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Marwa Fatafta

MENA Policy and Advocacy Director

Marwa leads Access Now’s policy and advocacy work on digital rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Her work spans a number of issues at the nexus of human rights and technology including content governance and platform accountability, online censorship, digital surveillance, and transnational repression. She has written extensively on the digital occupation in Palestine and focuses on the role of new technologies in armed conflicts and humanitarian contexts and their impact on historically marginalized and oppressed communities. Marwa is a Policy Analyst at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, an advisory board member of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and an advisory committee member for Bread&Net. Marwa was a Fulbright scholar in the US and holds an MA in International Relations from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. She holds a second MA in Development and Governance from the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Saudi Arabia Internet Governance

Iran: Meta Must Protect the Iranian #MeToo Movement

29 Jun 2022

Access Now joins civil society organizations in urging Meta to immediately investigate the attacks on activists of the #MeToo movement in Iran.

Press Release
Iran: Meta Must Protect the Iranian #MeToo Movement
29 Jun 2022
Iran: Meta Must Protect the Iranian #MeToo Movement
|Human rights problem with Google Cloud Platform in Saudi Arabia - Twitter thumbnail

Google’s plans in Saudi Arabia: company ignores independent shareholder vote to respect human rights

9 Jun 2022

Access Now is disappointed that Alphabet’s management voted down a proposal to commission a human rights assessment of the planned expansion of Cloud centers at the AGM.

Press Release
Google’s plans in Saudi Arabia: company ignores independent shareholder vote to respect human rights
9 Jun 2022
Google’s plans in Saudi Arabia: company ignores independent shareholder vote to respect human rights
Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill

RightsCon civil society to Meta: protect the rights of Instagram’s Persian speakers

9 Jun 2022

Meta must instil Persian content moderation practices at Instagram that promote human rights in the country — especially freedom of expression.

Press Release
RightsCon civil society to Meta: protect the rights of Instagram’s Persian speakers
9 Jun 2022
RightsCon civil society to Meta: protect the rights of Instagram’s Persian speakers
Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill

Iran: Meta must overhaul Persian-language content moderation on Instagram

9 Jun 2022

ARTICLE 19, Access Now, and the Center for Human Rights in Iran are making recommendations to Meta and Meta’s Oversight Board in an effort to streamline processes to ensure freedom of expression is protected for people who rely on their platform in Iran.

Press Release
Iran: Meta must overhaul Persian-language content moderation on Instagram
9 Jun 2022
Iran: Meta must overhaul Persian-language content moderation on Instagram
|Human rights problem with Google Cloud Platform in Saudi Arabia - Twitter thumbnail

Saudi Google Cloud center: shareholder vote can prevent storm of human rights abuses

30 May 2022

Civil society urge Alphabet shareholders to ensure that the company upholds human rights principles before it proceeds with its Saudi Google Cloud center.

Press Release
Saudi Google Cloud center: shareholder vote can prevent storm of human rights abuses
30 May 2022
Saudi Google Cloud center: shareholder vote can prevent storm of human rights abuses
|Human rights problem with Google Cloud Platform in Saudi Arabia - Twitter thumbnail

Letter to Alphabet Shareholders: Vote YES to Uphold Google’s Human Rights Commitments

30 May 2022

Alphabet shareholders should ensure human rights principles are upheld before Google proceeds with its cloud region plan in Saudi Arabia.

Press Release
Letter to Alphabet Shareholders: Vote YES to Uphold Google’s Human Rights Commitments
30 May 2022
Letter to Alphabet Shareholders: Vote YES to Uphold Google’s Human Rights Commitments
syria surveillance|

Syria’s new “cybercrime” law adds salt to injury

27 May 2022

Syria’s new “cybercrime” law gives a regime notorious for surveilling citizens new powers to violate privacy, silence people, and add a false legal veneer to human rights violations.

Post
Syria’s new “cybercrime” law adds salt to injury
27 May 2022
Syria’s new “cybercrime” law adds salt to injury
Musk

What does Musk’s “free speech” look like for the rest of us?

12 May 2022

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.

Post
What does Musk’s “free speech” look like for the rest of us?
12 May 2022
What does Musk’s “free speech” look like for the rest of us?
Data protection in MENA

Policy brief: What’s wrong with Jordan’s data protection law and how to fix it

5 May 2022

Jordan’s draft data protection law is promising, but it needs work to meet global standards. Our new policy brief explains how to strengthen the law.

Publication
Policy brief: What’s wrong with Jordan’s data protection law and how to fix it
5 May 2022
Policy brief: What’s wrong with Jordan’s data protection law and how to fix it
South Sudan #KeepItOn

Internet shutdowns in 2021 report: MENA in the dark

28 Apr 2022

In 2021, Access Now documented at least 23 shutdowns in nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Read “The return of digital authoritarianism: internet shutdowns in 2021.”

Press Release
Internet shutdowns in 2021 report: MENA in the dark
28 Apr 2022
Internet shutdowns in 2021 report: MENA in the dark