AIMX Calls for Citizen-Centered Audience Rights Regulation

The Mexican Internet Association (AIMX) is calling for a citizen-centered framework for audience rights in Mexico that protects freedom of information, strengthens media literacy, reinforces safeguards for children and adolescents, and avoids state intervention in editorial decisions.

The AIMX is urging Mexico to adopt a new regulatory framework for audience rights that strengthens access to information and digital literacy without granting the state authority to determine editorial criteria for media outlets or social platforms. 

The association presented its position during the public consultation on the proposed General Guidelines for the Protection of Audience Rights, which concluded on Aug. 21. AIMX says the framework should follow Mexican constitutional standards and international best practices while providing greater legal certainty for media organizations, journalists, and digital platforms.

The debate comes as information increasingly moves across traditional media, social networks, and GenAI systems, creating new challenges related to misinformation, advertising, and the protection of younger audiences.

AIMX Seeks Legal Certainty for Editorial Decisions

AIMX says audience rights are directly connected to the human right to receive information that is free, plural and diverse. It proposes that regulation focus on access, transparency and inclusion rather than mechanisms that could interfere with journalistic independence or encourage censorship and self-censorship.

One of the association's main proposals is the adoption of a "reasonable diligence" or "safe harbor" model. The approach would allow media outlets and journalists to demonstrate that they acted in good faith, followed their codes of ethics and reasonably contrasted their sources.

"Mexico needs a modern regulatory model, oriented toward social benefit that should incorporate the figure of 'reasonable diligence' or 'safe harbor.' This scheme allows media and journalists to demonstrate that they acted in good faith, under their Codes of Ethics and through reasonable source verification, without an administrative authority attempting to qualify the editorial truth of a journalistic report," says Julio César Vega, Director General, AIMX.

AIMX also calls for replacing broad or ambiguous concepts, including assessments of information considered "decontextualized" or "false," with technical and verifiable parameters. The association proposes that, when an interpretation remains uncertain, the framework should favor the interpretation that provides greater protection for freedom of expression.

Stronger Safeguards for Children and Adolescents

The protection of children and adolescents is another central component of AIMX's proposal. The association says the new framework should restore specialized safeguards based on age and the principle of progressive autonomy. Under this approach, regulatory protections would recognize that the potential impact of audiovisual content and digital advertising can differ substantially between a five-year-old child and a 17-year-old adolescent.

"The appropriate regulatory standard should reinstate clear prohibitions against misleading advertising, the exploitation of children's inexperience, subliminal messages and narratives that encourage risky behavior in digital environments, ensuring that the best interests of children are the priority of the model," says Lina Rodríguez, President, AIMX.

AIMX says the framework should also address advertising practices that could exploit younger audiences and strengthen protections against digital environments designed to encourage excessive or addictive screen use.

Media Literacy as a Response to AI-Driven Disinformation

As GenAI makes it easier to produce and distribute information at scale, AIMX argues that media and digital literacy should become a central element of Mexico's response to disinformation. Rather than relying primarily on administrative sanctions, the association proposes permanent literacy campaigns, accessible materials for people with disabilities and partnerships with the education sector.

"Modern regulation should make critical literacy a structural mandate through permanent campaigns, accessible materials for people with disabilities, and partnerships with the education sector. Training audiences with the analytical capacity to verify sources and distinguish facts from opinions constitutes a much more effective and democratic citizen protection mechanism than administrative intervention in discourse," says Enrique Ortega, Vice President of Education and Culture, AIMX.

The proposal places greater responsibility on audiences to evaluate information while maintaining safeguards designed to support transparency and accountability across the digital ecosystem. AIMX also calls for the review of media codes of ethics by authorities to remain a formal process, preserving them as self-regulatory instruments rather than turning them into mechanisms resembling editorial authorization.

The association says due process should also be strengthened through proportional sanctions, clear rules for evaluating evidence and protections for confidential commercial information.

International Standards as a Reference

AIMX points to the UNESCO Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms as a reference for developing a regulatory framework based on human rights, transparency, due diligence, accountability and multistakeholder governance. The association says these principles can support a framework that addresses the integrity of the digital environment while preserving freedom of expression, innovation and the open nature of the internet.

AIMX is also calling on international organizations, including ICANN, the Internet Society, the International Telecommunication Union and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to contribute perspectives to Mexico's debate over audience rights.

The association says it remains available to collaborate with the Mexican government on the technical, legal and analytical dimensions of the regulatory process. "Our objective is to contribute to Mexico continuing to consolidate the rule of law and a modern legal framework from the perspective of human and digital rights, so that innovation, inclusion and economic development are promoted," says Vega.