"This report presents a summary analysis of research on current practices of content moderation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, and Kenya, with a specific focus on 'harmful content' such as 'hate speech' and disinformation. The methodology combined desk research with qualitative interviews wit
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h key informants (representatives from local stakeholders). Findings from the country reports indicate that social media platforms, rather than serving as spaces for democratic debate and participatory citizenship, have increased ethnic-driven disinformation and politically motivated hatred, and reinforced the exclusion of marginalised groups. Given the importance of social media platforms, in countries where such tensions have in the past caused real-life violence, addressing the weaknesses of content moderation practices is of the utmost importance to ensure sustainable peace and enduring democracies." (Executive summary)
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"Digital rights violations enable and escalate offline violence, deepening humanitarian crises. The calculated attacks targeting digital systems – essential to people’s safety and wellbeing – are unacceptable. At this critical juncture in history, when human rights violations are rampant from
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Ukraine to Myanmar, we’ve prepared a new briefing on the 49th session of the United Nations (U.N.) Human Rights Council. The briefing, Digital Rights at the U.N. HRC 49 and Beyond, takes stock of the state of digital rights at the global level, exploring key digital rights issues during this session. It’s aimed at educating delegates on the impact of these issues on human rights, and guiding them in next steps for advancing global norms and standards that will protect human rights." (Publisher description)
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"In this paper, we outline each of the various technical mechanisms for implementing a shutdown, and the options for mitigating each type. Our hope is that technologists and civil society groups working to end shutdowns will find this a useful technical resource to understand, prepare for, circumven
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t, and help document deliberate network disruptions." (Introduction)
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"The stories that make up this text offer an approach to the resistances and resiliencies that have arisen in Mexico, covering different manifestations of digital violence in the voices of people representing initiatives and communities that have been victimized through technologies that the state h
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as used to persecute those who defend human rights or seek justice in our country. Through these experiences in common, we hope that more people will have access to the information that we, as members of organized civil society, share with each other to generate impact and accompaniment strategies. We hope that these experiences will inspire other projects that will allow us to confront this violence and transform the structures that govern us. In the following pages, we will share stories of abuse, dispossession and repression, but we will also share testimonies of dignity and resistance. In a country where impunity has been normalized in the face of the sociopolitical violence exercised by the state, it is necessary to name the different forms it takes in order to build and share strategies that allow us to confront it and protect our rights. We still have a long way to go in this search for justice; nevertheless, experience has also given us lessons on the importance of creating communities in order to advance down this road together. To create community, we need to build trust; to create resilience, we need to preserve memory." (Introduction, page 11-12)
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"Los números, videos, historias y relatos no engañan. Los equipos de prensa que trabajaron durante los 18 días del paro nacional, convocado por el movimiento indígena, fueron agredidos desde todos los frentes. Pero, en especial, las agresiones provinieron de los manifestantes, los ciudadanos que
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son, precisamente, para quienes se trabaja la información. Esta realidad puso a los periodistas ante un escenario complejo: arriesgar su integridad o camuflarse para seguir reportando. Esta disyuntiva constituyó en sí una de las peores agresiones contra la prensa: la autocensura." (Página 2)
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"Since it first began substantial implementation in 2018, the MDP has enabled UNESCO’s Communication and Information Sector to immediately respond to emerging priorities and needs affecting freedom of expression, the safety of journalists, access to information, and community media. Before its cre
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ation, UNESCO Officers in the field were limited to regular programme funds, and few extrabudgetary projects limited in time and scope, therefore, at times, were unable to provide the urgent support requested by local stakeholders or respond to any emerging need. Through its inherent flexibility, the MDP has over the past four years been able to provide core funding for initiatives, or co-fund projects, as well as maintain momentum when field offices experienced delays in receiving funds between two extrabudgetary projects. It has also enabled UNESCO to immediately respond to urgent needs and not miss windows of opportunity. During the reporting period, this flexibility has allowed the MDP to respond to crises as they appeared, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut port explosions, the 2021 crisis in Gaza, or political events in Afghanistan and Myanmar. The MDP’s response to emergencies has been critical and, maintaining this approach, it will continue to respond to urgent needs in countries such as Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Ukraine in the coming biennium." (Summary, page 6)
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"India’s “techade” does show signs of digital authoritarianism that can potentially have farreaching implications for politics, civil liberties and society. At the same time, these are not new challenges for the country. In the past, the Indian government has attempted to surveil, monitor, and
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censor citizens. Here, state power is like water that will fall through any cracks and holes in the system. The system will either flourish or get contaminated based on the nature of the water. This report shows how COVID-19, protests, and major political incidents provide a ripe avenue for expanding state power. The larger socio-political context, one filled with concerns about a decline in democratic values, secularism, and civil liberties, will determine the extent of harm, who gets harmed, and the ability to respond. India’s lack of solid legal frameworks governing key technologies allows authorities to further exert power. As seen in the case of Aadhaar, facial recognition systems, and Aarogya Setu, legislative backing is an afterthought. However, by then, significant damage is already done. Any adverse impact on digital and civil rights will be felt most by vulnerable groups and those critical of the government. Besides the lack of legal structures, as seen through the report, the law is also used to expand state power. Further, as analysed in this report, private players supplying surveillance technologies, and social media giants enable digital authoritarianism in the country." (Analysis and conclusion, page 21)
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"The internet gained centrality as a space of public opinion and political activity that became important for the Russian state to co-opt and control as part of the broader push for control of political elites and public perceptions as Putin and his ruling party pushed to eliminate any functioning o
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pposition and cement their power. Finally, the internet gained importance as a geopolitical strategic object, given its centrality to conflicts, cyberwarfare and foreign policy operations. In the current and ongoing stage, the internet is now also an important object of critical technological infrastructure that is now also being co-opted into full state control as part of the national security and sovereignty agenda. The past decade since 2012 has seen a gradual takeover by the state of key industry players such as VK and Yandex, a crackdown on political and media elites and ordinary users, and the introduction of a swathe of new regulations, all aimed at consolidating state control over an area of importance for the national security and sovereignty agenda. Today, digital authoritarianism is an integral part of Russia’s state survival strategy and is likely to remain as such for the foreseeable future, given Russia’s current international isolation and its fraught and increasingly hostile standoff with the democratic global community." (Analysis and conclusion, page 25)
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"Since its ascent to power twenty years ago, the ruling AKP has tightened the screws on all forms of freedom of expression, both online and offline. It has introduced draconian laws, imposed internet restrictions, blocked content, and has arrested and intimidated critics on an unprecedented level. I
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n its toolbox are all three generations of information controls. The purges that took place in the aftermath of the failed military coup in 2016 have left the country in a state of continuous decline with thousands of civil servants jailed on bogus terrorism charges, media outlets shut, and an ongoing blocking of websites and targeting of social media platforms. The AKP continues to rely on the controversial Internet Bill, the Anti-terrorism Law, decreelaws, and an army of trolls, targeting critics and dissent online. The controversial app introduced by the National Police to snitch on social media accounts critical of the ruling party and its affiliates is yet another tool in the hands of the state to intimidate users and get in the way of freedom of speech online." (Analysis and conclusion, page 20)
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"There is a clear digital divide in Sudan as the number of internet users is a very low part of the population. Despite the high contribution of the telecommunication field to the GDP, the Sudanese authorities are not using this contribution to enhance and develop the ICT field to fill the gap of di
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gital illiteracy. Instead, they use taxpayer money to buy expensive equipment for censorship, without publishing these deals. Restricting the freedom of expression and using the state’s violence to repress fundamental rights and civil liberties are rooting the image of the authoritarian state in the minds of the citizens which may lead to a state of lack of rights awareness. Using and amending laws to protect the government interests indicates that the government will enact other laws to restrict the digital space in order to make access to information increasingly difficult. Government access to ICT infrastructure in Sudan will suppress net neutrality during political crises, affecting people economically and socially, specifically in relation to education and small businesses. Sudan has low transparency, frequently violates physical privacy, uses unlawful communication shutdowns, an idle access to information act, no freedom of expression, vague laws, and online surveillance, making it easy to say that digital authoritarianism is rooted in Sudan. Digital authoritarianism affects opportunities for foreign investment, stability of life, and social security." (Analysis and conclusion, page 21)
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"Under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil, Latin America's largest democracy, has seen unprecedented increases in threats to citizens’ fundamental rights. Digital rights have not been an exception. Technoauthoritarianism in Brazil must be viewed as a multifaceted development and one that is
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not undertaken by the federal administration alone. Across the country, states are making unlawful use of civilian data for surveillance purposes and adopting facial recognition technologies, a worrying event in a country that has a history of discriminatory policing where over half of the population is Black. From inside the presidential palace and around Brazil, Bolsonaro and right-wing allies are using social media tools to advance personal interests by sponsoring disinformation campaigns and enabling targeted attacks against opponents and journalists. When targeted by social media moderation, the president tried to overturn the way platforms operate in Brazil with a provisional measure — a largely opaque, authoritarian and unilateral tool. As if the scenario weren't concerning enough for digital rights, journalists around the country are facing a tidal wave of attacks, harassment and smear campaigns, many of which are perpetrated by elected authorities. These attacks have a clear gendered aspect to them, as women journalists are not only targeted more frequently, but more violently." (https://advox.globalvoices.org)
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"This guide is intended to provide user-friendly, practical guidance for journalists and newsrooms seeking to understand the Russian “fake news” laws, and how they’ve been applied to local and international press." (Page 1)
"The government of Zimbabwe and the ruling ZANU PF party are bent on ensuring that the status quo is preserved at all costs. As evidenced by findings in the Civic Media Observatory, the digital sphere has been identified as a threat to the country’s national security, insofar as deposing the curre
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nt political junta from power is concerned. The Arab Spring, which led to the deposing of leaders in the MENA region through social-media-organised protests certainly placed a lot of African governments on high alert about the potential transformative power of digital space. This has led to more governments, including that of Zimbabwe, enacting digitally repressive legislation aimed at curbing any form of political mobilisation on social media. Zimbabwe’s engagement with Russia, China, Iran and Israel for the acquisition of invasive spyware and biometric technology for mass surveillance purposes is premised on the ruling party’s overarching desire to control the population and retain political power. The fact that almost all deals are shrouded in a dark veil of secrecy bodes badly for civil society, human rights defenders, independent journalists, and opposition party members as the ends to which such technology will be applied are not publicised. The identification and tracking of journalists who expose corruption within government circles and their subsequent detention implies that digital technologies are being used as part of what Dragu and Lapu term preventive repression." (Analysis and conclusion, page 25)
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"This guide aims to encourage civil society and community organizations, activists and individuals to engage with the United Nations' (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism on freedom of expression, safety of journalists and access to information issues. The guide explains why it is importan
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t to focus on freedom of expression in the UPR, followed by an overview of the UPR mechanism; a brief introduction to freedom of expression; and practical guidance on civil society engagement with the UPR. It also provides a set of resources for further information on the topics addressed. These guidelines build upon a joint Amnesty-UNESCO survey of more than 70 civil society respondents from different regions; a series of consultation webinars held between March and June 2022; and comprehensive interviews with civil society organizations from different regions." (Introduction, page 1)
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"The Report is a unique mechanism within the UN system for monitoring the killings of journalists. It was first published in 2008, upon a Decision of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). The report is published every two years, mak
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ing an occasion for Member States to take stock of global developments and discuss challenges linked to promoting the safety of journalists and combatting impunity." (https://www.unesco.org/reports/safety-journalists/2022/en)
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"This note provides suggestions for Member States on how to word the recommendations for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the field of freedom of expression, safety of journalists and access to information. The background and recommendations below can also assist UN Country Teams, National Hum
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an Rights institutions (NHRIs) and civil society in relation to UPR submissions and follow up." (About this guidance note, page 1)
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"The Multi Donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists focuses on two thematic areas with the objective of enabling a free and safe environment for a free, independent and pluralistic media, freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists – what UN
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ESCO considers key components for the achievement of SDG 16. Through this, Member States can expand their typical interventions on Freedom of Expression, Safety of Journalists, Access to Information, Gender Equality in Media, MIL media viability and pluralism, and countering hate speech and disinformation to also address strategic elements at the sector-wide level. While this is not mandatory, it is expected that this more flexible approach to planning and delivery will strengthen UNESCO’s position at the country level and allow the Programme to be more reactive to country needs." (Page 4)
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"Este trabajo tiene como objetivo avanzar en la comprensión de una serie de casos del Sistema Interamericano de extraordinario contenido y valor para fortalecer el rol de los jueces en la prevención de situaciones que vulneren el derecho a libertad de expresión, el acceso a la información, así
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como la protección de periodistas." (Introducción)
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"The relationship between journalists and the security forces shows, almost universally, permanent tension. This document explains […] the reasons why both the press and the exercise of journalism, on the one hand, and the existence of the security forces and their action respecting human rights,
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on the other hand, are necessary for the consolidation of democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean. For this reason, it is advanced that the conflicts that arise between them, have a significant impact not only on both institutions, but on democracy itself. […] This publication first answers that question: whether or not both the press and the security forces are essential elements of a democracy. […] This publication only considers situations related to the journalistic coverage of street demonstrations and police action […] and also describes good practices that tend to reduce confrontations between journalists and security forces, since, to put it simply, this can directly benefit the consolidation of democracy." (Introduction, page 7)
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"This report produced by UNESCOs shows an assessment of the achievements and best practices derived from the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity over the last decade. It also offers recommendations to combat emerging challenges going forward.” (commbox)