Press Releases

Press releases

If you would like to arrange an interview with one of our Access Now experts, have a question, or are interested in further information on any of our areas of focus, please contact press [at] accessnow [dot] org.

elections
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAfricaEnglish

Gabonese authorities must ensure internet access throughout upcoming elections

8 Apr 2025

Authorities in Gabon must ensure unfettered access to the internet throughout the upcoming elections in the country on April 12, 2025.

Press Release
Gabonese authorities must ensure internet access throughout upcoming elections
8 Apr 2025
Gabonese authorities must ensure internet access throughout upcoming elections
elections
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAfricaFrench

Les autorités gabonaises doivent garantir un accès internet libre et sécurisé pendant les élections

8 Apr 2025

Authorities in Gabon must ensure unfettered access to the internet throughout the upcoming elections in the country on April 12, 2025.

Press Release
Les autorités gabonaises doivent garantir un accès internet libre et sécurisé pendant les élections
8 Apr 2025
Les autorités gabonaises doivent garantir un accès internet libre et sécurisé pendant les élections
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAfrica

The worst year in shutdowns: a blow to democracy and human rights in Africa

23 Feb 2025
Press Release
The worst year in shutdowns: a blow to democracy and human rights in Africa
23 Feb 2025
The worst year in shutdowns: a blow to democracy and human rights in Africa
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAfghanistan

Worst year for internet shutdowns: Asia Pacific tops the 2024 shame list

23 Feb 2025
Press Release
Worst year for internet shutdowns: Asia Pacific tops the 2024 shame list
23 Feb 2025
Worst year for internet shutdowns: Asia Pacific tops the 2024 shame list
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAlgeria

Digital violence in MENA : impunity and internet shutdowns in 2024

23 Feb 2025

Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition’s new report reveals that 41 shutdowns were imposed in 17 countries across the MENA region in 2024.

Press Release
Digital violence in MENA : impunity and internet shutdowns in 2024
23 Feb 2025
Digital violence in MENA : impunity and internet shutdowns in 2024
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAsia PacificHindi

2024 में किये गए रिकॉर्ड तोड़ इंटरनेट शटडाउन: अधिकारों के हनन में एशिया प्रशांत सबसे आगे

23 Feb 2025

एक्सेस नाउ और #KeepItOn गठबंधन की नई रिपोर्ट ने पाया की पिछले नौ सालों के रिकॉर्ड में, 2024 इंटरनेट शटडाउन के लिए सबसे खराब साल रहा।

Press Release
2024 में किये गए रिकॉर्ड तोड़ इंटरनेट शटडाउन: अधिकारों के हनन में एशिया प्रशांत सबसे आगे
23 Feb 2025
2024 में किये गए रिकॉर्ड तोड़ इंटरनेट शटडाउन: अधिकारों के हनन में एशिया प्रशांत सबसे आगे
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAsia Pacific

အင်တာနက်ပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ အဆိုးဆုံးကြုံရသည့်နှစ် – အာရှပစိဖိတ်ဒေသက ၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ်အတွက် ရှက်ဖွယ် ကျူးလွန်သူများစာရင်းမှာ ဗိုလ်ဆွဲခဲ့

23 Feb 2025

၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ်သည် အင်တာနက်ပိတ်ဆို့မှု အဆိုးရွားဆုံး ဖြစ်သည့်နှစ်​အဖြစ် တရားဝင် မှတ်တမ်းဝင်သွားသည်။ စံတန်ဖိုးတွေလျော့ကျဖောက်ပြန်လာသည့် …

Press Release
အင်တာနက်ပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ အဆိုးဆုံးကြုံရသည့်နှစ် – အာရှပစိဖိတ်ဒေသက ၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ်အတွက် ရှက်ဖွယ် ကျူးလွန်သူများစာရင်းမှာ ဗိုလ်ဆွဲခဲ့
23 Feb 2025
အင်တာနက်ပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ အဆိုးဆုံးကြုံရသည့်နှစ် – အာရှပစိဖိတ်ဒေသက ၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ်အတွက် ရှက်ဖွယ် ကျူးလွန်သူများစာရင်းမှာ ဗိုလ်ဆွဲခဲ့
elections
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseGlobal

Emboldened offenders, endangered communities: internet shutdowns in 2024

23 Feb 2025

It’s official, 2024 was the worst year on record for internet shutdowns.

Press Release
Emboldened offenders, endangered communities: internet shutdowns in 2024
23 Feb 2025
Emboldened offenders, endangered communities: internet shutdowns in 2024
elections
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseGlobalChinese (simplified and traditional)

肆無忌憚的加害者,受害的社群:2024年網路封鎖現況

23 Feb 2025

我們正式的宣佈,2024 年是歷史上網路封鎖最嚴重的一年。

Press Release
肆無忌憚的加害者,受害的社群:2024年網路封鎖現況
23 Feb 2025
肆無忌憚的加害者,受害的社群:2024年網路封鎖現況
Digital Divide
Digital DividePress ReleaseMiddle East & North Africa

Access Now demands U.S. lift sanctions blocking Syria’s digital recovery

30 Jan 2025

Access Now joins the American Coalition for Syria, and over 160 civil society organizations in urging the U.S. government to expand sanctions relief in Syria.

Press Release
Access Now demands U.S. lift sanctions blocking Syria’s digital recovery
30 Jan 2025
Access Now demands U.S. lift sanctions blocking Syria’s digital recovery
ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders put Big Tech on notice
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of ExpressionPress ReleaseIsraelEnglish

Ceasefire in Gaza: it’s time to end digital harms and deliver justice

20 Jan 2025

As physical violence appears to be coming to a halt after 15 months in Gaza, Access Now further calls for a digital ceasefire.

Press Release
Ceasefire in Gaza: it’s time to end digital harms and deliver justice
20 Jan 2025
Ceasefire in Gaza: it’s time to end digital harms and deliver justice
Palestinian Authority
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of ExpressionPress ReleaseMiddle East & North AfricaEnglish

The Palestinian Authority must stop silencing Al Jazeera and end its attacks on press freedom

9 Jan 2025

The Palestinian Authority must reverse its decision to block Al Jazeera websites and lift the suspension of its operations in the West Bank.

Press Release
The Palestinian Authority must stop silencing Al Jazeera and end its attacks on press freedom
9 Jan 2025
The Palestinian Authority must stop silencing Al Jazeera and end its attacks on press freedom
Authorities Gabon #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAfrica

Ghana must uphold its record of no shutdowns — during upcoming elections, authorities must #KeepItOn

27 Nov 2024
Press Release
Ghana must uphold its record of no shutdowns — during upcoming elections, authorities must #KeepItOn
27 Nov 2024
Ghana must uphold its record of no shutdowns — during upcoming elections, authorities must #KeepItOn
ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders put Big Tech on notice
Press ReleaseGlobalEnglish

Know your customer: ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders put Big Tech on notice

21 Nov 2024
Press Release
Know your customer: ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders put Big Tech on notice
21 Nov 2024
Know your customer: ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders put Big Tech on notice
Authorities Gabon #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns
Internet ShutdownsPress ReleaseAfrica

#KeepItOn in Tanzania: authorities must ensure connectivity during local elections

21 Nov 2024

The #KeepItOn coalition demands that the Government of Tanzania ensure unhindered access to the internet during the upcoming elections.

Press Release
#KeepItOn in Tanzania: authorities must ensure connectivity during local elections
21 Nov 2024
#KeepItOn in Tanzania: authorities must ensure connectivity during local elections
6-years-GDPR
Data Protection
Data ProtectionPress ReleaseEurope

Six years of the GDPR: we won’t pay for our right to data protection 

18 Nov 2024

Access Now’s new report, Six years of the GDPR: priced out of privacy, presents recommendations for the EU to address the incompatibility of “pay or consent” models with fundamental rights.

Press Release
Six years of the GDPR: we won’t pay for our right to data protection 
18 Nov 2024
Six years of the GDPR: we won’t pay for our right to data protection 

Open letters

Sweden
Privacy

Joint letter on Swedish Data Storage and Access to Electronic Information legislation

9 Apr 2025

Swedish authorities must reject legislation that would force companies to undermine the encryption of their services.

Press Release
Joint letter on Swedish Data Storage and Access to Electronic Information legislation
9 Apr 2025
Joint letter on Swedish Data Storage and Access to Electronic Information legislation
autorités gabonaises
Internet Shutdowns

#KeepItOn : Nous exhortons les autorités gabonaises à garantir un accès Internet ouvert et

8 Apr 2025

La coalition #KeepItOn exhorte le Gabon à garantir l’accès à Internet et aux réseaux sociaux avant, pendant et après les élections du 12 avril.

Press Release
#KeepItOn : Nous exhortons les autorités gabonaises à garantir un accès Internet ouvert et
8 Apr 2025
#KeepItOn : Nous exhortons les autorités gabonaises à garantir un accès Internet ouvert et
Authorities Gabon #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns

#KeepItOn: authorities in Gabon must safeguard open and secure internet access during elections

8 Apr 2025

#KeepItOn urges authorities in Gabon to keep the internet, social media, and all communication channels open and secure during the April 12 elections.

Press Release
#KeepItOn: authorities in Gabon must safeguard open and secure internet access during elections
8 Apr 2025
#KeepItOn: authorities in Gabon must safeguard open and secure internet access during elections
Shutdowns in Myanmar

Joint statement: Myanmar must lift internet restrictions following devastating earthquake

31 Mar 2025
Press Release
Joint statement: Myanmar must lift internet restrictions following devastating earthquake
31 Mar 2025
Joint statement: Myanmar must lift internet restrictions following devastating earthquake

Statements

Freedom of Expression

All democratic forces must act for a strong and independent civil society

7 Apr 2025

We call on all democratic forces to oppose disinformation around
the role of civil society organizations to protect the unique role in European
democracy.

Press Release
All democratic forces must act for a strong and independent civil society
7 Apr 2025
All democratic forces must act for a strong and independent civil society
UN Global Digital Compact
Connectivity

Joint statement: five-point plan for an inclusive WSIS+20 review

29 Mar 2025
Press Release
Joint statement: five-point plan for an inclusive WSIS+20 review
29 Mar 2025
Joint statement: five-point plan for an inclusive WSIS+20 review
Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill
Freedom of Expression

Our rights are at stake: it’s time to reclaim freedom of expression

21 Feb 2025

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.

Press Release
Our rights are at stake: it’s time to reclaim freedom of expression
21 Feb 2025
Our rights are at stake: it’s time to reclaim freedom of expression
AI Action Summit
Artificial Intelligence

AI Action Summit: a missed opportunity for human-rights centered AI governance 

14 Feb 2025

The development of the proposed GDPR Procedural Regulation represents a missed opportunity to address enforcement challenges.

Press Release
AI Action Summit: a missed opportunity for human-rights centered AI governance 
14 Feb 2025
AI Action Summit: a missed opportunity for human-rights centered AI governance 
مشروع قانون الإجراءات الجنائية
Cybersecurity

Privacy under attack: Egypt must reform its draft Criminal Procedure Code

12 Feb 2025

Authorities in Egypt must reject the proposed draft Criminal Procedure Code and develop a new code that aligns with international human rights standards.

Press Release
Privacy under attack: Egypt must reform its draft Criminal Procedure Code
12 Feb 2025
Privacy under attack: Egypt must reform its draft Criminal Procedure Code
مشروع قانون الإجراءات الجنائية
Cybersecurity

انتهاك الخصوصية.. على مصر تعديل مشروع قانون الإجراءات الجنائية

12 Feb 2025

تحث المنظمات الموقعة الحكومة المصرية على ضمان امتثال مشروع قانون الإجراءات الجنائية المقترح مؤخرا لالتزاماتها الدولية في مجال حقوق الإنسان.

Press Release
انتهاك الخصوصية.. على مصر تعديل مشروع قانون الإجراءات الجنائية
12 Feb 2025
انتهاك الخصوصية.. على مصر تعديل مشروع قانون الإجراءات الجنائية
Authorities Gabon #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns

#KeepItOn: les autorités doivent rétablir l’accès à Goma et dans toute la RDC

5 Feb 2025

The #KeepItOn coalition urgently demand that authorities in the DRC stop imposing internet shutdowns amid the ongoing conflict.

Press Release
#KeepItOn: les autorités doivent rétablir l’accès à Goma et dans toute la RDC
5 Feb 2025
#KeepItOn: les autorités doivent rétablir l’accès à Goma et dans toute la RDC
Authorities Gabon #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns

#KeepItOn: authorities must restore access in Goma and across the DRC

3 Feb 2025

The #KeepItOn coalition urgently demand that authorities in the DRC stop imposing internet shutdowns amid the ongoing conflict.

Press Release
#KeepItOn: authorities must restore access in Goma and across the DRC
3 Feb 2025
#KeepItOn: authorities must restore access in Goma and across the DRC
South Sudan #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns

#KeepItOn: authorities must restore access to social media in South Sudan and uphold human rights

24 Jan 2025

The #KeepItOn coalition demands the government of South Sudan put an immediate end to the ongoing social media shutdowns in the country.

Press Release
#KeepItOn: authorities must restore access to social media in South Sudan and uphold human rights
24 Jan 2025
#KeepItOn: authorities must restore access to social media in South Sudan and uphold human rights
Freedom of Expression

Two years on, Balgh remains a tool of repression in Iraq

16 Jan 2025

Access Now, along with partner organizations, condemn the Iraqi authorities’ continued use of the Balgh platform to monitor online speech and curtail freedom of expression.

Press Release
Two years on, Balgh remains a tool of repression in Iraq
16 Jan 2025
Two years on, Balgh remains a tool of repression in Iraq
AI Action Summit
Artificial Intelligence

Human rights and justice must be at the heart of the upcoming Commission guidelines on the AI Act implementation

16 Jan 2025

This statement was written by the AI Act civil society and the #ProtectNotSurveil coalitions following the EU Commission consultation on the AI Act.

Press Release
Human rights and justice must be at the heart of the upcoming Commission guidelines on the AI Act implementation
16 Jan 2025
Human rights and justice must be at the heart of the upcoming Commission guidelines on the AI Act implementation
WhatsApp v NSO case
Surveillance

Statement on the historic decision in the WhatsApp v NSO case

13 Jan 2025

Access Now welcomes the ruling in the case of WhatsApp v NSO Group, where the U.S. District Court of Northern California found that NSO violated federal and California state hacking statutes.

Press Release
Statement on the historic decision in the WhatsApp v NSO case
13 Jan 2025
Statement on the historic decision in the WhatsApp v NSO case
UN Global Digital Compact
Transparency

Joint statement: civil society concerns and priorities for Global Digital Compact implementation

13 Dec 2024
Press Release
Joint statement: civil society concerns and priorities for Global Digital Compact implementation
13 Dec 2024
Joint statement: civil society concerns and priorities for Global Digital Compact implementation
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2024: when digital rights collide with digital oppression
Freedom of Expression

بيان مُشترك: المجتمع المدني يُطالب باتخاذ الإجراءات اللازمة قبيل انعقاد منتدى حوكمة الإنترنت

12 Dec 2024

منظمات حقوق الإنسان المُوقّعة أدناه، نحثّ حكومة السعودية على إطلاق سراح جميع المعتقلين الذين اعتقلتهم السلطات السعودية بسبب تعبيرهم عن آرائهم على الإنترنت

Press Release
بيان مُشترك: المجتمع المدني يُطالب باتخاذ الإجراءات اللازمة قبيل انعقاد منتدى حوكمة الإنترنت
12 Dec 2024
بيان مُشترك: المجتمع المدني يُطالب باتخاذ الإجراءات اللازمة قبيل انعقاد منتدى حوكمة الإنترنت
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2024: when digital rights collide with digital oppression
Freedom of Expression

Joint statement: civil society demands action ahead of Internet Governance Forum

12 Dec 2024

Civil society urges the government of Saudi Arabia to release people imprisoned for their online expression and foster transparency and accountability ahead of IGF 2024.

Press Release
Joint statement: civil society demands action ahead of Internet Governance Forum
12 Dec 2024
Joint statement: civil society demands action ahead of Internet Governance Forum
Authorities Gabon #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns

#KeepItOn: authorities in Pakistan must stop the ongoing suppression of digital rights

12 Dec 2024

The #KeepItOn coalition urges the government of Pakistan to immediately bring an end to the ongoing blatant violation of fundamental rights in the country.

Press Release
#KeepItOn: authorities in Pakistan must stop the ongoing suppression of digital rights
12 Dec 2024
#KeepItOn: authorities in Pakistan must stop the ongoing suppression of digital rights