Ardern's UN General Assembly Speech — Calls "Disinformation" a Weapon of War Requiring Global Regulation
In her address to the 77th UN General Assembly, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered one of the most explicit calls by a Western democratic leader for international coordination against online speech. Ardern described "disinformation" and "hateful ideologies" as "weapons of war" and called on the international community to develop coordinated regulatory responses to online content. She explicitly framed free speech as insufficient justification for platform non-intervention, stating: "But what definition of 'free speech' says that freedom comes with no accountability?" Critics including Reason, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and numerous civil liberties commentators described the speech as a world leader openly calling for government control of online political speech under humanitarian framing.