William Heath, "March of Intellect" (1829), Public Domain Image Archive
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) welcomes the call by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression for written contributions to inform her forthcoming report on “Freedom of Expression and Elections in the Digital Age”, which will be presented to the Human Rights Council in June 2025.
The following submission draws on the election-related work and observations of APC staff, its members and associates. Acknowledging the specific sets of questions provided by the Special Rapporteur in the call, this submission uses these as a guide to offer considerations in five areas:
- Disinformation campaigns and information disorder during election periods in countries in the global South
- Gendered disinformation and online attacks
- The disengagement of platforms
- Freedom of thought and manipulation of voter perception
- Legislative environments that impact on freedom of expression during election periods in countries in the global South.
In doing so, it responds primarily to the following sets of questions included in the call:
- What have been the key trends, threats or challenges to freedom of expression in the context of elections in your country or in countries where you work?
- What laws, policies or other measures have i) governments, ii) digital and social media companies, iii) media companies and iv) electoral and regulatory bodies taken to uphold and safeguard freedom of expression and access to information in the context of elections in your country or in countries where you work? What has been the impact of these measures?
- What are the key challenges, threats and restrictions faced by journalists during elections in your country or in countries where you work?
- What policies, practices and measures have social media platforms taken to address online threats and challenges to freedom of expression during elections in your country or in countries where you work? How effective have they been?
- What role has disinformation, misinformation or hate speech, online and offline, played during elections in your country or in countries where you work?
- What legal or policy measures exist or have been introduced in your country or in countries where you work to address disinformation, misinformation or “hate speech”? How effective have they been to address such practices during elections?
A set of recommendations are also provided at the end of this submission.