15 Countries Endorse from Riyadh Initiative to Promote Online Content Integrity

The United Nations Internet Governance Forum is being hosted in Saudi Arabia from December 17-19. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The United Nations Internet Governance Forum is being hosted in Saudi Arabia from December 17-19. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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15 Countries Endorse from Riyadh Initiative to Promote Online Content Integrity

The United Nations Internet Governance Forum is being hosted in Saudi Arabia from December 17-19. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The United Nations Internet Governance Forum is being hosted in Saudi Arabia from December 17-19. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Fifteen member states of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) have endorsed a strategic multilateral initiative to promote “Online Content Integrity” during the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, hosted in Saudi Arabia from December 17-19.

The event, held at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, is organized by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Digital Government Authority.

On the sidelines of the forum, the DCO, headquartered in Riyadh, announced the initiative, with 15 nations signing a joint declaration. The signatories include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Djibouti, The Gambia, Ghana, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar and Rwanda.

According to the DCO Secretariat, this initiative, spearheaded and sponsored by Kuwait, was introduced during the organization’s third General Assembly, and aims to promote respect for social and cultural diversity and combat online misinformation through mediation and coordination among companies, governments, international organizations, and civil society.

The declaration included the establishment of a High-Level Ministerial Committee tasked with overseeing the implementation of the initiative. The participating nations reaffirmed their commitment to fostering an inclusive, transparent, and secure digital economy that empowers individuals to thrive.

The declaration also emphasized the importance of collective efforts to uphold national values, regulations, and codes of conduct on social media platforms. It reaffirmed the DCO’s commitment to enhancing trust in cyberspace by addressing ethical and privacy challenges associated with emerging technologies.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, DCO Secretary-General Dima Al-Yahya pointed to surveys conducted across 46 countries, which revealed that over 59% of respondents expressed concerns about distinguishing between real and fake online content. Furthermore, more than 75% of internet users reported encountering fake news in the past six months.

Al-Yahya noted: “Misinformation spreads on social media platforms at a rate up to 10 times faster than factual content,” underscoring a troubling paradox: the platforms that revolutionized communication and progress have also become channels for division, mistrust and polarization.

This impact is particularly concerning for younger generations, she warned. Teenagers reportedly spend over seven hours online daily, and at least 70% believe in four conspiracy theories after being exposed to them. During the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation about health issues led to a 30% decline in vaccination rates in some regions, endangering millions of lives.

The forum is expected to attract over 10,000 participants from 170 countries, along with more than 1,000 international speakers. Some 300 sessions and workshops are scheduled to address global trends and policies in internet governance, share expertise and best practices, tackle emerging digital challenges, and strengthen collaboration among public and private sectors, civil society, and nonprofit organizations.



Microsoft, Turning 50, Dials up Copilot Actions to Stay in AI Game

The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)
The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)
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Microsoft, Turning 50, Dials up Copilot Actions to Stay in AI Game

The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)
The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)

Thousands of people swooned in a dark conference hall that felt more like a rock concert when a Microsoft product manager demonstrated the company's latest feature: how to sum numbers in Excel, with the click of a button.

"It was literally like Mick Jagger walked out," said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's consumer chief marketing officer, who started as an intern.

That was more than 30 years ago. On Friday, the day Microsoft turned 50, the company's leaders and staff gathered at its Redmond headquarters to remember the software maker's glory days while trumpeting what they hope will bring it into the future: more powerful artificial intelligence.

Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant, is gaining a host of new features to make it more proactive. The version for consumers will start remembering personal facts about them. It will offer birthday reminders or support ahead of a presentation, or consumers can opt out, Mehdi said in an interview.

Copilot likewise will personalize podcasts and shopping recommendations, and it will let consumers task their AI to book events for them, or send a friend a gift while checking in for guidance. "It frees you up," said Mehdi.

Microsoft is hardly first to roll out action-taking or "agentic" software. As with rival systems, the AI will work best on popular sites where Microsoft has done some behind-the-scenes technical work, like with 1-800-Flowers.com and OpenTable, Mehdi said.

Mehdi recalled days when Microsoft was smaller and growing. He said CEO Bill Gates could devour three books' worth of information from one day to the next, at a time when the co-founder still worked on Microsoft software. Mehdi watched Steve Ballmer, Gates' eventual successor, chant "developers, developers, developers!" in a sweat-drenched shirt to rouse a crowd into the ".net" era.

Microsoft went from top of the pack to badly bruised in a high-profile lawsuit that US antitrust enforcers brought against it in 1998. Years later, younger companies and startups, among them Alphabet and ChatGPT creator OpenAI, beat it to the punch on key AI developments.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft's current CEO, is not standing still. The leader who turned Microsoft into the No. 2 cloud powerhouse challenged his executives at an internal summit this week, recalled Mehdi: "How do we rethink the way that we build the software?"

Microsoft is iterating on its chatbot technology in a crowded field that includes Elon Musk's xAI and Anthropic. It has added Copilot to its heavily used productivity suites for business while giving consumers a distinctive version.

"It's warm; it has that personality," said Mehdi. Some users have taken to this, while others find it asks too many questions, he said.

"When we get to now be more personalized, we can start to get smarter," Mehdi said. "We're part way through that journey."