Global Principles on Digital Safety: Translating International Human Rights for the Digital Context

The World Economic Forum's Global Principles on Digital Safety provide a multistakeholder framework for addressing harmful online content and conduct. The principles translate international human rights standards into the digital context, emphasizing that any safety measures must be grounded in necessity, proportionality, and legality. The document outlines specific responsibilities for governments, such as prioritizing evidence-based policy and distinguishing between illegal and lawful-but-harmful content, and for online service providers, including embedding 'safety by design' and conducting human rights due diligence. It highlights the critical role of civil society in holding these actors accountable and amplifying the voices of vulnerable groups.

• Digital safety efforts must be rooted in international human rights frameworks, ensuring that any restrictions on fundamental rights meet the conditions of necessity, proportionality, and legality.
• Governments are encouraged to adopt evidence-based and data-driven policy-making, which includes conducting impact assessments to understand the needs of citizens and the potential consequences of legislation, particularly for marginalized groups.
• A key principle for governments is to distinguish between content that is illegal and content that is lawful but potentially harmful, applying different regulatory measures to each category.
• Online service providers should implement a 'safety by design' approach throughout the entire business life cycle of their products and services, providing users with tools to safeguard themselves and report harm.
• Online service providers are urged to commit to human rights responsibilities via the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, utilizing regular due diligence and public disclosure.
• Civil society is identified as essential for a genuinely multistakeholder approach, serving to bridge the gap between public/private institutions and individuals, and holding governments and the private sector accountable.

APA

World Economic Forum (2023). Global Principles on Digital Safety: Translating International Human Rights for the Digital Context. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Charter_of_Principles_for_Digital_Safety_2023.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Global Principles on Digital Safety: Translating International Human Rights for the Digital Context. 2023. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Charter_of_Principles_for_Digital_Safety_2023.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Global Principles on Digital Safety: Translating International Human Rights for the Digital Context |date=January 2023 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Charter_of_Principles_for_Digital_Safety_2023.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2023global, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Global Principles on Digital Safety: Translating International Human Rights for the Digital Context}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2023}, month = jan, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Charter_of_Principles_for_Digital_Safety_2023.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }