Each theme contains useful resources for lawyers on freedom of expression, click below to get started.
An overview of the multi-faceted right to freedom of expression and how it is protected under international law.
Understanding digital rights is crucial to protecting human rights, as little of our lives today is immune from the forces of technology and the internet.
An overview of the ways in which access to the internet and online content are restricted around the world.
An overview of freedom of expression issues in the law, including how defamation is treated in domestic and international law.
An overview of the right to privacy, data protection, and protecting freedom of expression in a digital world.
Describes the different types of cybercrimes, tracks the trends, and evaluates how cybercrimes are dealt with in international law.
An overview of hate speech and how it is dealt with both under domestic and international law.
An overview of the ways in which access to content and freedom of expression online are restricted by private actors.
An overview of false news, misinformation and propaganda, including causes and potential solutions..
An overview of the various rights and concepts which encompass digital rights.
In a discovery request, the US District Court held that Facebook must disclose de-platformed content and internal investigation documents relating to the incitement of ethnic hatred against the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
The European Court of Human Rights referred for the first time to the notion of SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) in a civil defamation suit brought by a Russian regional state body against a media company.
An internet shutdown is an intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information. A shutdown arises when someone, be it the government or a private sector actor, intentionally disrupts the internet, a telecommunications network or an internet service, arguably to control or curb what people say or do.
Note: this Factsheet deals with issues of a sensitive nature relating to harassment and gender-based violence. The relationship between gender and online harassment Online harassment and intimidation through text messages, phone calls or social media — often known as cyberstalking or cyber-harassment — severely restricts the enjoyment that persons have of their rights online, particularly…
The High Court of South Africa found that a mining company had been abusing judicial processes to intimidate, distract and silence public criticism, and dismissed a defamation case as a SLAPP suit.
Strategic litigation is a powerful tool to advance digital rights and it is increasingly being used in a variety of different and innovative ways.
“National security” is one of the most common justifications offered by states for limiting freedom of expression but is also sometimes used to quell dissent and cover up state abuses.
While acknowledging the social ills occasioned by false news and misinformation, courts and international actors maintain that general and over-broad provisions which criminalise false news and misinformation violate the right to freedom of expression.
An express right to the internet has not been recognised in international law. However, it is widely accepted that access to the internet enables a variety of other fundamental rights.
Digital rights — which include the right to freedom of expression, privacy and access to information — are the same fundamental human rights as those enjoyed offline but adapted to a new age of technology