RightsCon 2025 in Taipei – Insights on digital rights and activism

RightsCon 2025 in Taipei – Insights on digital rights and activism

Last month, RightsCon, the international summit on human rights in the digital age, took place in Taipei, Taiwan, from 24th to 27th February. After its previous iteration in Costa Rica two years ago, RightsCon once again brought together a mix of large and small NGOs, tech companies, policy-makers, and activists.

Event overview

The summit was attended by our team member Sonja Fischbauer, who leads organisational development at OKF Germany. After attending the g0v summit 2024 in Taipei, she returned to Taiwan for a longer stay, connecting with like-minded local organizations such as the Open Culture Foundation. This Taiwanese nonprofit acts as a hub to connect the local open source community with human rights activists, civil society and government stakeholders. The Open Culture Foundation was this year’s local partner for the organizers behind RightsCon, the US-American NGO Access Now. 

While RightsCon is primarily organized as a space for grassroots activists to connect and for tech and human rights researchers to share their findings, it is also a platform for tech corporations to present themselves in a favourable light. The list of event sponsors includes all the major tech giants, the very organizations we’re up against in the fight for digital human rights. As far as we could tell, their presence at the event itself was minimal, but this combination still holds a certain tension worth addressing.

Impact of US funding cuts

Unprecedented funding cuts by the US-administration began to hit the world about a month prior to the summit, and more funding cuts to human rights and open tech projects are still coming in. This deprived the conference of many crucial participants and resulted in sessions being cancelled. The conference programming was still extensive – the length of the session list is comparable to that of the CCC congress. Even though we tried to learn about a wide range of topics and connect with communities we don‘t normally get to meet, we feel compelled to disclaim that what we could learn covers only a small part of the entire conference programming. And because the programming is only accessible for registered participants, we won’t link to specific sessions. 

Geopolitical context and digital resilience

The event was defined by the intense geopolitical situation that permeated every conversation in one way or another. Solidarity with Palestine was expressed both during and between sessions, with experts reporting on Israel’s digital repression and surveillance and sharing digital resilience strategies for Palestinian liberation. Given the host country, another ubiquitous topic was China, whose threat to Taiwanese independence is an ongoing reality for the people here. China is steadily increasing its military presence in the Taiwan Strait. Chinese ships are responsible for attempts to cut Taiwan’s internet connection to the rest of the world by damaging undersea cables, like is currently the case for the Taiwanese Matsu Islands. Taiwan currently is in the process of establishing its own satellite network as an alternative to the 14 undersea cables. A civic tech project lead by Taiwanese volunteers called Webservice Resiliance has tasked itself with gauging the effects of undersea cable cut-offs on a larger scale. Volunteers are identifying which services would collapse and subsequently reach out to the affected service providers, to help fortify their strategies.  

Given this palpable pressure from China, it’s no wonder that many Taiwanese people look to Ukrainian activists and civil society wartime organizers not only in solidarity, but as direct peers with whom to exchange tactics and lessons learned. One of these peers was Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk, writer for The Guardian and co-founder of Public Journalism Lab, who shared her methods of promoting constructive discussions on complex social topics through data-driven, high-quality content.

Digital threats and security for nonprofits

As human rights defenders in East Asia face these growing digital threats, the demand for security support increases as well. A report by the Open Culture Foundation found that half of 35 surveyed human rights groups faced data leaks, hacking, or platform shutdowns, often from authoritarian actors. With limited technical skills and manpower, many rely on volunteers. One of their sessions at RightsCon brought together experts from civil society organizations like TechSoup Global and [Citizen Lab] (https://citizenlab.ca/category/research/tools-resources/), who offer security audits and training for nonprofits with a focus on long-term support

Key takeaways
· The best security protocol is the one you can actually follow. Maybe you have to use proprietary software because it’s easier. A lower standard that everyone abides by is better than a high standard that is too hard to implement with limited resources.
· Simplify website architecture to reduce security risks and costs – especially important if you want to keep a project’s website running indefinitely, long after the funding has run out. 

Addressing digital trauma

Besides technical measures, conversations about digital security must also address the emotional, psychological and physical implications of online harm. While tech tools like VPNs and password managers are essential, solutions must also prioritize emotional healing, safe spaces, and practices to help survivors overcome what experts call digital trauma. In several sessions, activists, human rights defenders, and digital security experts from various regions such as Cameroon, Tanzania, Thailand and Myanmar provided insights into the realities of rampant online harassment against women who speak out against political injustices. 

Key takeaways
· One survivor shared her methods of overcoming the trauma of a large-scale campaign of online violence: finding safe haven, a routine and keeping a list of daily accomplishments, however small.
· When it comes to digital security trainings, one size does not fit all – digital skills need to be taught through in-person, hands-on training that is tailored to the specific area. 

Building an open community for sexual minorities

While Taiwan is generally considered a queer friendly country. It was the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019, two years after Germany did. In both countries, queer creators continue to face double standards, receiving scrutiny for supposedly ‘oversharing’ about their private lives in a way that straight creators do not. In a topical session, Yang, the founder of [Lezismore] (https://lezismore.org/), a Taiwanese independent sexual minority community platform, shared the governance challenges of maintaining a sexual content platform, especially one with queer sexual content. The platform is under constant threat from child protection and women’s rights laws, often weaponized to dismantle queer spaces (tactics of oppression that are not specific to Taiwan). Lezismore’s community-building strategy is based on trust over surveillance and allows participants to register with pseudonyms. 

Key takeaways
· Facilitate flexible, community-driven moderation through selected peers, who maintain flexibility and consider individual context in their rulings.
· Regarding open source not just as technology but as a process: Documenting a platform’s journey is important, as communities and platforms are not permanent. This can help build a new community in the same way that shared code can. 

Disability, queerness and activism through art

A workshop led by Nu, founder of Revival Disability India provided insights into narratives of disability, sexuality and intersectional ableism. They highlighted how collaborative digital tools and online design tools enable creativity for those who find physical art difficult. 

Key takeaways
· Spotlighting art as a form of resistance is an approach highlighted by researcher and Churchill Fellow Daria Cybulska, whose research on activism in Central Asia shows how art can create critical spaces of expression under authoritarian regimes.
· We recommend browsing the Revivial Disability Magazine on Medium.com for stories of disabled friendship, disabled love, disabled grief. 

Gender-based violence and its impact on democracy

Weaponized misogyny is a substantial threat to democracy. It serves as a powerful tool for silencing progressive issues, with minority women being disproportionately targeted. A panel hosted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom’s Global Innovation Hub in Taipei featured a group of experts on the topic. Panelists agreed that while legal frameworks are essential, the solution requires a multifaceted approach, combining legal, technical, and cultural efforts simultaneously. 

Key takeaways
· Far-right campaigns use misogyny to target women in key positions – not just to discredit women, but to stall progressive politics. This differs from everyday misogyny, as the goal is advancing a political agenda.
· Gender-based violence often involves perpetrators specifically choosing languages that for example Meta’s content moderation tools are insufficiently trained in, like Hindi or Cambodian, to evade detection. Another tactic is creating fake pornographic content of a victim, through AI generated images and videos.
· Tech giants have a natural interest in supporting political forces that favor division, because they want to avoid global regulation.
· The EU’s Digital Services Act offers an opportunity to better regulate the platforms where most gender-based violence occurs. 

AI regulation and global alignment

On the topic of regulation, a panel of experts discussed the question of whether truly global alignment on AI safety is possible. They concluded that no, there will not be a global agreement but varying agreements for different regions. Companies around the world are pouring extreme amounts of money into developing AGI because they think it is the biggest financial market and the biggest tech achievement of humanity - even if we don’t believe that they will succeed, this topic needs to be taken seriously. The upcoming [Africa AI summit] (https://aiafricasummit.com/) to be held in May 2025 in Kampala, Uganda, was highlighted as a showcase for the continents’ increasing technological advancement.  

Key takeaways
· Current conversation around AI safety holds lots of colonial approaches. The term ‘non consensual’ is used to refer to the ways AI systems can exploit, misrepresent, or marginalize certain groups without their consent.
· When advocating for AI regulation, the aim of ‘preventing harm’ over ‘ensuring safety’ paints a clearer picture of what should be achieved.

Conclusion and looking ahead

After four days of dense programming including open sessions, private meetups, community booths and unofficial hallway tracks, the RightsCon 2025 came to a close. The next iteration of the summit is planned to happen in 2026 in Africa, potentially in Kenya. While we do not always find it easy to retain strength in this dark timeline, we can definitely gain hope from solidarity with other activists, fighting together against misinformation, genocide and facism. As a place to start your fight for democracy in Germany, we suggest FragDenStaat’s guide to preparing to defend democracy.