Rights-Based Approaches to Online Content
Governments and companies are under increasing pressure to address illegal or undesirable content and expression online, but hasty or poorly crafted solutions threaten human rights. We advocate for policies and practices to defend free expression and access to information and ensure people who are most at risk are protected.
Platform Accountability: a rule-of-law checklist for policymakers
Platform regulations can be a minefield for human rights. Here’s a checklist to help policymakers examine the need for platform regulations, and where necessary, enact regulations that are fit-for-purpose and protect human rights.
Resources
Content Governance
Our rights are at stake: it’s time to reclaim freedom of expression
Given the escalating use of free speech claims as a shield for inciting hatred and violence, it is more urgent than ever to reaffirm what freedom of expression truly stands for.
Content Governance
Content governance in times of crisis: how platforms can protect human rights
The “Declaration for content and platform governance principles in times of crisis” lays out principles for social media platforms to help ensure privacy, freedom of expression, and access to information during crises.
Content Governance
Rainbow-burning: how social media companies increase risks for LGBTQ+ people in Africa
Colonial-era laws and a global anti-rights movement are fueling LGBTQ+ repression across Africa. Access Now documented 214 threats on platforms like TikTok, X, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp, underscoring widespread risks.
Content Governance
Guide: how to protect human rights in content governance
We offer 26 recommendations on content governance to help lawmakers, regulators, and company leaders make decisions that will safeguard human rights.
Content Governance
Digital Security Helpline: our approach to content-related cases
Critical voices from civil society are being censored. Here’s how the Digital Security Helpline addresses cases related to content governance.
Content Governance
What is disinformation, why it spreads, and how to stop it
Our new report explores what disinformation is, and how lawmakers can address the harms it poses to democracy.
Content Governance
The Digital Services Act: your guide to the EU’s new content moderation rules
The EU Digital Services Act has finally arrived. We unpack what this law contains and the changes people can expect to see from 2024 onwards.
Content Governance
Access Now releases “Fighting misinformation and defending free expression during COVID-19: recommendations for states”
We have identified practical examples and promising practices to support policy makers in respecting human rights while developing measures to address disinformation and misinformation during the COVID-19 crisis.
Latest Updates
War profiteers: online ads and the machinery of propaganda for war
As governments deploy propaganda for war using online ads, Access Now examines the application of international human rights law and explores digital platforms’ responsibility to respect human rights.
War profiteers: online ads, propaganda for war, and a call to reprioritize human rights
Access Now’s latest report examines how propaganda for war and online ads intersect with the international human rights law.
One year on, the new European Commission is abandoning human rights
A year into its new mandate and the European Commission is reversing course when it comes to safeguarding human rights in the EU.
Online threats, real-world harms: protecting human rights defenders
Nigeria: Civil society demands answers on social media takedown requests
We, the undersigned civil society organisations, write to express our concerns regarding the letters from Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) to X Corp and Meta, respectively, demanding the immediate removal of certain posts deemed critical of the Nigerian President.
Comments on June 2025 draft rules to amend Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024
Digital ceasefire: the path to peace goes online
In today’s era of digital warfare, digital ceasefires are cornerstones on the pathway to peace. Access Now has been working with peace-building experts to discuss exactly what a digital ceasefire should look like.
Gaza: censura digital en plataformas de Meta
“Unnecessary and disproportionate” – Experts slam 2-month VPN ban enforced in India
Why India’s censorship of news media online without stating reasons is unlawful
Access Now’s statement on digital censorship amid India–Pakistan conflict
We are alarmed by executive orders issued by the Indian government restricting access to an alarming spectrum of online content, including requiring social media platform X to block access to over 8,000 accounts, including those belonging to journalists, human rights organisations, and independent media outlets.
Combating digital threats to safeguard press freedom
‘Profiting from misery’: how TikTok makes money from child begging livestreams
Emboldened offenders, endangered communities: internet shutdowns in 2024
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition documented 296 internet shutdowns in 2024 — the highest number since 2016.
Our rights are at stake: it’s time to reclaim freedom of expression
Given the escalating use of free speech claims as a shield for inciting hatred and violence, it is more urgent than ever to reaffirm what freedom of expression truly stands for.
