Freedom of expression
As rich white men like Elon Musk own and control online platforms, these spaces are becoming more and more unwelcoming for queer and marginalised people. As individuals who have made and found communities in these spaces, should we leave our place on platforms like Twitter?
The COVID-19 pandemic provided the government with pretext to censor free speech, harass critics, and effectively curb dissent – accelerating what has been an ongoing turn towards authoritarianism in Bangladesh.
APC and dozens of other organisations are calling on Egypt to immediately release human rights defenders Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed el-Baqer, Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim Radwan and all those arrested and detained solely for exercising their rights.
There are several factors, some legal, some political and some economic, that continue to impact the exercise of rights online in Zimbabwe, particularly free expression, the right to privacy and access to information.
Shia Muslims are constantly at risk of being targeted with violence online and offline for their religious belief. And when Shia women and queer folks go online, they find themselves at risk of being targeted with abuse from multiple fronts as their two identities combine.
APC and the other signatories of this open letter stress that India – as the world’s largest democracy, and second largest base of internet users – has an opportunity to draft an exemplary legislation that ensures the protection of human rights in the digital age.
In Indonesia, a rise in hard-line approaches to governance is heralding looming authoritarianism. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided the government there with the opportunity to further accelerate digital authoritarianism through online surveillance, censorship and online manipulation.
In March 2021, shortly before the elections scheduled for August, then Zambian president Edgar Lungu quickly signed and enacted three internet-related laws, one of which has remained especially problematic into 2022: the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act.
The Association for Progressive Communications is outraged by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran as well as deeply alarmed by the ensuing violent crackdown on protests, violations of women’s rights, and widespread internet shutdowns across the country.
Online hate speech has become a fixture of our lives, especially across Africa. We talked to experts in our network and beyond about this crisis, its tricky challenges and ways to counter it, including APC’s recent campaign on International Day for Countering Hate Speech.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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