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ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship 77. Freedom House, What is Transnational Repression?, available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression 78. Manushya Foundation, #AttapeuDamCollapse - 5 Unbearable Years of Injustice for the Survivors!, (1 August 2023), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/post/attapeudamcollapse-5-unbearable-years-of-injustice-for-the-survivors; Manushya Foundation, Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights on the situation in Lao PDR, (March 2019), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/ unsr-extreme-poverty-hr-laopdr 79. Manushya Foundation, Joint Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Lao PDR Third UPR Cycle, 35th Session of the UPR Working Group, (18 July 2019), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/joint-lao-uprsubmission; Joseph Akaravong Facebook Page, Public posts of 16 July 2022 sharing the accident at the Nam Theun 1 dam, (16 July 2022), available at:https://www.facebook. com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02XsNjYwzXgNiv8wU2x6pFN65JvmXiD3CMeeKhn8kexwZ1u6Qv Azuk12iMaCk1q6q8l&id=100008068268130 80. Radio Free Asia, Unease downstream despite assurances that leaking Lao Nam Theun 1 is safe, (20 July 2022), available at: https://www.rfa.org/ english/news/laos/dam-worry-07202022183610. html; Facebook, Screenshot of 9 August 2022 of the Restriction Overview of Joseph Akaravong’s Facebook account, (9 August 2022), available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z8s4L1IPYf5BpFOmOdA9JmHVAt9Xha7Ex1RFf1O4gf8/edit; Manushya Foundation, News Release: Responsible governments and implicated companies must ensure safety and effective access to information of communities living near the Nam Theun 1 dam in Laos, (22 August 2022), available at: https://www. manushyafoundation.org/post/responsible-govtscompanies-must-ensure-safety-of-communities-living-near-the-nam-theun-1-dam 81. Joseph Akaravong Facebook Page, Public post of 29 September 2022 on the report regarding news published on Joseph Akaravong’s Facebook account from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Office of the Prime Minister, Department of Public Relations, (29 September 2022), available at: https://www.facebook.com/permalink. php?story_fbid=pfbid0zAYH9D9bJuunZMw4K2bh9h3ALVdhuaxthxyabBcryCptA2BCg63eEDkr54nmtxc2l&id=100008068268130 Lao PDR 82. Manushya Foundation, Lao PDR’s ruthless crackdown on critics strips Lao human rights defenders from basic human rights, (29 September 2022), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/ post/lao-pdr-s-ruthless-crackdown-on-critics-stripslao-human-rights-defenders-from-basic-humanrights 83. Manushya Foundation, Today marks the International #DayOfTheDisappeared! Where are Sombath, Od and Lu ??, (30 August 2023), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/post/ today-marks-the-international-dayofthedisappeared-where-are-sombath-od-and-lu; Manushya Foundation, Lao PDR’s ruthless crackdown on critics strips Lao human rights defenders from basic human rights, (29 September 2022), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/post/lao-pdrs-ruthless-crackdown-on-critics-strips-lao-humanrights-defenders-from-basic-human-rights 84. Manushya Foundation, #JusticeForBounsuan: Another Lao Activist Gunned Down! This time, he’s DEAD!, (26 May 2023), available at: https://www. manushyafoundation.org/post/justiceforbounsuananother-lao-activist-gunned-down-this-time-he-sdead 85. Radio Free Asia, Laos releases Thailand-based Lao democracy activist, (26 July 2023), available at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/savang-07262023160105.html 86. Manushya Foundation, #JusticeForBounsuan: Another Lao Activist Gunned Down! This time, he’s DEAD!, (26 May 2023), available at: https://www. manushyafoundation.org/post/justiceforbounsuan-another-lao-activist-gunned-down-this-timehe-s-dead; Human Rights Watch, Thailand/Laos: Investigate the Killing of Lao Refugee and Put an End to Transnational Repression of Human Rights Defenders, (26 May 2023), available at: https://www. hrw.org/news/2023/05/26/thailand/laos-investigate-killing-lao-refugee-and-put-end-transnational-repression 87. Facebook Transparency Report, Content restrictions, (n.d.), available at: https://transparency.fb.com/ data/content-restrictions/country/LA/ 88. TikTok Reports, Government Removal Requests Report, (n.d.), available at https://www.tiktok. com/transparency/en/government-removal-requests-2022-1/ 147

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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English

Topic

Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Information Operation
Internet Restrictions

Author(s)

MANUSHYA

Date Published: Mar 8, 2024

Abstract: Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024 Whether we like it or not, we are living through a pivotal moment for the future of human rights. This includes the issue of our digital rights, and the question of our online freedoms. In places like Southeast Asia, where the majority of its peoples are experiencing immense threats to their online and offline freedoms, at the hands of opportunistic governments and corporations, this is especially prevalent. The digital space has become an integral part of human life, and is still growing in its influence over our world. Accordingly, if our freedoms in the digital space are endangered, our freedoms overall are endangered as well.

It is understandable to feel powerless while possessing this knowledge. But it is not enough to just know about the forces acting against our human rights, and understand that they are dangerous. If we truly want to create a safer, more equitable, more liberated world - which we all know, deep down, is possible - we must understand these forces, and act accordingly. We must equip ourselves with knowledge about what governments, corporations, and other powers that be are doing, alongside demanding our rights to freedom. The powers that be have weaponised the online and digital space, as well as the law, against the people that these things are supposed to serve and protect. It is our right to protect ourselves with research, knowledge, advocacy, and the power of the people. When we understand the powers we are up against, fighting back will become less daunting.

This is what our report, titled Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia, is for. Join us in powering ourselves with knowledge, in order to compel ourselves to action!

As always, our work is rooted in decolonial, feminist, intersectional values, with historically marginalised people at the centre. Thus, this work was a collaboration between a coalition of groups oriented in these values: ALTSEAN-Burma, Cambodian Center for Human Rights, ELSAM, Free Expression Myanmar, Foundation for Media Alternatives, ILGA Asia, Manushya Foundation, The Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, SAFEnet, Viet Tan, and Women’s Peace Network. What is the ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship? The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship was established in 2020, by human rights and digital rights activists from Southeast Asia, on a mission to decolonize digital rights and restore our online democracies.

Together, we stand in solidarity with one another, with people from the Global Majority, resisting and pushing back against authoritarian governments and complicit tech companies.

We tell our realities from the ground, and we develop solutions together.

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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