Freedom of expression

Re: Internet shutdown in Zimbabwe Your Excellency Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Minister of Information and Communication Technology and Cyber Security We are writing to urgently request that you ensure the stability and openness of the internet in Zimbabwe. We have received reports that your government has shut down the internet. On behalf of the more than 170 organizations from over 60 countries ...

“It all started with a malicious Facebook post. Photographs of venerated figures – two Hindu kings of medieval India, and a recently departed demagogue of a Hindu right-wing political party, were morphed to show them in an apparently ‘derogatory’ manner, and widely circulated over social media. As if on cue, the moment they went viral, hundreds of supporters of far right Hindu organisat...

As we start 2019, we want to remember the human rights defenders from our community who are currently facing prison, disappeared or have been killed in retaliation for their work. Among them, we are particularly concerned about the fate of Egyptian free speech activists in the context of increased authoritarianism and repression under the current Egyptian regime, including renowned human rights...

To: Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer, Google Inc cc: Ben Gomes, Vice President of Search; Kent Walker, Senior Vice President of Global Affairs; Scott Beaumont, Vice President, Greater China and Korea 11 December 2018 Dear Mr. Pichai, We are writing to ask you to ensure that Google drops Project Dragonfly and any plans to launch a censored search app in China, and to re-affirm the compan...

3 December, 2018. Dear <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>, The Proposal for the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market has been analysed and criticised by many human rights and digital rights organisations. We point to Article 13 as one of the most problematic parts of the proposed Directive. In the last few months, there have been some positive developments regar...

Your Excellency Deputy Ambassador, We, the undersigned, are writing to you ahead of the 23 November COREPER 1 meeting, at which copyright in the Digital Single Market will be discussed by the Austrian Council Presidency. We consider that it is too early at this stage to give a renewed mandate to the Austrian Presidency. Representing human, privacy, civil rights and media freedom organisations, ...

Dear Mark Zuckerberg: What do the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a Danish member of parliament, and a news anchor from the Philippines have in common? They have all been subject to a misapplication of Facebook’s Community Standards. But unlike the average user, each of these individuals and entities received media attention, were able to reach Facebook staff and, in some cas...

This year’s Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) focuses on community networks. Community networks are “communication networks built, owned, operated, and used by citizens in a participatory and open manner.” This is a starting point. As the 43 country reports gathered here show, in practice, “community networks” can be hybrid systems, with different political and practical obj...