FREEDOM ON THE NET 2024 The Struggle for Trust Online Policy Recommendations Policymakers, the tech industry, and civil society should work together to address the global decline in internet freedom. The following recommendations lay out strategies that policymakers, regulators, donor institutions, and private companies can adopt to advance human rights online and prevent or mitigate the internet’s contribution to broader societal harms. While reversing the global decline in internet freedom will require the participation of a range of stakeholders, governments and companies should actively partner with civil society, which has always been at the forefront in raising awareness of key problems and identifying remedies with which to address them. 1. PROMOTE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION Freedom of expression online is increasingly under attack as governments shut off internet connectivity, block social media platforms, or restrict access to websites that host political, social, and religious speech. Protecting freedom of expression will require strong legal and regulatory safeguards for digital communications and access to information. Governments Governments should maintain access to internet services, digital platforms, and anticensorship technology, particularly during elections, protests, and periods of unrest or conflict. Imposing outright or arbitrary bans on social media and messaging platforms unduly restricts free expression and access to information. Governments should address any legitimate risks posed by these platforms through existing democratic mechanisms, such as regulatory action, security audits, parliamentary scrutiny, and legislation passed in consultation with civil society. Other methods to address legitimate security problems include strengthening legal requirements for platform transparency, data privacy, cybersecurity, and responsibility for mandatory human rights due diligence and risk assessments. Any legal restrictions for online content should adhere to international human rights standards of legality, necessity, and proportionality, and include robust oversight, transparency, and consultation with civil society and the private sector. Legal frameworks addressing online content should uphold internationally recognized human rights and establish special obligations for companies that are tailored to their size and services, incentivize platforms to improve their own standards, and require human rights due diligence and reporting. Such obligations should prioritize transparency across core products and practices, including content moderation, recommendation and algorithmic systems, collection and use of data, and political and targeted advertising. Laws should ensure that vetted researchers are able to access platform data in a privacy-protecting way, allowing them to provide insights for policy development and civil society’s broader analysis and advocacy efforts. Safe-harbor protections for intermediaries should remain in place for most of the user-generated and third-party content appearing on platforms, so as not to encourage these companies to impose excessive restrictions that inhibit free expression. Laws should also reserve final decisions on the legality and removal of content for the judiciary. Independent regulators with sufficient resources and expertise should be empowered to oversee the implementation of laws, conduct audits, and ensure compliance. Provisions in the European Union’s Digital Services Act—notably its transparency requirements, data accessibility for researchers, a coregulatory form of enforcement, and algorithmic accountability—offer a promising model for contentrelated laws. 28 @freedomonthenet #FreedomOnTheNet