freedom of expression

This statement delivered on behalf of APC, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa, Derechos Digitales and the Women of Uganda Network highlights increasing restrictions to freedom of expression online in Uganda and Latin America.

Summary of the report on online content regulation by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (A/HRC/38/35).

For the digital society to be open, safe, and empowering for everyone, policies for the digital age must be trusted and trustworthy – putting the interests of people and their rights first. Governments should intensify efforts to assure that the Internet is not fragmented and that people and their rights are at its centre.  

As many as 88% of Pakistani journalists said they self-censor in their professional work and are most likely to hold back information related to religious and security matters in their reporting and personal conversations, according to new research by APC member organisation Media Matters for Democracy. 

Surrendering to Silence: An account of self-censorship among Pakistani journalists is the latest publication by APC member Media Matters for Democracy on the state of freedom of expression and censorship among journalists in Pakistan.

APC, in collaboration with the Internet Policy Observatory, University of Pennsylvania, has commissioned a report that examines criminalisation of online expression in six Asian states. We welcome all to an informative discussion on the findings of the report, to be held in Kuala Lampur.

7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media published its annual research report on Palestinian digital activism. The report, titled #Palestine 2017, provides information about internet access and usage, examines the most dominant social and political campaigns and viral hashtags, and monitors human and digital rights violations against Palestinians.

We welcome this topic because it is current and integral to our work. On the one hand there is a lot of “noise” in the mainstream media about so-called “fake news” and what appears to be a fairly rushed response from platforms consisting of increasing in-house regulation of content. On the other hand, human rights defenders and activists we work with express concern that platforms are r...