emerged as key advocates. These groups engage in specialized interventions through either legislation, litigation, public investigation, transparency efforts, and/or user empowerment to promote accountability and digital freedoms (Tech Global Institute, 2024). While each approach is multifaceted and offers contextualized frameworks of accountability, CSOs continue to face systemic resistance, insufficient funding, gaps in technical knowledge, and are often denied a seat at the table during the decision-making processes. Beyond these organizational struggles, a more fundamental issue looms over digital governance: the absence of a collective movement for digital rights. One major barrier to mobilization is the illusion that technological progress is inevitable and beyond public influence, leading to passive acceptance of surveillance capitalism. Opportunities to drive change in this field are often monopolized by the Global North, restricting participation to an exclusive exchange among a privileged few. The resulting initiatives attempt to challenge deeply entrenched economic structures but remain disconnected from real-world contexts. The outcome is a perilous fragmentation driven by righteous indignation yet lacking practical direction. Any meaningful framework for change risks being buried in technical jargon or legal limbo, seldom transcending symbolic gestures or repetitive appeals. The digital rights movement across the region benefits from broad participation by technologists, academics, lawyers, journalists, and social scientists. What it currently lacks—and urgently needs—are organizers who can bridge gaps between sectors and unify the movement. The necessary ingredients for a mass movement are already in place: momentum across sectors is at an all-time high, public scrutiny of tech companies is pervasive, and governments, across political lines, largely agree on the need for regulatory safeguards. Despite such favorable conditions, there is no unified direction. The idea of cohesion is not novel: since the conception of South Asia as a regional force in the original South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) convening, similar initiatives have sprung up over time: the South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP) ensured regional access to reliable energy; the Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan) pushes for a visa-free, unified partnership in the region; and even smaller, bidirectional alliances have formed between South Asian nations to establish economic cooperation and trade agreements, resource and knowledge sharing, and joint security efforts. But as of yet, there is no formal agreement among South Asian nations to address digital rights. This is particularly concerning given the region’s significant engagement with 6