Limiting International Media, Sovereignty or Censorship?

The discussion that unfolded in the UN Security Council mirrors a real and urgent question of our century, concerning the limits of international media when operating within the borders of other nations. Where is the line between legitimate reporting and interference in a nation's sovereignty?

By Liz de Podestá e Carla Iasmin Queiroz - El País

09/11/2025

Myanmar’s representative contended that the presence of NGOs or foreign observers in its elections would be an “imposition of Western values”. This reasoning, however, reflects a broader global trend in which the rhetoric of sovereignty is increasingly used to silence scrutiny rather than protect identity. From El Salvador’s control of the press under Nayib Bukele command, to Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled media, Russia’s propaganda ecosystem, and United States Big techs, governments learned to manufacture legitimacy through information control. The” 2025 Reporters Without Borders ranking” exposes that fewer than 15 percent of countries now guarantee truly free media environments.

As Hannah Arendt wrote in On Violence, violence and coercion arise only when power itself is insufficient. True power lies in persuasion, not in repression. Likewise, Antonio Gramsci taught that power sustains itself through hegemony, the alignment of cultural and ideological structures of which the media is a central pillar. UN Security Council Resolution “2222” reaffirms that journalists must be protected even in times of conflict. Yet many governments reinterpret this protection as interference, arguing that international reporting threatens stability. The Myanmar delegate’s claim illustrates the logic that sovereignty is invoked not as self-determination, but as insulation from accountability.

At the same time, the call for media freedom cannot ignore the growing power of Big Techs. Digital platforms have become the new gatekeepers of global discourse, capable of amplifying or silencing narratives beyond the reach of national regulation. The Cambridge Analytica scandal demonstrated how data manipulation can distort democratic processes, from the United States to more than a hundred elections worldwide. Unchecked, these international corporations concentrate power without democratic legitimacy, and shape public opinion without the due responsibility.

Thus, the world faces a dual challenge, governments that censor and the instrummentalization of media to create narratives. Democratic societies must learn to regulate Big Tech and protect their sovereignty without repressing the press, building mechanisms that ensure transparency, pluralism, and accountability. The construction of hegemony today depends less on brute force than on deciding who speaks, who reports, and who is heard. Limiting international media under the pretext of defending sovereignty is not protection, it is the quiet weaponization of silence. But failing to regulate digital giants, risks replacing censorship with narratives led by particular interests. Between the silence of repression and the possibility of manipulation, the United Nations must guide their efforts to a path where freedom is preserved by responsibility, not by control.

Referências:

ARENDT, Hannah. Sobre a violência. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2021.

GRAMSCI, Antonio. Cadernos do cárcere. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2001.

ORGANIZAÇÃO DAS NAÇÕES UNIDAS (ONU). Resolução 2222 (2015) do Conselho de Segurança: Proteção de jornalistas em situações de conflito. Nova York: ONU, 2015. Disponível em: https://undocs.org/S/RES/2222(2015)

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (RSF). World Press Freedom Index 2025. Paris: RSF, 2025. Disponível em: https://rsf.org/pt-br/ranking/nota-saf?year=2025.

BBC NEWS. Cambridge Analytica: The firm that harvested 50 million Facebook profiles. Londres: BBC, 2018. Disponível em: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43465968.

UOL NOTÍCIAS. Como a Cambridge Analytica atuava para além dos EUA. São Paulo: UOL, 24 mar. 2018. Disponível em: https://noticias.uol.com.br/internacional/ultimas-noticias/2018/03/24/como-a-cambridge-analytica-atuava-para-alem-dos-eua.htm