#InternetShutdowns violate fundamental human rights and Ethiopian authorities must restore internet access in Tigray. We have repeatedly called for an immediate end to this shutdown, which has been ongoing for the past 2 years, throughout our participation at #IGF2022. Tech and social media platforms must address legitimate concerns such as misinformation and hateful content, to fulfill their obligation to respect human rights, keep people safe as they come back online, and prevent authorities from attempting to justify any kind of disruptions.

ኣብ ትግራይ ብዛዕባ ዘሎ ኩነታት ትፈልጥ(ጢ) ዶ?

ዘይትፈልጥ(ጢ) እንተኮይንካ(ኪ) ምኽንያቱ መንግስቲ ኮነ ኢሉ ኢንተርኔት ብምዕፃዉ እዪ ዝኸውን። #IGF2022 ብዘይ ናይ ኢንተርኔት ግልጋሎት ኣብ ትግራይን ካልኦት ክፋላት ኢትዮጵያን ዝርከቡ ህዝቢታት ምስ ስድራቤታቶም ፈተውቶምን ክራኸቡ ኣይከኣሉን። ብዛዕባ እዚ ብተወሳኺ ንምፍላጥ ነዚ ዝስዕብ ጠውቅ(ቂ)። ⬇️
accessnow.org/tigray-ethiopi… #KeepItOn

BREAKING: A major lawsuit against spyware firm #NSO Group has been filed in the U.S.

A U.S. citizen is one of 15 journalists based in #ElSalvador who are victims of #Pegasus.

Via @RonanFarrow: newyorker.com/news/news-desk… #PegasusProject "Normally, people get hacked once or twice or three times in rare situations. But, in this case, we saw a really intensive use," says Access Now's @pnigroh.

Lisez notre rapport annuel #KeepItOn! 🌍

Le rapport couvre les coupures délibérées d’internet par des gouvernements en 2021 — la montée de l'autoritarisme numérique et de la censure dans le monde.

Principales conclusions ci-dessous ⬇️ #InternetBloqué accessnow.org/keepiton-2021-… En 2021, les autorités ont délibérément coupé l'accès à internet à 182 reprises dans 34 pays.

On observe une résurgence spectaculaire de l’utilisation de cet outil de répression alors que 159 coupures d'internet ont été enregistrées dans 29 pays en 2020.

We have concerns that Twitter, under @elonmusk, has laid off its human rights, safety and AI ethics teams.

There's potential for mis/disinfo to spread — esp as the US votes during #midterm elections today.

Here are a few tips to spot and slow fake info🧵
theguardian.com/technology/202… ✅ Fact-check ✅

Pause before sharing information you’re not sure is true.

Check the source.

Beware of doctored images and memes that contain mis/disinformation.

Seek out your own news instead of relying on curated social feeds.

We are seeing some viral Instagram posts that claim a new iOS update allows people to track your "precise location."

This is not quite right 🧵 While apps like Facebook and Instagram can track your location (if you have the setting on), random users don't have access to this information.

The most they can see is if you publicly tag your location in a post.

The Indian gov’t is thwarting efforts to investigate the use of Pegasus spyware.

The Supreme Court today echoed sentiment shared by the public & parliamentarians alike since the #PegasusProject findings last year — “the Indian gov’t is not cooperating.”

ndtv.com/india-news/peg… The Supreme Court now has the investigating committee’s report, which is not yet public, but reportedly states that malware was found in 5 out of the 29 phones examined, but that there was no “conclusive proof” of Pegasus spyware.

This year, authorities have subjected thousands of people across MENA to internet shutdowns during national exams. #KeepItOn

Sudan, Algeria, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq all followed the same script played out repeatedly in recent years — here's what happened:
accessnow.org/empty-promises… 🇸🇩In Sudan, authorities have grown accustomed to using this tool of oppression, and telcos complied with the officials’ orders to disconnect people.

The internet was shut down on each exam day from 8:00 am — 11:00 am local time.

https://twitter.com/CloudflareRadar/status/1539594610640560128

.@Meta needs to step up and protect the rights of the global majority.

The company must publicly release @BSRnews's independent review of Meta’s content moderation in Palestine & the full independent India Human Rights Impact Assessment.

Our statement:

accessnow.org/palestine-indi… Last year, @facebook commissioned @BSRnews, a non-profit organization focusing on business and human rights, to "conduct human rights due diligence of Facebook's impacts during May-June's intensified violence in Israel and Palestine:"

middleeasteye.net/news/israel-pa…

Making matters worse, social media companies — like FB, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok — are censoring Palestinians as they face military violence and evictions from their homes.

But why?

As part of our TL;DR series, we explain below 🧵 #SavePalestine #SaveSheikhJarrah #الاقصى Since 1967 the state of Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, where Sheikh Jarrah residents have been peacefully protesting against forced evictions.

In the past 2 weeks, Israeli police violence/crackdowns have escalated. Nearly 200 Palestinians have died.
aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/17…

You might have heard that COVID vaccine “passports” — digital records of your vaccination status — will slow the spread.

On paper, this sounds great. But most current proposals around the world threaten human rights.

Our new report explains 🧵

accessnow.org/covid-19-vacci… Our concerns include:
📲 Exclusion & discrimination — Not everyone has vaccine access & these “passports” could further divide nations
📲 Privacy & security — Any system would collect personal info, risking privacy & increasing potential for surveillance, profiling & breaches

The FBI *surveilled* MLK. They tapped his phone. They watched him. They tried to blackmail him.

His demand for racial justice was a "threat."

History will judge the state actors who continue to use tech to surveil, intimidate & persecute the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
#MLKDay Read more about the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr: vox.com/22226255/mlk-f…

Uganda's election starts in just a couple hours.

Meanwhile, its citizens can't get online due to a state-orchestrated #internetshutdown.

This is a severe breach of human rights ‼️ We call on President @KagutaMuseveni to #KeepitOn #UgandaDecides2021

https://twitter.com/caida_ioda/status/1349463311633399810

Yesterday, the Ugandan Communication Commission ordered ISPs to:

- block social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Playstore Apps
- block over 100 VPNs (circumvention tools), making it impossible to avoid the censorship
accessnow.org/uganda-interne…

Tech companies made the right call to stop hosting Parler after it refused to combat calls to violence. Action was needed, even though it was late and reactionary.

It’s also not that simple. THREAD 🧵 We should take platform shutdowns seriously.

What happened with Parler points to several larger issues that are not completely about Parler. Here are 5 we want to break down 👇

1/ While our communities are focused on staying safe, as of now, @PIRegistry is still holding @ICANN to the March 20 deadline to decide on whether control of .ORG will transition from @internetsociety to private equity firm @ethos_capital. 2/ The #dotorg transition would add risk to crucial channels of trusted information in a precarious time.