Digital Rights Weekly | April 13 to 17

[Team CommUNITY]

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the 
week of April 13 to 17. As a reminder, you can submit your news for the 
newsletter here:
https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter
___________________

What is in this issue:

TCU
Community News
NEW Job Opportunities
Digital Rights in the Wider World
Community Resources
Events Calendar
Grants, Fellowships, & Awards
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### TCU ###
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1.Global Gathering: Apply Before June 30

The Global Gathering will take place on September 4, 5 and 6 in 
Portugal. Make sure to check this year’s themes and learn about what 
makes a good proposal! Please note, this year we will not be accepting 
applications after June 30, so apply as soon as possible!

https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=2026_Global_Gathering_Programming


2. Help Support  the Equity Fund!

We continue to fundraise for the Equity Fund in order to support the 
numerous applicants who are on the waitlist. If your organization wants 
to help bring someone from the community to the GG, or if you have any 
suggestions, please let us know!!! Email us at 
gather at digitalrights.community.

Additionally, if you have not registered, please do so as soon as 
possible here:

https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Global_Gathering_2026

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### Community News ###
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1. The Internet Archive Under Threat as More Publishers and Sites Block 
Iconic Wayback Machine

Journalists and advocacy groups are rallying to protect the Internet 
Archive as sites like Reddit and publishers, like the New York Times are 
limiting archiving, citing concerns about AI. Rights groups state 
without archiving there is no accountability.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-internets-most-powerful-archiving-tool-is-in-mortal-peril/

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/wayback-machine-archiving-news-platforms-blocked/


2. FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone 
Notification Database

The FBI was able to forensically extract copies of incoming Signal 
messages from a defendant’s iPhone, even after the app was deleted, 
because copies of the content were saved in the device’s push 
notification database, multiple people present for FBI testimony in a 
recent trial told 404 Media. The case involved a group of people setting 
off fireworks at the ICE Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, 
Texas in July.

https://www.404media.co/fbi-extracts-suspects-deleted-signal-messages-saved-in-iphone-notification-database-2/


3. Grant: Human Rights Democracy and CSO Support to Sri Lanka and the 
Maldives

The European Commission has launched a €2.78 million funding call to 
strengthen human rights, democracy, civil society, and climate action in 
Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Among the many focus areas supported are 
digital rights protection, ethical use of emerging technologies, and 
human-centric digital transformation. Deadline is May 15, 2026.

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/prospect-details/186264PROSPECTSEN


4. Repair, Share, Resist: the 2nd Popular Technology Festival of 
Setúbal, Portugal on May 9-10

The 2nd Popular Technology Festival of Setúbal will take place on May 9 
and 10 in Portugal. It will explore alternatives to large technology 
companies and collectively imagine more sustainable and democratic 
technological futures. The two-day festival will host a wide array of 
activities, practices, and moments of discussion including Repair cafés, 
which allow for the fixing of household appliances and bicycles, and 
promote reuse and the sharing of technical knowledge. Additionally, 
there will be activities and presentations on free and open source 
software, autonomous communication networks, and repurposed servers. 
Workshops and technical sessions are planned on topics like Linux 
installation, electronic soldering, open data, and collective mapping.

https://odet.pt/festival/2026/


5. Free Online Course on Internet Governance from September 7 to 
November 27

Register for a free online course on Internet governance that will run 
from September 7 to November 27. The course consists of ten modules that 
span infrastructure and security to social and cultural issues and human 
rights.

https://www.virtualsig.org/2026/02/13/new-group-o-registration/


6. Nairobi Corridor: Surveillance in Kenya Report

The recently published report, Nairobi Corridor, documents 30 operations 
against dissidents, journalists, and refugees on Kenyan soil and the 
surveillance infrastructure that makes them possible. The report found 
that in 62% of cases, phone monitoring and social media surveillance 
preceded the physical operation, and in 50% of cases, devices were 
seized and forensically copied. Compulsory SIM registration, Safe City 
camera networks, and commercial spyware tools such as Pegasus and 
Cellebrite appear throughout the dataset as standard operating 
architecture. The report traces how these technologies, often supplied 
by firms headquartered in democratic states, form the backbone of a 
transnational repression network spanning 11 governments and 28 years. 
With zero prosecutions across all 30 cases, the investigation raises 
urgent questions about accountability for states, and for the technology 
sector that enables them.

https://nairobi-corridor.thraets.org/


7. Surveilled and Sold: A Series on Surveillance and Immigration in the US


Feet in 2 Worlds trains and supports immigrant journalists in the US. 
They just published an investigative series that looks into how 
corporations and the US government buy, sell and exchange our personal 
data - and how immigrants are especially impacted during an era of mass 
deportation. The series, “Surveilled and Sold,” also explores how the 
daily movements and activities of immigrants are recorded and used for 
immigration enforcement, and traces the flow of money and data between 
tech companies, local law enforcement, and federal agencies like ICE.

https://www.fi2w.org/surveilled-and-sold/


8. Tech Giants and Giant Slayers: The Case for Digital Sovereignty and 
the Digital Commons

A new report published by the Open Rights Group shares that Digital 
Sovereignty is critical for the UK’s economic and national security. The 
UK is currently facing a crisis of digital dependency, with it being 
over reliant on a small number of tech giants for its critical digital 
infrastructure. This poses significant economic, security, legal and 
policy risks, including to democracy and public debate. Digital 
Sovereignty is defined as the ability of a country to have control over 
its digital infrastructure, data, and technology.

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/tech-giants-and-giant-slayers-the-case-for-digital-sovereignty-and-the-digital-commons/

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### NEW Job Opportunities ###
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These are new jobs we have received in the past week. You can access 
these and other jobs by visiting our job board: 
https://www.digitalrights.community/job-board

+ Data Data Scientist, C4ADS
- Washington, DC

+ Engineering Manager (Elections & AI for Democracy Action Lab), Protect 
Democracy
- Hybrid US

+ Protection from Violence Technical Assistant, Norwegian Refugee 
Council (NRC)
- Nigeria

+ Head, Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund
- Remote / Global

+ Head of Audience, Tarbell Center for AI Journalism
- London

+ Executive Assistant to the CEO, The Global FoodBanking Network
- Chicago, IL or United States (Remote)

+ Advocacy Manager, Tech Equity
- Remote / USA

+ Director of Advocacy Communications, Internet Society Foundation
- Remote

+ Director, Middle East and North Africa, Human Rights Watch
- Multiple Office Locations Considered

+ Senior Manager, Communications, Human Rights Watch
- Multiple Locations Considered

+ Senior Researcher, China, Human Rights Watch
- Multiple Locations Considered

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### Digital Rights in the Wider World ###
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1. Meta Accused of Monetising Israeli Extremist Platforms While Denying 
Palestinians Digital Rights

A new report by Palestinian digital rights group 7amleh accuses Meta of 
running a two‑tier system that monetizes Israeli settler incitement and 
illegal outposts while systematically excluding Palestinians from the 
same revenue‑generating tools. The report reveals how Meta allows 
Israeli far-right pages, settler‑affiliated accounts, and extremist 
media outlets to generate revenue through its platforms, even as they 
push violent and racist content against Palestinians.

https://www.newarab.com/news/meta-accused-monetising-israeli-extremist-platforms


2. Facebook and Instagram Tighten Censorship Rules for Posts Including 
the Word “Antifa”

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta changed its speech rules to 
add new restrictions around posts including the word “antifa,” according 
to documents reviewed by The Intercept. Policy documents show the 
company now treats any “content that includes the word ‘antifa’ as a 
potential rules violation if that word appears along with what Meta 
deems a “content-level threat signal” — meaning a statement that the 
company believes implies violence.

https://theintercept.com/2026/04/14/facebook-instagram-antifa-censor/


3. Gen Z's Fading AI Hype

Gen Z's sentiment toward artificial intelligence has shifted in the last 
year, with teens and 20-somethings less excited about the tech — and 
more angry, according to a newly released report. That rising anger may 
be driven by AI dimming prospects for entry-level workers.

https://www.axios.com/2026/04/09/ai-gen-z-polling-gallup


4. How Governments Have Tried to Tide Information About the Iran War Online

Jake Godin is a senior researcher at Bellingcat, an independent 
organization that does open source investigations. He and others doing 
investigations into the Iran conflict realized that they were missing 
vital tools for their work. Satellite imagery that is often used to 
corroborate photos taken on the ground, has been disappearing, while 
Iran has imposed a strict internet blackout in recent months, limiting 
what civilians can send to the outside world.

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/10/nx-s1-5775780/us-iran-war-israel-satellite-imagery-planet-vantor-censorship


5. India Proposes New Rules to Regulate News and Political Posts on 
Social Media

The Indian government has proposed changes to extend its regulatory 
framework to a wider range of online news voices. The Ministry of 
Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) suggested amendments to 
India's IT rules—which govern digital media content—to include "users 
who are not publishers" who share content related to "news and current 
affairs" within a "code of ethics" it currently applies to registered 
news publishers. Experts say this will potentially give the government 
more power over news-related posts shared by ordinary users, including 
independent journalists and podcasters.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9mx2j3xlxo


6. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

The US Congress will soon vote on the reauthorization of a surveillance 
authority known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 
Act (FISA), which is set to expire on April 20. Although Congress passed 
the law to facilitate surveillance of foreigners overseas, the 
government also uses Section 702 to spy on Americans—a practice that has 
resulted in widespread abuses and made the law deeply controversial. The 
upcoming reauthorization is an opportunity for Congress to enact 
long-overdue protections for Americans’ privacy.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-702-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act

More than a dozen grassroots groups and nonprofits across Connecticut 
signed a letter calling on the state’s congressional delegation to push 
for reforms related to data collection.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/04/14/local-groups-urge-ct-delegation-to-back-surveillance-law-reforms/


8. Greece Wiretapping Case Appeal Set for December 2026

The appeal trial involving four businessmen convicted in Greece’s 
high-profile surveillance case has been scheduled for December 11, 2026 
in Athens. While the appeal concerns misdemeanor-level charges, the 
broader investigation is also expanding into more serious allegations - 
potential felony-level espionage charges as part of an expanded inquiry 
into the case. Investigators are also looking into the possible 
involvement of nine additional individuals who may have acted as 
accomplices.

https://www.tovima.com/politics/greece-wiretapping-case-appeal-set-for-december-2026/#google_vignette

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### Community Resources ###
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1. A Chilean Town Turns Off AI for a Day to Expose Its Hidden Water Use

In one of Chile’s most water-stressed regions, the community of 
Quilicura is taking on an unprecedented challenge: replacing artificial 
intelligence with human intelligence for a day to make the hidden water 
footprint of AI impossible to ignore.

https://www.environmentenergyleader.com/stories/one-town-in-chile-saves-its-water-from-ai-by-becoming-ai-for-a-day,113556


2. The Dark Horses of Surveillance Capitalism: How a Menagerie of New 
Actors Are Bypassing Privacy Rules and Super-Charging Surveillance 
Capitalism

Surveillance capitalism is steadily extending beyond the digital sector 
and into the broader economy. Firms in industries as diverse as oil and 
gas, luxury, and mass consumer goods are developing novel internal 
capabilities to collect, analyze, process, and monetize personal data. 
This study undertakes an original review of corporate communications to 
map where in the economy, and to which firms, financial value from 
personal data accrues. Our findings reveal a largely invisible 
infrastructure of surveillance-based business practices in which 
companies work across sectors to monetize personal information.

https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr-ryan/publications/dark-horses-surveillance-capitalism-how-menagerie-new-actors-are


3. The Fractured Web: How Internet Fragmentation Threatens Our Connected 
World

Around the world, policy choices, commercial incentives, security 
anxieties, and geopolitical rivalry are steadily pulling the Internet 
away from its foundational character as a single, globally connected 
system. Fragmentation is not a single event that suddenly arrives one 
day. It is a cumulative process. It happens when decisions made by 
governments, companies, or technical actors make the Internet less open, 
less interoperable, less reliable, or less global. Over time, those 
decisions can produce very different Internets for different people 
depending on where they live, what networks they use, what devices they 
can afford, and what political environment they are under.

https://circleid.com/posts/the-fractured-web-how-internet-fragmentation-threatens-our-connected-world

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### Events Calendar ###
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Did you know you could submit your events for inclusion in our 
newsletter? It takes a few minutes to submit: 
https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

Additionally, we maintain a calendar of events in our wiki: 
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Calendar_of_Events

Data Centers & Democracy: How US Policymakers Push Back
April 8
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rxt-data-centers-democracy-how-policymakers-push-back-tickets-1984908054423

Cables of Resistance Event
April 10 to 12
https://cableresist.de/

Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum
April 14-16
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
https://sessionize.com/digital-rights-and-inclusion-forum26/

Using AI Safely: Practical Strategies for CSOs and Nonprofits
April 14
https://www.theengineroom.org/using-ai-safely-practical-strategies-for-csos-and-nonprofits-from-a-global-majority-perspective/

International Journalism Festival (IJF)
April 15 to 18, 2026
Perugia, Italy
https://www.journalismfestival.com/

Digital Rights Social / Focus: Spyware Protection and Transnational 
Repression
April 16, 2026 @ 14 UTC
TCU's Mattermost
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Community_Updates

Targeted
April 16
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ddb43d68-53cc-4d49-a239-7712dc911bb3@08722067-f231-4f22-bb68-ea4fbf92dabb

EFF Event: Internet Shutdowns
April 16
https://join.eff.org/Additional-donation/?readableEventId=2026_EFFecting_Change_Cant_Stop_the_Signal3145098239

Take Back Tech
April 17-19
Atlanta
https://www.takebacktech.com/

Data Institute
Washington DC
April 19
https://cjddatainstitute.org/

UNESCO World Press Freedom Day 2026 Global Conference
May 4–5, 2026
Lusaka, Zambia
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/world-press-freedom-day-2026-global-conference-shaping-future-peace

RightsCon 2026
May 5-8
Lusaka, Zambia
https://www.rightscon.org/

2nd Popular Technology Festival of Setúbal
May 8-9
Setúbal, Portugal
https://odet.pt/festival/2026/

Digital Rights Social / Focus: Regional Updates
May 21, 2026 @ 14 UTC
TCU's Mattermost
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Community_Updates

Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC)
June 8 to 10
Manila, Philippines
https://engagemedia.org/2025/drapac26-manila/

Digital Rights Social / Focus: Security Clinic Best Practices and Q&A
June 18, 2026 @ 14 UTC
TCU's Mattermost
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Community_Updates

Global Media Forum
June 23 and 24, 2026
Bonn Germany
https://corporate.dw.com/en/gmf-2026-your-ideas-deserve-the-spotlight/a-75222151

All Things in Moderation 2026: Call for Contributions
June 25 to 26
Online and on demand
https://www.allthingsinmoderation.org/call-for-contributions

Digital Rights Social / Focus: Organizational Sustainability and Resilience
July 16, 2026 @ 14 UTC
TCU's Mattermost
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Community_Updates

Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI)
July 20, 2026
Hybrid, co-located with PETS in Calgary, Canada
https://foci.community/

Global Gathering
September 4 to 6, 2026
Portugal
https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/applications/global-gathering-2026-applications-open

Digital Commons:Infrastructures, Design, and the Ethics of Autonomy
October 8 to 10
Athens, Greece
www.digicommons.org
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### Grants, Fellowships, & Awards ###
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Lebanese Journalists At Risk or Pressure
No Deadline
https://www.skeyesmedia.org/en/News/News/07-04-2026/13133

OpenMedia Summer Fellowship 2026
Deadline April 19
https://openmedia.org/article/item/openmedia-summer-fellowship-2026-next-gen-policy-changemakers-wanted

EU Grant for Media Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Journalist 
Protection in Pakistan
deadline is April 21, 2026.
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/prospect-details/186121PROSPECTSEN

Laboratory for Women’s Rights Online Initiative
Deadline: April 21, 2026
https://pops.expertisefrance.fr/sdm/ent2/gen/ficheCsl.action?PCSLID=CSL_2026_4sZQPjYqHf&ongletActif=2

2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute July 20 to 31
Deadline: Early decision March 14; Final deadline April 21
https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oxford-ai-and-media-policy-summer-institute/2026-oxford-ai-and-media
-policy-summer-institute

Janisha R. Gabriel Movement Protection Fund - Information Session
April 23, 2025
https://solidairenetwork.org/how-we-partner/movement-protection-fund/

ISOC Community-Centered Connectivity Grant Program
May 7
https://www.isocfoundation.org/grant-programme/community-centered-connectivity/

Human Rights Democracy and CSO Support to Sri Lanka and the Maldives
Deadline: May 15, 2026.
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/prospect-details/186264PROSPECTSEN

Community Access Fund for LGBTQI+ Asylum Seekers
May 31
https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/community-access-fund-application

Promoting Inclusive Digital Services in Kyrgyzstan
Deadline: June 2
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/prospect-details/185902PROSPECTSEN

InDiCo-Global. Deadline
Deadline: June 30, 2026
https://indico-global-grants.eu/indico-global-third-open-call

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