Results from the DDI Programme

Major court victory against a spyware firm

Access Now has had a special focus on spyware surveillance. They published a report calling out the use of Pegasus to hack and spy on civil society in Jordan. Access Now’s commitment to challenge overreaching surveillance laws, policies, and practices and the use of spyware is demonstrated by their involvement in a landmark case against the cyber-intelligence company NSO Group. Access Now’s work on the case began in 2020, when they collaborated with multiple partners to submit an amicus brief and compile in-depth testimonies from Pegasus victims in India, Morocco, Rwanda, and Togo. In May 2025, a California jury found that NSO Group should pay $167,254,000 in punitive damages and $445,000 in compensatory damages for targeting WhatsApp’s infrastructure with its Pegasus spyware. This is the first time the company is to pay damages for its hacking operations, and marks the first major court victory against the spyware firm. Access Now coordinated with partners in the Global South — who are working on the frontlines — to help amplify their voices and experiences in this case.

Shining light on the governance of internet connectivity

Access Now published the report: “Holding Space for Human Rights: A Bid for Better Governance of Satellite Internet Connectivity”, examining the rapid expansion of satellite internet services and their implications for human rights. The report analyses how satellite connectivity is reshaping access to information, humanitarian response, and digital inclusion, while also presenting new governance challenges relating to accountability, transparency, and the protection of fundamental rights. Drawing on legal, policy, and technical analysis, the report identifies gaps in existing international governance frameworks and assesses their ability to address the growing role of private satellite providers in global connectivity. It highlights the need for governance approaches that safeguard human rights while supporting innovation and expanding access to connectivity. The report provides practical recommendations for governments, international organisations, industry, and civil society to strengthen transparency, oversight, and multistakeholder cooperation. It contributes to ongoing international discussions on the governance of satellite internet by promoting a human rights-based approach to the development and operation of this increasingly important communications infrastructure.

Internet ban in Mauritius only lasted 24 hours

The #KeepItOn Campaign has had a special focus on preventing internet shutdowns in relation to elections. One case was from Mauritius where the local government enforced a social media shutdown in the lead up to the national elections. The ban was intended to continue until November 11. This was the first time Mauritius shut down the internet since the #KeepItOn coalition started to document instances of internet shutdowns in 2016. Upon learning about the blocking of essential social media applications before the elections, the #KeepItOn campaign mobilised to raise awareness on this violation of human rights. Following this advocacy, Mauritius lifted its ban on social media on November 2 – about 24 hours after implementation.

Disinformation and rumours in Bolivia

CIVICUS’ partner in Bolivia, ChequeaBolivia, utilised the grant to track traditional and social media and operate the digital platform, ChequeaTuVoto, to detect and debunk disinformation. The organisation produced inclusive, multimedia counternarratives tailored to youth, women, and Indigenous communities, and trained grassroots leaders in rumour tracking and digital tools to foster informed and less polarised engagement during elections. Before the project, deep distrust of institutions and traditional media combined with strong reliance on informal community networks created fertile ground for the spreading of rumours and misleading narratives. The project allowed the communities to find information gaps and identify the harmful narratives which needed to be addressed at the local level. The communication materials subsequently produced by the project were based on this knowledge.

Preparing democracies for the age of deepfakes

CIVICUS published the report Future-Proofing Elections Against Deepfake Disinformation to examine how AI-generated content is reshaping election disinformation. Drawing on evidence from the 2024–2025 global election cycle, the report finds that while deepfakes have not yet had the feared impact on elections, they are contributing to declining trust in democratic institutions. The report offers practical recommendations for governments, technology companies and civil society to strengthen information integrity, protect human rights and build public resilience against emerging digital threats.

Digital security trainings create tangible results

Belady Foundation which operates in a highly restrictive environment was supported by CIVICUS’ Digital Resiliency Grants. They implemented a digital security training initiative comprising 12 hands‑on workshops with practical safeguards, including encrypted cloud storage, two‑factor authentication, password management, VPN use and secure messaging. When security forces in 2025 raided the homes of two participants from the workshops and seized laptops, no sensitive data was compromised. Alongside these workshops, 75 individual and 13 group psychosocial sessions led to major wellbeing gains for the involved HRDs with anxiety going from 100% to 10%, burnout going from 80% to 5%, and 0% staff turnover. The outcome was clear: secure operations, strengthened staff resilience and improved psychosocial well-being.

First-ever online human rights course in the Kyrgyz language

Civics Public Foundation from Kyrgyzstan was a part of the first Digital Action Lab (DAL) run by CIVICUS. Through their participation in the DAL, Civics Public Foundation developed the first-ever online human rights course in the Kyrgyz language. Already reaching hundreds of young people, the course will remain a long-term educational resource, expanding access to civic education, especially for youth in remote regions. The DAL program fostered partnerships with independent media and enabled them to host their course on a gamified platform, ensuring broader reach. Civics Public Foundation state: “Overall, DAL has made us more agile, resilient, and innovative, equipping us to navigate shrinking civic space while advancing democratic values.”

Consultations inform the Global Legal Principles

Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) and their consortium partner the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) are making progress toward the production of Global Legal Principles through a series of expert consultations. These engagements included sessions at the Internet Governance Forum in Norway, the Bread & Net regional digital rights conference in MENA, a regional consultation in Namibia at the Forum on Internet Freedom, and in a regional consultation organised in Thailand. The consultations gathered general and regional-specific input to the content and structure of the principles, and raised awareness and interest about international law regulating the digital space. The activities all contributed to the development of the Principles, which were shared in a draft version by December 2025.

Global expert group is leading the process

DIHR has successfully convened a global expert group of 18 leading specialists from diverse disciplines and regions to develop international legal principles for the digital age. The group is tasked with defining how international law and standards should be interpreted, applied, and enforced in digital contexts - a significant step toward strengthening human rights–based governance of digital technologies. Through an inclusive process and months of collaborative work, the experts worked in thematic sub groups on principles which were then consolidated into a comprehensive zero draft. This draft will serve as the basis for discussion and finalisation of the principles.

Support for digital helpline in Myanmar

Digital Defenders Partnership (DDP) provided regional partnership funding to a long-standing digital rights and digital safety initiative operating in Myanmar. The initiative was originally established in 2012 to promote the use of technology for social change, media literacy, and the empowerment of youth and marginalized communities. Following the 2021 military coup, the initiative continued its work through a dedicated digital rights and digital safety team operating under heightened risk. The year-long grant from DDP supports preventative digital security for activists, journalists, and civil society actors, with planned activities including the delivery of contextualised digital security trainings and training-of-trainers programmes to strengthen local trainer and support networks. The grant also enables the continued operation of a Digital Security Helpline, providing technical assistance, emergency support, and incident response. Finally, the grant supports organisational digital security advocacy and ongoing research and documentation to adapt mitigation approaches to Myanmar’s evolving digital threat landscape.

Strengthening the resilience of at-risk partners

DDP has closed a protection gap by ensuring support for the non-selected applicants from their Accompaniment Program – as these organisations face significant digital and contextual risks. Six online workshops were organised for these organisations, reaching over 200 participants from human rights and feminist groups. The sessions covered topics such as basic digital security, collective protection against online harassment, safe social media use, VPNs, device and account security, and malware and phishing prevention. Through this initiative, DDP has extended the impact of the Accompaniment Program beyond its main participants – strengthening the overall resilience of at-risk partners.

Tech Care Guide - now in French

DDP has made significant progress with the Tech Care Guide, which is developed as a step-by-step resource for civil society to deliver digital support in emergencies. This tool offers guidance for identifying risks, responding to incidents, and fostering care practices around digital security and well-being. In May 2025, DDP launched the French translation of the Tech Care Guide, ensuring maintenance and adaptation of the content to enhance usability. It was shared widely with French-speaking audiences through conferences and events in Francophone Africa and among regional networks.

Digital training for young scouts

European Partnership for Democracy's (EPD) consortium partner The World Organisation of the Scout Movements (WOSM) mobilised 40 young scout members from 10 different countries during the training of trainers (ToT) in Togo in April 2025. They were trained on digital technologies and advocacy for digital rights. The participants then mobilised their own national movements, becoming trainers of their community in Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Senegal, Mali, and Ethiopia, training a total of 311 young scout members during the month of June. The ToT campaign will continue, with the objective of training 500 young people across the Sahel region.

Setting up CitizenLabs in Senegal, Guinea, Cameroon, and Chad 

Co-leading partner of the project, Africtivistes, has set up four new CitizenLabs in Senegal, Guinea, Cameroon, and Chad and coached two already existing ones in Benin and Mauritania. The CitizenLabs are networks of activists acting as think tanks on the issues of citizen participation, civic tech and digital democracy. After a period of capacity building and activity planning, the CitizenLabs started their activities of civic education, content production and advocacy campaigns. 10 campaigns on diverse topics have been conducted through the CitizenLabs. The Senegal CitizenLab conducted an awareness-raising campaign on digital security and cyberbullying, the Benin CitizenLab created online content raising awareness on gender-based violence, and the Cameroon CitizenLab developed a campaign on youth political participation in the digital era. 

Co-designing the Cybercrimes and Computer Misuse Bill in South Sudan

In South Sudan, Digital Rights Frontline (DRF), an implementing partner of EPD’s consortium, led a long-standing advocacy campaign including meetings with members of parliament, roundtables, as well as parliamentary and technical workshops on the reform of the Cybercrimes and Computer Misuse Bill. The campaign was successful, and the law was co-designed by politicians and civil society and finally adopted in early 2026 thanks to the sustained advocacy engagement of DRF during 2025. Several of DRF’s recommendations were included into the bill. In particular, DRF advocated for and succeeded in including:

• The establishment of a dedicated national cybercrime department under the Ministry of Justice, 
• Provisions criminalising gender-based online harassment and impersonation, in response to documented cases affecting women and youth online.

Sub-granting to the macro, meso, and micro levels

The consortium NET-that-WORKS, with Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (FMS) as the leading partner, has succeeded in kick-starting their sub-granting mechanisms across their consortium. 134 organisations have been supported distributed between 14 countries. This achievement reflects a deliberate effort to resource actors working in highly diverse contexts, prioritizing grassroots organisations in underrepresented areas while also strengthening regional networks with the capacity to influence digital rights frameworks. By covering the macro, meso, and micro levels of intervention, the portfolio ensures a multi-layered impact: advancing policy advocacy, reinforcing organisational preparedness, and enhancing individual and community resilience. The composition of the selected organisations includes Women Human Rights Defenders and Women Decision Makers, such as digital activists, journalists, LGBTQ+ groups, migrant communities, Afro-descendant and Indigenous women, and academic collectives. The support provided not only responds to urgent protection needs but also contributes to long-term transformations in digital citizenship, gender equality, and the defence of (digital) democratic spaces across Latin America.

Campaign: The Digital World is the Real World

“The Digital World is The Real World” is a regional campaign led by the Consortium partners to highlight that digital violence is real and deeply affects women, trans and non-binary people, and the organisations that defend their rights. The landing page (https://lodigitalesreal.org/) is a repository of concepts, debates, and strategies to address TFGBV and includes a resource directory of organisations that provide support in cases of digital violence. In its 2025 launch, seven influencers shared real TFGBV stories on Instagram linked to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25th), reaching over 240,000 views. With a 6% share rate, the campaign achieved strong engagement and resonance, driving visits to campaign website and placing digital violence in the public discourse.

Capacity building through accompaniment in Central America 

The subgrantee partner Alharaca implemented a regional capacity building project called Mediatón, which strengthened the capacity of 35 journalists, content creators, artists, designers, and civil society organisations from across Central America. The project included virtual workshops on TFGBV, gender perspectives, and innovative storytelling formats; weekly mentoring and accompaniment to develop collaborative media products; and in person meetings and workshops in Guatemala. Through this project, the participants developed new skills, produced collective stories, and built regional networks focused on human rights, gender issues, and democratic participation.

Launching the DDI Global Digital Knowledge Hub

Global Focus and CIVICUS have collaborated on building an online global digital knowledge hub curating information and knowledge products to enable peer-learning within and across borders and organisations about the challenges, potentials, and impacts of digital technologies on civic engagement and inclusive democracy. The Knowledge Hub consists of a curated online library, as well as a global peer learning community sharing knowledge in regular Community Calls featuring presentations and knowledge sharing from across the DDI partner projects as well as the Advisory Board for the DDI, and beyond. The first version of the platform can be accessed here: Connecting Current

Community calls 

Global Focus conducted a series of Community Calls for participants in the Knowledge Hub community. One highlight was Community Call #6 in June in collaboration with DDI implementing partner WITNESS and the DDI Advisory Board. The Call examined the world of disinformation and generative artificial intelligence, and how the increasing use of AI generated imagery is making it harder than ever to prove or disprove the authenticity of an image. In it, Richard Ngamita from the DDI Advisory Board presented a selection of cases, and challenges facing the verification process and gave insight into the issues that were expected in relation to elections. Widespread panic about the use of deepfakes and AI-assisted misinformation in the 2024 Year of Elections, turned out to be overstated, but not unproblematic. Following up, Nkem Agunwa from WITNESS presented their guide on Community-based Approaches to Verification covering their six-stage verification process and gave a thorough run-through of some of the available image verification methodologies.

Report detailing how HRDs are targeted with digital attacks

The report Breaking Points – Digital Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in the Majority World was released, concluding the research assignment commissioned by the Advisory Board. The report details how human rights defenders are targeted with digital attacks and how digital violence is inseparable from physical threats. It presents findings from an extensive literature review as well as qualitative interviews and provides a line of actionable recommendations to key stakeholders.

A decline in forest fires in Bolivia

In Bolivia, IWGIA worked closely with their local partner, ORE, to ensure early warnings on floods and forest fires. Activities included trainings on territorial monitoring and governance, including on data collection, mapping, satellite image analysis. The area’s Territorial Governance Platform was upgraded with a new dashboard, geodatabase, and AI generated deforestation data. Two meteorological stations were established, and a community-based tech hub was set up and equipped with digital tools. Through the project, the IPs’ territorial governance was strengthened. The use of digital tools, integrated with Indigenous knowledge, enabled a faster and more accurate decision-making to protect territories and respond to crises. The capacity of the IPs to respond to crisis was also strengthened e.g. through their own firefighting brigade, who could respond more quickly. In 2025, IPs in the area detected risk of floods and fires early, shared alerts across communities, and coordinated responses to them, enabling mobilization of external emergency support to affected communities. The reduction of forest areas affected by fires, from 90,000 ha in 2023 and 30,000 ha in 2024 to 15,000 ha in 2025, suggests that early warning systems and related trainings are, at least in part, contributing to a reduction of forest fires.

Campaign against climate disinformation in Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Kenya

Collaboration between Indigenous communities and youth-led content creators and media hubs were developed in Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Kenya, under the Fake News Fighters partnership. Under this partnership, the Hope Not Heat! - “Log Off the Lies” campaign was launched in October. The campaign exposed the role of digital platforms in spreading climate disinformation, using satire and strategic content targeting youth. Campaign contents reached 1.9 million views. The initiative was selected to receive support from the Global Fund for Information Integrity, and contributed to the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, which secured inclusion of information integrity on a UNFCCC COP agenda for the first time.

Giving Indigenous voices a platform in the climate debate

IWGIA's consortium partner International Media Support published the report “Climate Disinformation in Pakistan: Silencing Indigenous Peoples' Voices” to examine how false and misleading climate narratives affect some of the country's most vulnerable communities. The study documents how disinformation undermines trust, excludes Indigenous perspectives from public debate, and weakens climate resilience. By providing evidence and practical recommendations for journalists, policymakers, and civil society, the report helps strengthen information integrity and ensure Indigenous voices are heard in climate discussions.

Fortifying community truth in Beirut 

Together with SMEX in Beirut, WITNESS organised a three-day, in-person training for journalists, fact-checkers, and HRDs in November. This included practitioners affiliated with Lebanese media outlets and civil society initiatives with prior familiarity with verification tools. The training aimed to strengthen participants’ ability to verify and analyse visual content emerging from human rights contexts. Through hands-on exercises and practical sessions, participants learned community-based approaches to visual verification, including assessing sources and content, and determining time and location. The training also explored how verified videos can be used for advocacy and accountability. Participants reported increased confidence in assessing and verifying audio-visual content. Based on post-training survey data, participants reported increased confidence in assessing and verifying audio-visual content, particularly around geolocation, chronolocation, and source assessment, and several noted plans to apply the training to improve daily editorial decisions. Many highlighted the practical exercises as the most valuable component and noted plans to apply the training to improve daily editorial decisions and strengthen internal processes.

Supporting journalists to navigate AI in Iraq

In August 2025, WITNESS partnered with INSM, an Iraqi organisation whose fact-checking portal, Al-Fahes, plays a leading role in countering misinformation in Iraq. Together, they launched a training to equip journalists and fact-checkers with the skills needed to navigate an AI-saturated information landscape ahead of Iraq’s November elections. Delivered remotely over two interactive sessions with Arabic interpretation, it brought together journalists, fact-checkers, and civil society practitioners to provide essential knowledge and practical tools to respond to the growing influence of generative AI in electoral processes and to explore how generative AI is shaping elections and how emerging detection and verification strategies can strengthen information integrity. Following the trainings, participants stated improved understanding and high confidence in their ability to apply verification skills to their work. In addition to building AI detection skills, the training connected participants to WITNESS’ Deep Fakes Rapid Response Force, enabling communities to access expert support and tools. In 2026, WITNESS will continue to partner with journalists and fact-checkers across regions to deliver these trainings ahead of elections.

First smartphone to reveal edited photos 

The new Google Pixel 10, launched in August 2025, is the first smartphone to automatically show whether a photo was taken by a camera and whether it has been edited – including AI modifications. This makes it easier for anyone viewing a photo to see how it was created and trust what they see. WITNESS helped make this possible. Fifteen years ago, they partnered with Guardian Project on ProofMode, a system using camera metadata to verify the authenticity and provenance of images in critical human rights contexts. Back then, they asked: what would it look like if every camera could do this? Now, that vision is becoming reality.