Safeguarding digital civic space

Digital rights are a top priority to rebuild civic space amid recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. This latest statement from the United Nations Special Procedures came out just as the RightsCon celebrated its 10th anniversary last week. A fireside chat discussion covered "Protecting digital civic space: the role of technology in supporting democracy." An expert panel of seven with civil society, government and tech industry discussed the challenges and opportunities for the online activities of civil society, and the roles of states, the international community, and the tech industry in promoting and safeguarding digital civic space. What I found significant are the points raised by Brett Solomon, Access Now executive director; Miranda Sissons, director of human rights at Facebook and Jessica Ashooh, director of policy at Reddit.

Sissons says they have worked hard in combating Covid-related misinformation and supporting accurate health information. In human rights policy, they have "explicitly recognized the risk faced by human rights defenders and explicitly seek to support them." Such policy sets out the human rights standards Facebook would strive to respect as defined in international law, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. A very recent overview report seeks to protect activists and human rights defenders from incorrect content moderation decisions and expanded access to remedy through the oversight board. It introduced a fund to assist human rights defenders facing critical threats and support new digital security efforts.