Global — original source: https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2026/09/1168356.