Photo: Red Tani
What does it take to advance digital rights in the Asia-Pacific region? Amid a landscape marked by authoritarian governments and conflicts where technology often plays a central role in exacerbating the situation, the push for digital rights in the region faces significant obstacles. Yet civil society organisations continue to find reasons to carry on their work and even grounds for hope.
In August 2025, a number of APC members gathered at the Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC), a hybrid event organised and hosted by APC member EngageMedia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. DRAPAC brings together digital rights defenders, human rights advocates, journalists, artists, techies and people from marginalised communities, united precisely by their commitment to advancing digital rights.
Taking this regional gathering as an opportunity, we asked our members what gives them hope, what change they wish for, and how we can act together. Responses from 10 organisations in Indonesia, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea revealed a consistent message: building collective action and staying connected are essential. Here are some key takeaways from their insights for anyone nurturing a technological landscape that advances social, gender and environmental justice instead of undermining it.
When hope is hard to find
“Regionally, I feel like digital rights aren’t doing super great, to be honest,” shares Yucca from Exile Hub, which supports human rights defenders, journalists and activists in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. "I think part of the issues that we have is how vulnerable people are to creeping authoritarianism," she explains, describing the growing strength of authoritarianism and how state powers exploit digital tools. She wishes that those organised to defend people and their rights had the means to be as efficient as these state powers are.
Still, Yucca finds hope in the work they do and the people they support on the way, such as those who gather in the residencies that Exile Hub has been running. “When we ran our last residency, we had people who came out with solutions for decentralised digital IDs in the Karenni States, and developing ID solutions for stateless individuals,” she says, adding:
“I think that's actually something that does give me hope, because it doesn't hinge on the participation of governments. It's that, like, identities and identification do not require state sanction in order to be real. You don't have to have a government recognising you for you to be a real human being.”
In challenging times, Yucca also believes in the power of the network to expand awareness.
“I think it’s really important for people to be able to talk to each other and to see that their world is bigger than just what’s immediately in front of them. And I think even feeling like they are part of a bigger community of people working on things helps them be more aware of what’s going on in the world, in the region,” she explains.
For Kyoungmi Oh, from the South Korean organisation Open Net, it's hard to make a concrete wish for the region, knowing that authoritarian countries have no intention of reducing their power, and that they will mobilise that power to kill people. "I just want them to disappear, you know, suddenly," she confides. Yet there is ground to do work that seeds some hope. She mentions that it's possible to balance the protection of targeted groups and their rights, such as feminists and LGBTQIA+ people, with freedom of expression. “Instead of suppressing normal people's freedom of expression, I've recently tried to focus on how to regulate politicians or those who have power or big mics. You know… suppress their hate speech,” she says.
Similarly, Jin Tu, from the Open Culture Foundation (OCF) based in Taiwan, also struggled to talk about hope: “It's kind of difficult for me to answer this question, because right now I see a lot of gaps or things that we need to put more effort in.” Her work, however, still gives her reasons to believe, especially during training sessions, where it's clear that people are changing because of the support offered.
She also appreciates being part of a network within APC. "By just connecting people and giving us the opportunity to get to know each other, like, to know how their government is doing in terms of digital rights, this is already a big effort," she explains. "When you know more about the situation in the whole region, then you can start to come up with ideas to collaborate or to support each other in terms of advocacy work."
Seeing the glass half full
Phet Sayo from DRAPAC's host organisation, EngageMedia, helps us to see the glass as half full. Despite the growing strength of opponents, and the deepening alliance between states and corporations, there are still important wins to celebrate.
“We've won in terms of mainstreaming questions around data governance, we've won in terms of mainstreaming open technology, we've won in mainstreaming questions around platform accountability," he mentions.
Emphasising that civil society has a big role to play in the current context, he believes in strategically reframing issues to advance digital rights. For example, using less confrontational entry points, such as consumer rights and data protection, can open conversations about freedom, censorship and surveillance. "In Vietnam, for instance, you can’t really talk about internet freedoms or freedom of expression, but you can talk about consumer protection, because online fraud in Southeast Asia is huge. It’s a topic they actually want to address."
Jamael Jacob from the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA), an APC member based in the Philippines, points out the disconnect between corporate and government rhetoric on human rights and their actual practices in terms of work, products, services and business models. “I wish they would take it more seriously,” Jacob says, adding: “I also hope that we have that urge to actually do something about it as well... to take action, advocate for digital rights, and put some pressure on both the government and the private sector.” He finds hope in seeing new faces and organisations entering the scene to carry this work forward.
"There are still people out there that care about the work that you do and your reasons while you're doing your work. That gives me hope.”
India: Resisting censorship, defending workers, demanding accountability
In India, Apar Gupta from the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) mentions their work informing influencers and creators on the risks posed by the country’s broadcasting bill against free speech, mobilising them to push back against it – while he wishes for more resources and more organisations working on digital rights in the country.
Mobilising groups affected by emerging problems is also a focus for another India-based APC member, Point of View (POV). Recently, they held consultations with both fact checkers and, separately, with content moderators. “The content moderators are really getting organised and finding each other. There's momentum to push for unionisation and to build a stronger labour movement within data workers' groups,” explains Garima Agrawal from POV, pointing to it as a necessary move. Meanwhile, when it comes to fact checkers, “I think they’re in a very uncertain environment, but the fact that they continue to do this very, very important work for information integrity, despite a lot of pressure, funding challenges, and overall uncertainty, really gives me hope."
Agrawal also highlights the APC network as a space for people across regions to think about similar problems, mentioning as an example the Our Voices, Our Futures (OVOF) project: “Spaces like this are really important for building global collaborative action.”
Another member organisation in the country, the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), has been advocating for platform accountability in partnership with the ARISE (Accountability and Responsibility in South’s Ecosystems) community, gathering a network of at least 50 organisations from different countries, especially from the Global South. According to Maitri Singh from DEF, the work of civil society organisations has been pushing governments to take the topic more seriously, and is starting to influence bills in at least three Indian states. She also describes other efforts, highlighting “The Museum of Digital Society”, a space that honours their two-decade-long work in digital inclusion and community empowerment.
Connectivity from the ground up
In Indonesia, Common Room is celebrating the multistakeholder meetings they held in Jakarta during a national consultation about meaningful connectivity, gathering governments, academia, the private sector and a lot of partner organisations. This was a collaboration with the Local Networks (LocNet) initiative, led by APC and Rhizomatica, and the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA), among many others from the APC network and beyond.
The meetings are part of a long path in building a community-centred perspective on connectivity and allow local voices to define what makes connectivity really meaningful for people’s lives. “We started from zero on that, and now in regional events like this, we are gaining more recognition from other countries and other partners,” noted Tisha Amelia from Common Room. Her wish? For community-centred meaningful connectivity to be “more spread into our Indonesia and regionally.”
Community-centred connectivity initiatives are also a highlight in the work of ISEA. The organisation has been leading a new approach in the region: supporting existing social enterprises to incorporate connectivity provision into their activities, benefiting both their local communities and their economic operations. “We started modelling this last year with a project with APC. There are four social enterprises that are doing that and my wish is that many more social enterprises would be interested to replicate it,” explains Cathy Tiongson from ISEA.
Having built a solid foundation in this field over the past years, the organisation is now working to ensure that gender perspectives are meaningfully integrated in their regional work. “I'm hopeful that we can contribute more in terms of ensuring that gender is integrated into the programmes and policies of our partners in Indonesia and the Philippines,” affirms Tiongson. “We have developed some modules already, some learning sessions, and we're getting interest. For example, in Indonesia, because of the solidarity circle held last year, the number of women participating in activities is increasing,” she adds, with regard to gender integration in social enterprises.
Moving forward
When sources of hope are hard to find, APC members point to the value of something no new technology can offer: the power of human connection. Their voices converged in showing a clear need for resource sharing, which must be understood beyond financial aspects to include people, knowledge, and successful tactics used when facing similar challenges.
Whether it’s resisting censorship, reclaiming accountability, connecting communities or defending workers, digital rights need collective action, sustained collaboration, resources and people working together.
These interviews were carried out by Cho and Red Tani in August 2025 and the article written by Débora Prado.