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.
Stop political scapegoating: Ghanaian MPs must reject dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ bill
Access Now and Rightify Ghana have urged the government of Ghana to put human rights first and reject the repressive Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025.
Hack-for-hire: new report investigates hacking campaign against Egyptian journalists
A new report by Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline, Espionage for repression: forensic analysis of a cross-border hack-for-hire campaign targeting civil society in MENA, exposes a hack-for-hire campaign targeting two prominent Egyptian journalists and government critics, Mostafa Al-A’sar and Ahmed Eltantawy, through a series of spear-phishing attacks.
Breaking records, breaking connections: internet shutdowns in EECA in 2025
Launching today, March 31, 2026, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition’s new report, Rising repression meets global resistance: Internet shutdowns in 2025, reveals that at least 313 shutdowns were implemented in 52 countries. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia the internet was shut down 29 times in seven countries.
Resistiendo en la oscuridad: apagones de internet en 2025
Hoy, 31 de marzo de 2026, publicamos el nuevo reporte de Access Now y la coalición #KeepItOn, (Rising repression meets global resistance: Internet shutdowns in 2025). El mismo revela al menos 313 apagones en 52 países. En América Latina y el Caribe, el servicio de internet fue interrumpido en cinco ocasiones en dos países: Venezuela y Panamá.
Blocking millions in MENA: internet shutdowns in 2025
Launching today, March 31, 2026, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition’s new report, Rising repression meets global resistance: Internet shutdowns in 2025, reveals that at least 313 shutdowns were implemented in 52 countries. Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), authorities and other actors imposed at least 52 internet shutdowns across 15 countries in 2025, highlighting the continued rise of digital repression across the region.
One region, half the world’s shutdowns: internet shutdowns in the Asia Pacific in 2025
Resilience and resistance: internet shutdowns in Africa in 2025
Launching today, March 31, 2026, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition’s new report, Rising repression meets global resistance: Internet shutdowns in 2025, reveals that at least 313 shutdowns were implemented in 52 countries. In Africa, the internet was shut down 30 times in 15 countries.
Rising and resisting in the darkness: internet shutdowns in 2025
Launching today, March 31, 2026, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition’s new report, Rising repression meets global resistance: Internet shutdowns in 2025, reveals that at least 313 shutdowns were implemented in 52 countries.
Statement: human rights organizations file brief in Anthropic v. DOW
Shadowy surveillance: Access Now maps the companies implementing the EU’s migration policies
Access Now’s latest research exposes the private sector companies building and profiting from the EU’s extensive surveillance infrastructure.
Strengthening the foundation: Access Now embraces new co-leadership model
As of January 2026, Arzu Geybulla has joined Access Now as Co-Executive Director, partnering with Alejandro Mayoral Baños to co-lead Access Now through the evolving human rights landscape of the next year and beyond
From Sandvine to AppLogic Networks: a rebrand doesn’t mean reform
Access Now, alongside several human rights organizations and independent news platforms, are calling on AppLogic Networks (previously Sandvine) to substantiate its announced corporate reforms following its removal from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List.
#KeepItOn coalition raise the alarm on potential shutdown during upcoming elections in Uganda
As millions of people prepare to head to the polls in Uganda on January, 15 2026, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition — a global network of over 345 organizations from 106 countries working to end internet shutdowns, has urged President Yoweri Museveni to ensure unfettered access to the internet, digital platforms, and all other communication channels on the run-up-to, during and post-elections.
MTN Group must answer for dangerous bounty SMS campaign in the Republic of Congo
Access Now,together with several human rights organizations, are calling on MTN Group to protect mobile service subscribers and ensure transparency and accountability for data breaches perpetuated by their subsidiaries in the Republic of Congo.
Connectivity as a weapon of war: how internet shutdowns harm civilians in armed conflict
Access Now’s latest report, Internet shutdowns in armed conflict: a typology of harms, unpacks the serious harms that internet shutdowns inflict on civilian populations during armed conflict.
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.
Open letters
Addressing human rights abuses and attacks on press freedom facilitated by AppLogic Networks in Egypt
A call to EU legislators: protect rights and reject the call to delete transparency safeguard in AI Act
We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject the deletion of the Article 49(2) transparency safeguard for high-risk AI systems that is proposed in the AI Omnibus. This transparency safeguard ensures that providers of AI systems cannot circumvent the core obligations of the AI Act.
#KeepItOn: Government of Uganda must ensure unrestricted internet access throughout the upcoming elections
Access Now appeals to you, President Yoweri Museveni, to ensure that people in Uganda have unfettered access to the internet, digital platforms, and all other communication channels throughout the upcoming elections on January 15, 2026
MTN Group must commission an independent investigation into potential human rights violations
Access Now and several human rights groups are deeply alarmed by the allegations of MTN Congo’s enabling of human rights abuses.
Statements
Statement: human rights organizations file brief in Anthropic v. DOW
Connect the population: Access Now demands end to Iran’s continued internet blackout amid war
join the international community, including the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, in calling on Iran to immediately restore internet and mobile communications and in demanding accountability and transparency for the grave human rights violations documented in the country
#KeepItOn: authorities must reverse social media shutdown order and restore access in Gabon
We urgently demand the government of Gabon to immediately reverse orders to shut down social media indefinitely in the country. The order is in gross violation of national and international human rights frameworks and must not be allowed to continue.
Joint Statement on Internet Shutdowns in the Islamic Republic of Iran
DSA Human Rights Alliance publishes principles calling for DSA enforcement to incorporate global perspectives
Civil society coalition calls for Direct-to-Cell satellite connectivity amid Iran’s internet shutdowns
#KeepItOn: Iran plunged into digital darkness, concealing human rights abuses
join the international community, including the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, in calling on Iran to immediately restore internet and mobile communications and in demanding accountability and transparency for the grave human rights violations documented in the country
#KeepItOn: Tanzanian authorities and Meta must reverse course and respect human rights
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition joins the international community in demanding accountability and transparency for the grave human rights violations documented in Tanzania during and after the October 29, 2025 elections, including allegations of hundreds of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and mass arbitrary detentions targeting protesters, opposition figures, and civil society.
Joint civil society statement on outcomes of the UNGA 80 Third Committee
#KeepItOn: Authorities in Nigeria must reconnect people in Zamfara North now
Access Now and the global #KeepItOn coalition are dismayed by reports of ongoing internet disruptions in Nigeria’s Zamfara North and demand that authorities immediately restore access across the senatorial district.
The Taliban must restore internet access across Afghanistan now
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition unequivocally denounce the ongoing nationwide internet blackout in Afghanistan and demand that the Taliban restore internet access immediately.
#KeepItOn: Time to end Sudan’s isolation; lift the WhatsApp block now
We, the undersigned civil society organisations and humanitarian actors, call on the international community to urgently address the physical and cyber threats people are experiencing in Sudan
Access Now’s statement on Nepal’s escalating digital repression and deadly crackdown
Access Now is deeply alarmed by the government of Nepal’s violent crackdown on human rights, both online and off.
#KeepItOn: Syrian government must restore internet access and respect rights in Suwayda
We call on the Syrian government to immediately and fully restore internet access and to ensure the protection of people’s rights in Suwayda.
#KeepItOn: Nepal authorities must reverse nationwide Telegram ban and uphold human rights
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition urgently demand that the Government of Nepal immediately reverse its decision to block messaging platform Telegram across the country.
EU: stop criminalizing migration in the Facilitator’s Package law
