The 14th edition of RightsCon, the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, gets underway next week in Lusaka, Zambia. Between 6 – 8 May ARTICLE 19 will be hosting and participating in a number of dialogues and workshops on topics ranging from censorship at the infrastructure level to protecting information integrity across the African continent.
Each year, RightsCon convenes policymakers, government representatives, technologists, business leaders, academics, journalists, and human rights advocates from around the world to tackle pressing issues at the intersection of human rights and technology.
Over the course of the summit, ARTICLE 19 will be convening or participating in sessions focused on:
- Freedom of expression in times of growing authoritarianism
- The impact of internet shutdowns on Indigenous rights
- The role and responsibilities of telecom and technology providers in conflict areas
- The weaponisation of the Domain Name System to censor content and stifle free expression
- Content moderation in the context of armed conflict, war propaganda and incitement
- ‘Digital emblems’: benefits and risks of humanitarian symbols in cyberspace
- The International Criminal Court’s new policy on tackling cyber-enabled crimes
- Countering China’s digital influence and strengthening civil society in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa
- The strategies to challenge the market power of global social media and AI companies
- The impact of generative AI on journalism and the public’s right to know
We hope to connect with you at the following:
Tuesday, 6 May
Cybersecurity with Chinese characteristics, from exporting authoritarian norms to civil society resilience | 9 – 10am CAT, room A110 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by ARTICLE 19 and Open Culture Foundation, including I-Chen Liu (ARTICLE 19), Michael Caster (ARTICLE 19), Maarja Kask (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia, Freedom Online Coalition) and Chiao-Shuo Tang (Open Culture Foundation)
Through its Digital Silk Road, China is not only developing digital infrastructure, but also aggressively promoting its own norms for governing critical information infrastructure and broader technologies. One area where this is most pronounced is in the promotion of global cybersecurity norms. Indeed, the norm-setting influence of cybersecurity cooperation in the Asia Pacific has been increasing, and has also been stated among the key priority areas for deepening cooperation between China and African states. The success of China’s digital norm-setting in this critical realm of internet governance risks supercharging threats to the freedom of expression and information and the right to privacy.
This session explores China’s dual role in shaping global cybersecurity norms and acting as a cyber threat actor. Featuring experts and civil society voices, it will examine China’s norm-setting influence, highlight rights-based, multistakeholder responses to digital authoritarianism, and share frontline perspectives from Taiwan on defending civil society and cybersecurity resilience against direct cyber threats.
Right to be ready: From shutdowns to exits-setting standards for telecoms and civil society | 10:15 – 11:15am CAT, room A101 (hybrid)
Roundtable hosted by ARTICLE 19 Asia-Pacific, Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), Business for Social Responsibility and Factum.
In conflict-affected and authoritarian settings, telecom operators are not just service providers – they are lifelines for free expression, privacy, and civic space. When they bow to state orders or rush unprepared exits, the fallout is immediate and severe: journalists and activists are jailed, communities silenced, and entire movements cut off.
From Telenor Myanmar’s reckless exit that handed sensitive data to military-linked actors, to Telia Eurasia’s attempt at responsible divestment guided by Human Rights Impact Assessments, to Sri Lanka’s opaque shutdowns during mass protests, these cases expose a spectrum of telecom conduct that directly shapes human rights on the ground.
By surfacing some of the overlooked cases, this session will push accountability conversations beyond ‘well-documented’ contexts and toward a stronger, shared standard for telecom responsibility in fragile states.
Networked authoritarianism: unpacking the China-Russia FIMI nexus in Ukraine, Taiwan, and Sub-Saharan Africa | 10:15 – 11:15am CAT, room AG08 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by ARTICLE 19, Doublethink Lab, Detector Media and Code for Africa, including Michael Caster (ARTICLE 19), Janina Santos (Doublethink Lab), Galyna Petrenko (Detector Media) and Amanda Strydom (Code for Africa).
China and Russia’s export of digital authoritarianism and information threats are closely intertwined, threatening media freedom, information integrity, and digital rights globally, including across Africa. While Russia’s information threats in Africa have arguably received more attention, there is room to unpack China’s adverse digital footprint on information integrity across the continent. Likewise, while the China-Russia dynamic has received more attention between Ukrainian and Taiwanese civil society, there is room to draw from these narratives and deepen connection with civil society in Sub-Saharan Africa likewise beset by technology-enabled information threats converging from China and Russia.
This session aims to demystify China and Russia’s disparate tactics of technology-enabled information manipulation in their respective immediate regional targets and how civil society has used digital tools for information resilience. It will draw on lessons learned across Eastern Europe, Taiwan, and Sub-Saharan Africa in identifying and countering networked authoritarianism and information threats to bridge civil society and identify new tools and tactics for information resilience in the age of networked authoritarianism across regions.
Why infrastructure & content moderation shouldn’t mix: A cross-regional dialogue on the ‘abuse’ of DNS abuse | 2 – 3pm CAT (online roundtable)
Roundtable hosted by ARTICLE 19, including Michaela Shapiro (ARTICLE 19), Edmon Chung (DotAsia Organisation), Clara Ludvigsson (Swedish Internet Foundation) and Miguel Ignacio (Nacho) Estrada (LACNIC).
We often associate ‘content moderation’ with posts being taken down by social media companies. However, infrastructure providers at lower levels of the internet ‘stack’ also operate as gatekeepers for content, whether through their own internal decision making or in compliance with requests from various actors, including governments. Particularly when it comes to the Domain Name System (DNS), such actions can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
Different stakeholders are using orders to suspend domains as a solution to prevent access to a wide range of online content, ranging from copyright infringement, to spam, to independent media coverage. The problem is that the only action these operators can take to block content is inherently broad: in trying to target content on a particular webpage, they must block all webpages using the same domain. This approach is equivalent to damming a river to catch a few fish. This is particularly worrying given that the relationship between domain suspension orders and freedom of expression is understudied, and is not broadly understood among infrastructure providers, civil society, and policymakers.
To address this issue, the roundtable will convene a cross-regional group to share experiences with such requests, exchange perspectives, and collaborate on potential solutions for balancing safety and security needs with freedom of expression online.
Guiding media freedom policy in an evolving digital information ecosystem – what works, what’s next? | 2 – 3pm CAT, room 5 (in person)
Dialogue session organised by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and Forum on Information and Democracy, including Chantal Joris (ARTICLE 19), Julia Haas (OSCE), Emma Gruden (Forum on Information and Democracy), Maksym Dvorovyi (Digital Security Lab), Rémy Friedmann (Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs) Sebastian Becker (International IDEA), Victoire Rio (What to Fix), Sadibou Marong (RSF Dakar) and Hanno Fenech (Center for Countering Digital Hate).
In autumn 2025, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Forum on Information and Democracy launched a Policy Manual on Safeguarding Media Freedom in the Age of Big Tech Platforms and AI, providing guidance for States on strengthening media visibility, viability, and vigilance.
Six months later, RightsCon 2026 offers an important moment to take stock. This interactive workshop will ask: How has the information landscape evolved since the launch of the Policy Manual? Based on the analysis of regulatory efforts, how can systemic dependencies be reduced and existing challenges be mitigated? Are the recommendations future-proof or do generative AI and deepened state-big tech collusions create new risks that require a recalibration of the guidance? What can states do to ensure access to reliable, diverse, and public-interest information in this shifting environment?
A competition & rights approach to digital markets | 3:15 – 4:15pm CAT, room AG04 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America, including André Boselli (ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America), Claire Dehosse (ALT Advisory), Vellah Kedogo Kigwiru (Technical University of Munich) and Ompha Tshamano (GIBS Media Leadership Think Tank).
The session will address the growing economic concentration of power in the hands of large technology and AI companies, whose monopolistic practices have profound implications for human rights and democracy. Their data-driven, attention-based business models often exploit personal information, limit consumer choice, and entrench cycles of dependency. By positioning themselves as unavoidable intermediaries, these companies effectively act as gatekeepers of the digital sphere, raising urgent questions about accountability, transparency, and fairness.
The panel will critically examine this concentration of power and explore economic regulation as a key path to balance innovation with the protection of rights. Proposals such as interoperability requirements, unbundling of services, and incentives for open-source tools will be debated as concrete measures to reduce dependency on a few dominant actors and promote more competitive digital markets and more plural, diverse information ecosystems.
Content moderation, human rights and information integrity in Africa: walking the tightrope | 3:15 – 4:15pm CAT, room AG09 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by UNESCO, including Alfred Bulakali (ARTICLE 19), William Bird (Moxii Africa), Pansy Tlakula (Information Regulator,South Africa) and Duduzile Mkhize (TikTok).
The session will discuss practical strategies to promote information integrity online in Africa, building on the previous efforts of UNESCO and the EU in advancing multistakeholder and human rights-based digital platform governance. While zooming in on the African context and policy implementation challenges, the session will also draw on the global partners’ experience, with examples from other regions.
The session aims to share good practices on governance mechanisms for digital platforms that are rooted in human rights and multistakeholder participation and discuss shared practical strategies to ensure the integrity of information, as well as the challenges other stakeholders may encounter when implementing their own frameworks and action plans.
Confronting fear, exclusion and nationalism: How should civil society respond to China’s digital authoritarian practices | 4:30 – 5:30pm CAT, room A104 (in person)
Roundtable hosted by Amnesty International Taiwan, including Michael Caster (ARTICLE 19), Jing-Jie Chen (Amnesty International Taiwan), Sikula Oniala (Amnesty International East and Southern Africa Regional Office), Faith Musau (Amnesty International Kenya) and Kuhle Dube (Amnesty International Zimbabwe).
In 2025, Taiwan recorded, on average, 2.63 million cyber-attacks on government websites from China; meanwhile, Chinese state-sponsored anti-rights cognitive warfare intensified with massive ‘short, fast, and direct’ information output across Taiwan’s internet, self-media, and social media with the use of deepfake technology and AI-generated content. This contributes to the polarization of political division and the shrinking of digital space for having balanced and evidence-based discussion and debates on social issues, and sounds the alarm for activists, journalists, and civil society organizations to respond to these changing authoritarian practices, taking place online and extending beyond borders, across regions, aiming at promoting fear, exclusion and nationalism, destructing the multilateral system, and rejecting international human rights standards.
Against the backdrop of this difficult human rights challenge, this session aims to facilitate discussion and collect input on how to resist online authoritarian practices.
Thursday, 7 May
Safeguards against surveillance: Strengthening legal support for civic actors in sub-Saharan Africa | 10:15 – 11:15am, room A103 (in person)
Roundtable hosted by Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, including Alfred Bulakali (ARTICLE 19), Adaobi Egboka (Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice), Gilbert Sendugwa (Africa Freedom of Information Centre), Siena Anstis (The Citizen Lab) and Fatima Ismail (Baker McKenzie).
This session will examine how government surveillance practices are unfolding in sub-Saharan Africa through legal frameworks, technological capabilities, and communities’ lived experiences. Governments are increasingly implementing surveillance tools such as biometric registration schemes and commercial spyware through opaque procurement and deployment processes that expand state capacities to monitor civic activity while avoiding oversight. These methods, compounded by gaps in local legal protections, endanger communities, civil society organizations, journalists, human rights defenders, and academics, as their data is collected, stored, or misused against them.
This roundtable will convene lawyers, technology experts, and civic actors to co-create a nuanced understanding of this surveillance ecosystem, with particular focus on countries where governments have advanced legislation that enables surveillance of civic space. The session will bring together cross-sector perspectives from grassroots movements alongside institutional actors, facilitating a participatory dialogue to build a more holistic understanding of how surveillance shapes civic space across sub-Saharan Africa.
Journalism’s new battleground: Defending the truth from AI driven threats | 10:15 – 11:15am CAT, room AG04 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by Media Institute of Southern Africa, including Angela Minayo (ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa), Helen Sithole (Media Institute of Southern Africa), Sarah Ngachi (Thomson Reuters Foundation) and Teldah Mawarire (Independent).
From deepfakes and synthetic media to AI-powered disinformation campaigns and automated harassment, generative artificial intelligence presents unprecedented challenges for journalism and the public’s right to truthful information. This session will examine the new digital front in the defence of truth, focusing on how journalists, fact-checkers, and human rights advocates are responding. We’ll explore practical tools and strategies for verifying AI-generated content, discuss the ethical and legal frameworks needed to hold platforms and creators accountable, and highlight collaborative efforts to build resilience against AI-driven information threats.
Disconnected voices: How internet shutdowns silence Indigenous rights | 10:15 – 11:15am CAT, room 1 (in person)
Workshop hosted by Lead Initiative and Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), including Janet Gbam (ARTICLE 19 West Africa), Richard Omondi Ochieng (Lead Initiative) and Mercè Monje Cano (UNPO).
Internet shutdowns are increasingly deployed during elections, protests, and periods of political unrest. For Indigenous communities, these disruptions impose a double burden: they restrict access to information and advocacy spaces while deepening long-standing marginalization. When connectivity is cut, Indigenous peoples are severed from critical digital lifelines that connect them to media, allies, and global solidarity networks.
This session will examine how shutdowns disproportionately affect Indigenous communities already facing systemic exclusion, limited representation, shrinking civic space, and ongoing struggles over land, culture, and governance. Drawing from real-world experiences, we will explore how digital blackouts silence Indigenous voices, obstruct the documentation of human rights violations, disrupt access to justice, hinder cultural preservation efforts, and weaken emergency response and community coordination. Bringing together Indigenous leaders, civil society actors, lawyers, academics, researchers, digital rights experts, and grassroots advocates, the discussion will unpack the intersection of internet governance, digital repression, and Indigenous rights.
Humanity online: The future of Digital Emblems | 11:30am – 12:30pm CAT, room A105 (in person)
Roundtable hosted by ARTICLE 19 and International Committee of the Red Cross, including Chantal Joris (ARTICLE 19), Samit D’Cunha (ICRC), Michael Karimian (Microsoft) and Emma Cunliffe (Blue Shield International).
As both warfare and humanitarian action increasingly become intertwined with the digital realm, cyber operations targeting medical facilities and humanitarian organizations are becoming more frequent.
This is why the ICRC is leading a project to develop a Red Cross/Red Crescent ‘Digital Emblem’ to signal protection of medical and certain humanitarian protected infrastructure in cyberspace, which is currently advancing through the Internet Engineering Task Force to develop global technical standards. Beyond the Digital Red Cross/Crescent/Crystal use cases, ideas regarding other emblems and symbols – whether proposed by states, industry, or grassroots actors – are emerging to designate certain digital infrastructure. Notably, there have been discussions on a potential digital press emblem. However, given the increasing frequency of cyberattacks targeting media, there is concern that such an emblem could unintentionally make media infrastructure more identifiable and, therefore, vulnerable to attack.
This workshop will explore what ‘digital emblems’ are, and how they are being developed; how certain ‘digital emblems’ may be incorporated into International Humanitarian Law; the potential benefits, and the risks, of trusted humanitarian symbols in cyberspace; and how to balance innovation with legal clarity and humanitarian principles.
Rebuilding public spaces with Digital Public Goods: How openness can challenge market power | 12:45 – 1:45pm CAT, room 5 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America and Open Knowledge Foundation, including Raquel Lima (ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America), Renata Avila (Open Knowledge Foundation) and Amalia Toledo (Wikimedia Foundation).
The global social media landscape is dominated by a few ‘gatekeeper’ platforms. Their business models, driven by surveillance and algorithmic amplification, create toxic digital spaces that fuel online hate and violence, particularly against women, children, and marginalised communities. The lack of genuine choice and the powerful network effects compel users to join and stay on platforms that operate without user control, push unwanted, polarising content, and ultimately undermine democratic deliberation and institutions.
This session will move beyond ‘fixing’ broken platforms to building public-interest alternatives. We’ll explore how open-source building blocks and open protocols can create healthier, more resilient digital public spaces. We will focus on how legislative and regulatory initiatives, such as those in the EU, Brazil, Kenya, and South Korea, can help advance alternative social technology ecosystems. We’ll examine the specific conditions under which these regulations can act as a catalyst for such a shift, the support required to make it a reality, and how open technologies can be leveraged for regulatory compliance.
Building bridges: next steps in tackling cyber-enabled crimes under the Rome Statute | 2 – 3pm CAT (online)
Online roundtable organised by Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, including Chantal Joris (ARTICLE 19), Marko Milanovic (University of Reading) and Harriet Moynihan (Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford) .
International criminal law is technology neutral. This ensures that new technologies cannot be exploited to side-step accountability for conduct which is otherwise clearly prohibited, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. This insight is critical at a time when there is cause for concern that armed conflicts and other crises may see deliberate harms to the civilian population resulting from the exploitation of new and emerging technologies, including AI and cyber operations. In this context, at the end of 2025, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor launched its ‘Policy on Cyber-Enabled Crimes under the Rome Statute’.
Among other matters, the Office’s policy highlights the importance of effective cooperation when detecting and investigating cyber-enabled international crimes, the potential challenge in determining and evaluating the gravity of certain kinds of harmful cyber operations, and the need to ensure that law enforcement activities are carried out by all partners consistently with internationally recognised human rights. This session will feature an inclusive discussion of these matters, in order to explore the next steps which might be taken by the Office pursuant to its policy.
Milpa without Signal: Digital rights and the technification of agriculture in rural Oaxaca | 5:45 – 6:45pm CAT (online)
Online roundtable hosted by ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America and Independent researcher, including Nayelli Torres (ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America) and Anaiz Zamora.
This session presents key findings from Milpa sin señal, a research project that examines how digital rights intersect with agricultural practices in rural Oaxaca, Mexico. The research explores how processes of agricultural technification, such as digital platforms, data-driven tools, and connectivity requirements, are being introduced in rural areas without considering existing digital gaps, communal governance systems, or local knowledge tied to milpa-based agriculture.
Through a guided and accessible dialogue, the session will share insights gathered from field research on how limited connectivity, lack of digital literacy infrastructure, and extractive technological models affect farmers’ rights to participation, information, autonomy, and food sovereignty. Designed as a conversational and accessible dialogue, the session invites collective reflection on key questions: Rather than presenting technology as neutral or inevitable, the session invites participants to reflect on critical questions emerging from the research: How can digital rights frameworks be applied to rural and agricultural contexts? What risks does technification pose to collective land practices? And what community-centered approaches could help reduce digital gaps without reinforcing existing inequalities?
Friday, 8 May
Moderating war propaganda and incitement: Navigating public interest and offline harm | 9 – 10am CAT, room Banquet 1 (in person)
Workshop session hosted by ARTICLE 19 and Access Now, including Chantal Joris (ARTICLE 19) and Marwa Fatafa (Access Now).
Armed conflicts often give rise to manipulative, dehumanising, and inciting speech. Such content can be prohibited under international law, such as direct and public incitement to genocide or propaganda for war. It can also have severe offline consequences, prolonging conflicts, escalating violence, and contributing to the commission of atrocity crimes. For instance, dehumanising rhetoric may reduce combatants’ adherence to international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), increasing the risk of war crimes, ill-treatment of civilians and detainees, and other violations. Meanwhile, there may be a legitimate public interest in preserving and accessing such content, particularly when it originates from state officials or political leaders to understand how a war is fought and presented to domestic and international audiences by the conflict parties. It can also serve as crucial evidence in proceedings before international tribunals or bodies. For example, the International Court of Justice in its provisional measures order in South Africa vs. Israel under the Genocide Convention has relied on online statements by Israeli officials to assess whether there is a plausible risk of genocide.
This session will examine how to balance these competing interests, and to what extent IHL, IHRL, and international criminal law (ICL) provide answers. It will explore how content moderation should be approached in such contexts, how to balance the prevention of harm with public interest considerations and preservation of potential evidence, and whether archiving and restricted access models offer a viable path forward.
Is Freedom of Expression Dead? Rethinking free speech in times of authoritarianism | 10:15 – 11:15am CAT, room AG01 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE), including Chantal Joris (ARTICLE 19), Nicolás Zara (CELE), David Greene (Electronic Frontier Foundation), Camille Grenier (Forum on Information and Democracy) and Irina Schoulgin-Nyoni (Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden).
In recent years, the principles of freedom of expression have lost centrality in the internet governance debate. Built as a founding stone of internet regulation, the free and unbridled flow of information must be balanced against other fundamental rights and public policy concerns. On the one hand, emerging regulatory approaches that intend to strike such a balance are met with hostility and allegations of censorship. On the other hand, while still present in the language and soft law documents, free expression is less predominant and keeps losing ground against other pressing societal concerns. While regulation does not necessarily lead to censorship, freedom does not necessarily lead to abuses.
This session seeks to revisit the importance of freedom of expression, both from an individual and collective standpoint, in an era marked by democratic backsliding, the rise of authoritarianism, and widespread silence in the face of International Humanitarian Law disasters. The session poses difficult questions regarding the current state of International Human Rights law vis-à-vis this right and seeks to imagine a future in which the core normative commitment to a non-trivial vision of this collective and individual freedom remains at the center stage of how the internet is to be governed.
Futures of African sovereignty: Imagining 2050 | 2 – 3pm CAT, room 1 (in person)
Dialogue session hosted by African Internet Rights Alliance (AIRA) and Electric South, featuring Angela Minayo (ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa), Angela Adwoa Ankoma (Electric South) and Adeboro Odunlami (African Internet Rights Alliance).
By 2050, Africa will be home to the world’s largest youth population – over 830 million people – making the continent a crucible for the future of technology and human rights globally. Yet, the continent is still defining its collaborative pathways for asserting regional digital sovereignty in ways that protect rights and foster innovation. This workshop invites participants to step into the year 2050 and imagine a bold, sovereign digital future for Africa. Forget the familiar narratives of dependency and reactive policymaking. Through imagination, play, and (loads of) speculation, we will explore scenarios where the continent leads in AI ethics or governs its own data commons.
This space welcomes diverse voices from policy and activism to art and community organising, into one experiment in radical imagination. Participants will leave with new metaphors, speculative tools, cross-regional connections, and concrete takeaways.