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.
Content governance in times of crisis: how platforms can protect human rights
In situations of armed conflicts and other crises, people use social media and messaging platforms to document human rights abuses or war crimes, access information, mobilize for action, and crowdsource humanitarian assistance.
Resources
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
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
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
Meta’s actions “adversely impacted” Palestinians’ rights: Access Now welcomes BSR findings
Access Now welcomes the release of BSR’s human rights due diligence findings that expose Meta’s rights-violating actions against people in Palestine.
Content Governance
What does Musk’s “free speech” look like for the rest of us?
Elon Musk’s simplistic views of freedom of expression could catapult Twitter from a toxic space to a worse one — especially for those of us tweeting from the margins.
Content Governance
Access Now to Telegram: protect the rights of 500 million people
Access Now and a coalition of civil society organizations are sounding the alarm over safety and security issues plaguing Telegram.
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
Alphabet shareholders want more transparency, less complacency
Meta shareholders to company leaders: your business model hurts human rights
As the annual shareholder meeting approaches, Meta shareholders ask leadership to review the company’s targeted advertising business model and protect human rights.
Section 230 survives another challenge: U.S. Supreme Court rulings protect free expression online
The U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings today in Twitter v. Taamneh and Gonzalez v. Google, a pair of cases centered on whether social media companies could be held liable for the terrorist content hosted and recommended via algorithm on their platforms, represent a major win for digital rights.
Internet and social media access must be restored in Pakistan to protect human rights
The government of Pakistan must immediately restore — and protect — full access to the internet and social media.
VLOPs or flops: Is Big Tech dodging accountability in the EU?
The EU asked tech companies to share their user numbers in order to see who qualifies as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA) rules. But the numbers don’t add up.
World Press Freedom Day: India’s “fake news” law must not censor journalists
Access Now and partners are urging the government of India to withdraw a new “fake news” amendment to the IT Rules.
India: New amendment to the Information Technology Rules that threatens press freedoms must be withdrawn
Through a joint statement, Access Now and partners urge the government of India to withdraw a new “fake news” amendment to the IT Rules.
حجب الإنترنت في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا في سنة 2022: تواصل للانتهاكات والإفلات من العقاب
قامت 11 دولة في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا بفرض عمليات حجب للإنترنت في 37 مناسبة، حيث تصدّرت إيران هذه القائمة من خلال قطعها للإنترنت 18 مرة.
Internet shutdowns in MENA in 2022: continued abuses and impunity
In 2022, authorities across the Middle East and North Africa shutdown the internet 37 times — with Iran hitting the kill switch a staggering 18 times.
Open letter: Ghana’s new anti-LGBTQ+ bill threatens human rights
Through an open letter, Access Now and partners call on Ghana’s Parliament to immediately reject the new anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
Put human rights first: Ghana’s parliament must reject repressive anti-LGBTQ+ bill
Access Now and partners call on Ghana’s parliament to immediately reject the new repressive anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
Five years in a row: India is 2022’s biggest internet shutdowns offender
In 2022, India shut down the internet at least 84 times — more than any country, for the fifth consecutive year. Read “Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022.”
Internet shutdowns in Africa: fewer offenders in 2022, still causing harm
Access Now’s new report, “Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022,” unpacks internet shutdowns in Africa and globally.
Resurging internet shutdowns in 2022: weapons of control, shields of impunity
Las directrices de la UNESCO para regular las plataformas digitales deben centrarse en los derechos humanos para todas las personas, en todas partes