Claiming online space to secure freedom, take action & create change!

“IT should be about freedom and inclusion”.

This was my key takeaway of OVOFs parallel event about (re)claiming online space to secure freedom. In this interesting event speakers from Lebanon, Bangladesh, Kenya and India talked about the opportunities and obstacles of the digital space, especially in the Global South.

Potential

All panellists agreed that technologies and the internet have great potential. TikTok can be used to break stigmas. The digital space can help tackle gender-based exclusion. Women and girls can use the internet to amplify their voices and share their experiences, for example via podcasts. Facebook and Instagram can be used as platforms to express, to unite, and to raise awareness. Technology can be mobilised to inform communities, and to promote their needs and interests. The digital space has the ability to facilitate equal access to information.

Challenges

However, when something is online it does not always mean that it is (more) accessible. Not everyone has access to internet due to costs. Some people cannot afford a phone or a laptop. Or they do not have access to a (stable) internet connection. Not everyone can participate in a meaningful way due to language barriers and (digital) illiteracy. The internet is thus a very exclusionary space.

There are social- economic barriers and certain groups are structurally silenced on the internet. Autocratic governments use the internet to control populations, spread propaganda, and to erase opposition. The issues of inequal access and inequal decision-making power are very alarming, but unfortunately systematic. They happen at global-, national-, local- and the household level.

Goals

Today our online and physical lives are strongly intertwined. The digital space should not be exclusionary. States, companies, and civil society should ensure freedom of speech and inclusion. Currently, the digital space is profit orientated and top-down organised. Technologies and the internet focus more on profit than on people.

I think the digital space should be reformed. There should be transparency and accountability mechanisms implemented, and meaningful participation for all. In my opinion, CSW67 should bridge the digital divide, set new global standards about transparency and accountability, and think of ways to guarantee free and safe internet.

Lena Brink, WO=MEN

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