Middle East and North Africa

7amleh concluded the online version of the Palestine Forum for Digital Activism 2020 with the participation of a quarter million Palestinians, Arabs and internationals. The conference was adapted from an offline event with 1,000 participants to an online event in two weeks.

The Lebanese government announced on 12 March that Ogero, the national internet service provider (ISP), will double the speed and capacity for users until the end of April, but it did not clarify whether the decision includes other privately owned ISPs.

7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media warns of Israel committing mass violations of digital rights, especially the right to privacy, under the pretext of managing the health crisis caused by the coronavirus.

New research about Palestinian access to e-commerce highlights how occupation, failure to fulfill the Oslo Accords and digital discrimination have stunted the development of the Palestinian economy and created challenges for Palestinian buyers, sellers and workers online.

While pointing to the positive use of AI to enable rights in ways that were not easily possible before, this edition of GISWatch highlights the real threats that we need to pay attention to if we are going to build an AI-embedded future that enables human dignity.

APC and partners are hosting their ninth Disco-tech event in conjunction with the 2019 IGF in Berlin, on 26 November. We invite you to join us for this peer-learning event about utilising the potential of ICTs in strategies to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis.

The legal, political and social environment is having a significant impact on the political activity of Palestinian youth on the internet. Many have had their content removed from online platforms, experienced harassment, or were interrogated in relation to what they posted on social networks.

APC's 2018 Annual Report offers an engaging dive into one year in the network's life. All the 67 stories are clustered under the six priority areas that have informed APC's work from 2016 until 2019: Access, rights, a feminist internet, governance, use and development and APC community.