Digital Rights Weekly | June 9 - 13

[Team CommUNITY]

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the week of June 9 - 13. As a reminder, you can submit your news for the newsletter here:
https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

What is in this issue:


Team CommUNITY
Community News
NEW Job Opportunities
Community Resources
Digital Rights in the Wider World
Statements from Our Community
Events Calendar
Grants, Fellowships, & Awards

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### Team CommUNITY (TCU News) ###
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1. One Week Left Until the Final Deadline – Apply to the 2025 Global Gathering by June 20!

We have extended the 2025 Global Gathering call for applications to June 20. Join us from September 8–10 in Portugal for three days of networking and collaboration on the most urgent technology-related challenges affecting human rights, civil society, and journalists at local, regional, and global levels. Apply now:

https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/2025-global-gathering-application


2. Upcoming Digital Rights Town Halls and Community Knowledge Shares:

June 17 | Outline + Psiphon Integration: A New Era in Circumvention Tech
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Outline_Community_Hub

Junio 18 | Tecnologías para la Autonomía: Construyendo Redes Comunitarias en América Latina (Digital Rights LATAM Meetup)
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=18_de_Junio,_2025_LATAM

June 19 | 2025 Global Gathering Ask Me Anything (AMA)
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_19_2025_GM

June 25 | Digital Iran Reloaded: Iranian Gamers vs. Information Controls (Digital Rights MENA Meetup)
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/lessons_from_mena_june_2025

June 26 | The Social Networking Glitter Meetup
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_26_2025_GM


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### Community News ###
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1. Digital Freedom Fund Open Call

The Digital Freedom Fund supports strategic litigation in Europe that contributes to advancing human rights in the digital context and the use of technology. Call for grant applications is now open. Deadline to apply: July 15, 2025.

https://digitalfreedomfund.org/grants/


2. OGP’s Helen Darbishire Fund for Civil Society 2025-27

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is pleased to announce the establishment of the Helen Darbishire Fund for Civil Society (HDFCS), designed to strengthen open government processes and reforms across OGP member countries. It will provide eight to ten grants, between 10,000 USD to 25,000 USD, seeking to support initiatives that support core OGP processes. Deadline to apply: July 6, 2025.

https://www.opengovpartnership.org/ogps-helen-darbishire-fund-for-civil-society-2025-27/


3. Research Fellowships on Digital Sentience

Longview Philanthropy, Macroscopic Ventures, and The Navigation Fund invite applications for fellowships to pursue research in computer science, neuroscience, or other technical disciplines on the potential consciousness, sentience, moral status, or welfare of artificial intelligence systems. They will also consider applications from legal scholars or applied social scientists for research on the social implications and legal treatment of sentient AI. Deadline to apply: July 9, 2025.

https://www.longview.org/digital-sentience-consortium/research-fellowships-on-digital-sentience/


4. Grow the Future 2025 Alliance Against Tech Authoritarianism

In 2025, Grow the Future will bring an interdisciplinary group to Canada to explore initiatives and ideas to improve the digital ecosystem to empower humans and protect their rights. Participants will travel to Canada with experts from the Heinrich Böll Foundation from October 5 - 11 to meet partners working on the threats that democratic societies face from Big Tech and foreign actors who exploit digital technologies to undermine civic discourse. Deadline to apply: June 20, 2025.

https://usboell.bamboohr.com/careers/77?source=aWQ9OQ%3D%3D


5. Community Call: Responsible Data for Social Justice

The Engine Room is thrilled to invite you to their upcoming community call on Responsible Data for Social Justice. They will host two community calls on June 24: one for Sub-Saharan Africa and one for Latin America. Register and join the conversation on how you can strengthen your responsible data practices and reflect on the relationship between data, collective care and local power.

SubSaharan Africa Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ijA4hG6oS_WvbzDp1zmUbg

Latin America Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/S-iJamEsQWKBwWBNoWFqfA

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### NEW Job Opportunities  ###
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✎ Director of Strategic Communications, Emerging Tech | The New York Times
+ New York City, USA
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorktimes/jobs/4546147005

✎ Engineering Manager, SecureDrop | Freedom of the Press Foundation
+ Remote
https://freedom.press/careers/job/?gh_jid=4571168005

✎ Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Media Studies: Citizens, AI and news experiences | University of Bergen
+ Bergen, Norway
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/281032/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-media-studies-citizens-ai-and-news-experiences

✎ Research Assistant  | State of AI Report
+ Remote
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tsRt18zbxrAQ3EkiKmgGvPGduqUzZYJW5AHmFEqaKpY/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.142cw5pmaoyb

✎ Team Assistant | The Sovereign Tech Agency
+ Flexible in Berlin, Germany
https://www.sovereign.tech/jobs/team-assistant

✎ IT & Technology Management Consultant  | ILGA World
+ Remote
https://genderjobs.org/jobs/5026

✎ IT Technical Lead | Sea-Watch
+ Berlin, Germany
https://sea-watch.org/en/join-us/sea-watch-is-looking-for-it-technical-lead/

✎ Communications Manager | SMEX
+ Lebanon, Beirut
https://daleel-madani.org/civil-society-directory/smex/jobs/communications-manager

✎ Website Development Service | SMEX
+ Lebanon, Beirut
https://daleel-madani.org/civil-society-directory/smex/calls/request-proposal-website-development-services-smexorg

✎ Program Officer, Building Institutions and Networks | Ford Foundation
+ New York, USA
https://fordfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FordFoundationCareerPage/job/New-York%2C-USA/Program-Officer--Building-Institutions-and-Network_R1207

✎ Senior Technologist Director | Partners for Public Good
+ Remote in the US
https://partnersforpublicgood.applytojob.com/apply/MnF8d8bdXK/Senior-Technologist-Director

✎ Social Media Content Consultant | Free Press
+ Remote
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wsn6obj-y6wqPm7lfBEvFMZFOPOJ006x/view

✎ Senior Director, Engineering | DataKind
+ Remote in the US
http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/datakindinc/jobs/6586200003

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### Community Resources  ###
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1. The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations of Reasoning Models via the Lens of Problem Complexity

Using controlled puzzles, this Apple's study shows Large Reasoning Models (LRMs) collapse in accuracy at higher complexities and reduce reasoning effort despite sufficient resources. Compared to standard LLMs, LRMs perform worse on simple tasks, better on medium ones, and fail on complex ones. They also struggle with consistent, algorithmic reasoning, highlighting key limitations in their reasoning abilities.

https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/illusion-of-thinking



2. India’s Airtel's AI-driven Internet Filter Poses Censorship Risks

Framed as fraud prevention, Airtel’s AI-based blocking system enables unchecked censorship, threatening user autonomy, privacy, and an open internet.

https://internetfreedom.in/airtels-ai-driven-internet-filter-poses-censorship-risks/

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### Digital Rights in the Wider World ###
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1. Curfew and Internet Shutdown in India's Violence-Hit Manipur State

Authorities have imposed a curfew and shut down the internet in parts of the troubled north-eastern Indian state of Manipur after protests erupted over the arrest of leaders from an ethnic group. Manipur has been rocked by periodic violence since 2023 after ethnic clashes between the two largest groups, over land and influence.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/curfew-internet-shutdown-indias-violence-104136910.html


2. Palantir Advances Sole Source Deal with US’s ICE to Serve as New Surveillance Backbone


U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to move forward with a sole-source contract to Palantir Technologies for the development of the next generation of its Investigative Case Management (ICM) system, which includes biometrics for migrant identification. The ICM is essential to ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), where it serves as the primary software environment for managing case files, exchanging intelligence, tracking investigative data across multiple agencies, and tracking people. It is intertwined with ICE’s controversial Immigration Lifecycle Operating System, ImmigrationOS, which was also developed by Palantir, much to the consternation of privacy and civil rights advocates.

https://www.biometricupdate.com/202506/ice-advances-sole-source-deal-with-palantir-for-new-surveillance-backbone


3. The Stop CSAM Act Will Make it Impossible End-to-End Encrypted Service Providers to Avoid Lawsuits and Threaten Internet User’s Security

Digital Rights groups are urging US Senate leaders not to move forward with the bill STOP CSAM Act, which will create enormous incentives for platforms to stop offering encrypted services, and affect Internet users worldwide.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/oppose-stop-csam-protecting-kids-shouldnt-mean-breaking-tools-keep-us-safe


4. Top Russian Court Rules Wartime Censorship Measures Targeting Opposition Constitutional

Russia’s Constitutional Court has upheld the legality of wartime censorship laws, ruling that a controversial statute on spreading false information about the military is constitutional, even as it continues to be used to jail critics of the war in Ukraine.

https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/06/11/top-russian-court-rules-wartime-censorship-measures-targeting-opposition-constitutional-en-news


5. Romania to Discuss Rapid Spread of Online Disinformation

Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) will discuss how to tackle the rapid spread of disinformation online, with the latest wave of false claims including reports about the imposition of martial law and border closures, seeking to heighten public anxiety over the risk of war. Cyberattacks on social media are becoming more complex and sophisticated. In onc case, a Facebook page with millions of followers was compromised by attackers - they used the
page’s popularity to redirect users to a site containing false information about Romanian elections.

https://www.romania-insider.com/online-disinformation-csat-romania-june-2025

https://www.romania-insider.com/fake-news-campaigns-romania-june-2025


Romania has become a strategic priority for Russia, and there is an attempt to "reprogram" Romanians through hybrid warfare and disinformation.

https://www.veridica.ro/en/opinions/russia-aims-to-reprogram-romanians-through-hybrid-warfare-and-disinformation


6. Cuba Partially Rolls Back Internet Rate Hike as Anger Grows

Cuba said it would begin to offer additional mobile internet data plans at a sharply reduced price for students after an initial rate hike prompted outrage across an island already reeling from soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-partially-rolls-back-internet-rate-hike-anger-grows-2025-06-03/


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### Statements from Our Community ###
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1. Statement on California State Senate Advancing Dangerous Surveillance Bill

SB 690 gives the green-light to dystopian big tech surveillance practices which will endanger the privacy and safety of all Californians. SB 690 would allow companies to spy on us to get people’s sensitive personal information, such as their immigration status or what healthcare they’ve received.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/statement-california-state-senate-advancing-dangerous-surveillance-bill

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### Events Calendar ###
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South-to-South AI Accountability CoLab
The Pulitzer Center
June - July, 2025
https://pulitzercenter.org/south-south-ai-accountability-colabs-peer-learning-circle

Outline + Psiphon Integration: A New Era in Circumvention Tech (CKS)
Team CommUNITY, Outline, and Psiphon
June 17, 2025
9:30am EDT / 1:30pm UTC
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Outline_Community_Hub

Tecnologías para la Autonomía: Construyendo Redes Comunitarias en América Latina (Digital Rights LATAM Meetup)
Team CommUNITY
June 18, 2025
5:30pm EDT / 9:30pm UTC
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=18_de_Junio,_2025_LATAM

2025 Global Gathering Ask Me Anything (AMA) (Glitter Meetup)
Team CommUNITY
June 19, 2025
9am EDT /1pm UTC
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_19_2025_GM

Digital Iran Reloaded: Iranian Gamers vs. Information Controls (Digital Rights MENA Meetup)
Team CommUNITY
June 25, 2025
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/lessons_from_mena_june_2025

The Social Networking Glitter Meetup
Team CommUNITY
June 26, 2025
9am EDT /1pm UTC
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_26_2025_GM

2025 Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute
Jesus College, Oxford
July 28 - August 8, 2025
https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oxford-media-policy-summer-institute

HOPE_16
August 15 - 17, 2025
St. John's University in Queens, New York City, and online
https://hope.net/

The Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC)
August 26 - 27, 2025
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
https://drapac.net/25/

Online Course: Threat Sharing and Digital Forensics from a Feminist and Human Rights Perspective
Digital Defenders Partnership
September - December, 2025
https://www.digitaldefenders.org/online-course-threat-sharing-and-digital-forensics-from-a-feminist-and-human-rights-perspective/

Global Gathering 2025
Team CommUNITY
September 8 - 10, 2025
Estoril, Portugal
https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/2025-global-gathering-application

MyData 2025 Conference
Helsinki
September 24 - 26, 2025
https://conference.mydata.org/2025

Hold Before You Send It
Digihub Africa 2025
October 8 - 9, 2025
Johannesburg, South Africa
https://www.digihubafrica.org/events/

SEEDIG Youth School 2025
October 10 - 11, 2025
Athens, Greece
https://seedig.net/youth-school/

Bread&Net
SMEX
October 29 - 31
Beirut, Lebanon
https://www.breadandnet.org/en/

Mozilla Festival 2025
November 7 - 9, 2025
In Barcelona, Spain
https://www.mozillafestival.org/en/

Check out a list of our virtual events here:
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Calendar_of_Events

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### Grants, Fellowships, & Awards ###
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The following opportunities are open to individual digital rights defenders and to organizations. If you would like us to include a grant, fellowship or award in this newsletter, please email details to team at digitalrights.community
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Fundraising_Opportunities

New York Times's News Safety Fellow
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorktimes/jobs/4559864005

Spyware Accountability Initiative Call for Proposals
Deadline: June 13, 2025
https://stopspyware.fund/apply

DDP's Sustainable Protection Fund for East Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia
Deadline: June 13, 2025
https://www.digitaldefenders.org/sustainable-protection-fund-open-call-for-applications-from-eecca-2025/

​Tech For Good Investment for Startups
Bethnal Green Ventures
Deadline: June 15, 2025
https://www.bethnalgreenventures.com/apply

The International Foundation 2025 Grant Program
Deadline: June 16, 2025
https://www.intlfoundation.org/page/eligibility

EU Action Grants: Detecting Influence Campaigns and Boosting Societal Resilience
Deadline: June 16, 2025
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/funding/detecting-influence-campaigns-and-boosting-societal-resilience

EU Action Grants: Boosting the Visibility of Fact-checking Content in Europe
Deadline: June 16, 2025
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/funding/boosting-visibility-fact-checking-content-europe

Grow the Future 2025 Alliance Against Tech Authoritarianism
Deadline: June 20, 2025
https://usboell.bamboohr.com/careers/77?source=aWQ9OQ%3D%3D

Digital Good Research Fund ‘Building the Digital Good’
Deadline: June 26, 2025
https://digitalgood.net/digital-good-research-fund-round-3-building-the-digital-good-call-for-applications/

SA Tech Challenge 2025, Innovation Bridge
Deadline: June 30, 2025
https://innovationbridge.info/ibportal/g20/tech-challenge

Grants for Investigative Stories
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)
Deadline: June 30, 2025
https://birn.eu.com/news-and-events/birn-invites-journalists-to-apply-for-grants-for-investigative-stories/

OGP’s Helen Darbishire Fund for Civil Society 2025-27
Deadline: July 6, 2025
https://www.opengovpartnership.org/ogps-helen-darbishire-fund-for-civil-society-2025-27/

Research Fellowships on Digital Sentience
Deadline: July 9, 2025
https://www.longview.org/digital-sentience-consortium/research-fellowships-on-digital-sentience/

Digital Freedom Fund Open Call
Deadline: July 15, 2025
https://digitalfreedomfund.org/grants/

Connecting the Unconnected Funding Program
Internet Society
Deadline 2nd window: from 15 July to 27 August, 2025
https://www.internetsociety.org/funding-areas/connecting-the-unconnected

Are you looking for grants, fellowships and funds open on a rolling basis? We curate a long list of opportunities on our wiki: https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Fundraising_Opportunities

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If you have any questions or want to learn more about partnerships, get in touch at team at digitalrights.community. We are always looking for like-minded organizations and people.

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Team CommUNITY at ARTICLE 19
www.digitalrights.community
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