The year 2022 has been eventful for the digital world, from the shifts in big social media networks to rapid advancements in technology. These changes have significant implications on digital rights in the Asia-Pacific, and along with it, the efforts of civil society and digital rights actors such as EngageMedia to uphold open and secure digital spaces.
In the final 2022 episode of Pretty Good Podcast, EngageMedia Executive Director Phet Sayo shares his take on the current issues surrounding Big Tech globally and how these affect the challenges of disinformation and freedom of expression in the Asia-Pacific. Phet also discusses his vision for the future of digital rights, which centres on building alliances and moving towards open and distributed forms of technology.
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- Phet Sayo took the reins as EngageMedia’s new Executive Director in August 2022, bringing to the organisation decades of experience in information, communications, and technology policy, internet governance, and artificial intelligence.
- Phet took over the executive director role from Andrew Lowenthal, EngageMedia co-founder and former Executive Director, who transitioned to the board after 17 years of leading the organisation. In this post, Phet shares his thoughts on the organisation’s future and mission in the Asia-Pacific.
- According to Phet, the main digital rights challenges in the Asia-Pacific are the rise of disinformation and increasing restrictions on free speech and assembly that have come up hand in hand with the increasing adoption of far-right ideologies globally.
- EngageMedia has been working to address these issues through alliance-building with like-minded organisations and individuals:
- EngageMedia collaborated with the Association for Progressive Communications for the three-year “Challenging hate narratives and violations of freedom of religion and expression online in Asia” (Challenge) project, which involved the production of research, blog posts, creative content, and social media campaigns to counter online hate narratives.
- In collaboration with a consortium of partners, EngageMedia convened a series of Digital Rights Country Forums in Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, and Indonesia to create spaces and opportunities for collaborations and knowledge-sharing among digital rights actors.
- EngageMedia, in partnership with research institute Asia Centre, conducted in-depth research identifying the impact of the Computer Crime Act on freedom of expression in Thailand.
- Learn more about EngageMedia’s work on https://engagemedia.org/projects/.
- EngageMedia has been working to address these issues through alliance-building with like-minded organisations and individuals:
- While ongoing efforts to fight disinformation are important, Phet also cautions against veering towards censorship or imposing limits on freedom of expression. He points out that policies and initiatives should be cognisant of the tension that exists between fighting disinformation and resorting to censorship. These require nuanced conversations and careful negotiation among digital rights actors.
- Several articles in EngageMedia’s Pandemic of Control series examine how governments in the Asia-Pacific attempted to tackle disinformation during the health crisis using technological measures. This approach, however, veered towards digital authoritarianism and censorship of critical voices.
- Phet stresses the need for civil society organisations to understand better how technology can impact policy and vice versa.
- Spaces for collaboration and deeper conversations among digital rights actors are crucial to address these issues. EngageMedia recently participated in the 17th Internet Governance Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where EngageMedia showcased its research work on data justice and improving data protection laws in the region. The data justice session highlighted EngageMedia’s research collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute for the Advancing Data Justice Research and Practice project, which produced a report on how data justice is perceived and understood by stakeholders in Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as a video and a Pretty Good Podcast episode expounding on the research findings.
- EngageMedia is also hosting a series of digital rights events in 2022 and 2023 that aims to convene a regional network to foster solidarity for safeguarding digital rights in the region.
- EngageMedia is kicking off 2023 with the Asia-Pacific Digital Rights Forum, a three-day regional forum on January 12 to 14, 2023 that will create online and physical spaces for changemakers to further discuss and collaborate on solutions to the region’s most pressing digital rights issues today.
- This forum leads up to the much-anticipated Asia-Pacific Digital Rights Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in May 2023, organised by EngageMedia in collaboration with a consortium of partners. The digital rights themes, partnerships, and collaborations from the regional forum will be integral in shaping the Festival itself. Join as a participant or host a session by applying using the form here.
- This is the last episode of the Pretty Good Podcast for 2022. Head on over to EngageMedia.org/podcast to catch the previous episodes. Stay tuned for a new season on digital rights in the Asia-Pacific in 2023.
