Internet rights

On 30 August, Lebanese internet users reported an internet disruption that made it almost impossible to access platforms like Twitter. This outage affected many websites and services globally, but not all internet service providers nor all internet services in Lebanon were affected the same.

The fifth session of the African Internet Resilience webinar series took place on 30 July. The focus of the session was to foster a deeper understanding of complementary networks and address the need for internet services in rural and underserved areas across the continent.

Listen to the vision for the next ten years of APC from our member 7amleh - The Arab Center for Social Media Advancement, which focuses on continuing to support the most vulnerable communities.

On 17 July, the Tanzania government issued new Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations. These new regulations repress online speech, privacy and access to information.

This position paper published by 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media details the increase in Israeli digital rights violations with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Media Matters for Democracy expresses solidarity with the women journalists who have called out online violence they face on social media platforms. A statement released by a group of women journalists on 12 August highlights a culture of hateful speech, incitement, harassment and doxxing.

Temporary internet disruptions and shutdowns pose serious challenges to the exercise of a wide range of rights and cannot be justified under any pretext. We therefore call on the Lebanese authorities to lift all restrictions on internet access and restore telecommunications to full capacity.

The repeated instances of internet shutdowns and degradation of network services are causing immense harm to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We urge the government of the Union Territory and associate government authorities to restore high speed internet access in the region.