Access Now's Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression on Freedom of Expression in Challenging Times

Access Now's Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression on Freedom of Expression in Challenging Times Access Nowʼs Submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression on Freedom of Expression in Challenging Times 21 June 2024 I. [...] Access Now welcomes the opportunity to provide relevant information to the United Nations (UN.) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression for her upcoming UN General Assembly thematic report on Freedom of Expression in Challenging Times .1 As an ECOSOC accredited organization, Access Now routinely engages with the UN in support of our mission to extend. [...] This submission addresses the trends, challenges and threats to freedom of expression in relation to the war on Gaza and its broader consequences on online content moderation and the right to peaceful protest in the MENA region. [...] Large online platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, suspended or restricted the accounts of Palestinian journalists and activists both inside and outside of Gaza, and arbitrarily deleted a considerable amount of content, including documentation of atrocity crimes and human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.4 1UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures, Call for sub. [...] For online platforms: ● Conduct heighted human rights due diligence to identify, mitigate, and remediate the negative impacts of their services, policies, and actions on human rights, especially in light of the International Court of Justiceʼs ruling on the plausibility of a real and imminent risk of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza;27 ● Address the over-enforcement of Palestine-rel.