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#KeepItOn: 2025 elections and internet shutdowns watch

A month into 2025, and we’ve already seen an election-related internet shutdown, as Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko made good on his threats to cut connectivity during the presidential election. Belarus is one of 12 countries we've flagged in our newly published 2025 #KeepItOn Election Watch list due to their track records of imposing shutdowns. India is among the repeat offenders, and as people in Delhi head to the polls next week, we're urging authorities to #KeepItOn — before, during and after the elections. See who else we’ll be watching this year. Read more via Access Now

Shutting down the shutdowns

South Sudan reverses course to #KeepItOn

In a win for digital rights, authorities in South Sudan this week reversed a ban on social media platforms. The shutdown, imposed after graphic videos of civilians being killed spread online and sparked widespread protests and violent attacks, hampered people’s access to emergency services and life-saving information in a country where tens of thousands of refugees have fled the civil war in Sudan. We welcome the communication authority’s decision, as access to communications platforms is vital for public safety during a crisis. Read more via Access Now

What we see in the shadows

Ten years of tracking transparency: the Transparency Reporting Index

A decade ago, Edward Snowden’s revelations of pervasive U.S. government surveillance online spurred demands for increased corporate transparency. Access Now launched the Transparency Reporting Index (TRI) to help people find company information about government requests for data or removal of content. Now we’re launching a refreshed TRI that reflects today’s realities: it’s not only government orders, but also companies’ own approaches to issues like content moderation that put our privacy and free expression at risk. Learn about the trends we’re seeing and changes in our methodology to make the TRI a better tool for increasing human rights respect across the private sector. Read more via Access Now

Syria: looking ahead

Open letter: It’s time to lift U.S. tech sanctions on Syria

In Syria, after 54 years of authoritarian rule and 14 years of civil war, the brutal and murderous Assad regime has finally been toppled. Now, Syrians desperately need support to rebuild their country and look to the future — but first international sanctions on the country must be lifted. This week, EU leaders agreed on a path for gradually lifting sanctions. The U.S. must follow suit by allowing tech and telecom companies to provide commercial goods and services and strike deals with governing bodies. Access Now, along with 160 other organizations, is urging the Trump administration to act immediately to ease sanctions that prevent Syria’s economic recovery, and which hamper the provision of much-needed humanitarian aid. Read the open letter here. Read more via Access Now

We won’t stop

Funding for cyber NGOs halted as U.S. freezes foreign aid

Last week, U.S. President Trump ordered an immediate freeze on almost all foreign aid, bringing vital work around the world to a screeching halt. While a waiver has since been issued for some forms of “life-saving” assistance, many groups still don't know what they can continue to do. Meanwhile, U.S.-funded digital security and internet freedom efforts have been suspended, impacting work to expand internet freedom in Venezuela, counter cyber attacks from Russia, and combat censorship in Iran, among other things. This undermines efforts to protect democracy, the rule of law, and civic space, while human rights defenders worry about losing their jobs or visa status. Together with civil society and media partners, we urge the Trump administration to reverse this decision, which will embolden malicious actors to increase digital repression. Read more via The Record

A note from the RightsCon team

With RightsCon 2025 less than a month away, we are conscious that the stop-work order may be disrupting some organizations and individuals’ plans to join us in Taipei. We understand the importance of RightsCon as a civil society-led convening space, and we are committed to ensuring that there are discussions at the summit about the impact of this decision. Our team is also working to support those who may need to transition their programming and participation online; if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at [email protected].

The rules of the game

EU lacks guidance on AI prohibitions, as rules start to apply

The EU AI Act’s rules banning the use of certain AI systems, including facial recognition (with some dangerous exceptions for law enforcement and immigration purposes, inserted following considerable government lobbying efforts), come into force this weekend. But as civil society has already warned, we need clear guidance on how they should be enforced — something still glaringly absent, despite the imminent deadline. Speaking to Euronews, Access Now’s Caterina Rodelli pointed out the danger of prohibitions that include exceptions, which “mainly benefit law enforcement and migration authorities, allowing them to use unreliable and dangerous systems such as lie detectors, predictive policing applications, or profiling systems in migration procedures.” Read more via Euronews

Opportunities and other highlights

READ: Stop surveillance copaganda

Ahead of RightsCon 2025 (Taipei and online, February 24-27), we launched our first-ever short story competition, in partnership with Fight for the Future, as part of the Stop Surveillance Copaganda project. Now you can peruse the five winning stories in a newly released special issue of Strange Horizons, described as “blueprints, provocations, and acts of defiance, pointing us toward a more just and free future.” Read more via Strange Horizons