The Global Network Initiative urges UN Special Rapporteur to address expanding state powers over digital communications
The Global Network Initiative has urged the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression to prioritise growing government powers over data and communications, digital surveillance, AI regulation and meaningful public participation in digital policymaking.
The Global Network Initiative (GNI) submitted a written contribution to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Leopoldo Maldonado Gutiérrez. In the submission GNI congratulated the Special Rapporteur on his appointment and thanked him for the opportunity to contribute to the mandate’s priorities.
GNI said the preliminary strategic framework presented by the Special Rapporteur is ‘a sound basis for the mandate’s work’. The organisation recommended that the three‑year mandate give particular attention to two connected priorities: the expansion of government powers over data and communications, and growing challenges to transparent, inclusive and accountable digital policymaking.
In the area of cross‑border data sharing GNI warned that overlapping regulatory frameworks – including laws on cybercrime, cross‑border evidence‑sharing, data localisation, online safety, age assurance and AI – can create new obligations to collect, retain or process personal information. The submission urged the Special Rapporteur to examine these developments together with the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, and to assess the cumulative risks of linking datasets and enabling secondary uses of personal information.
GNI raised concerns about the UN Convention against Cybercrime, describing its scope as broad, its human‑rights safeguards as ‘limited and qualified’, and noting the risk that its provisions could be used against legitimate expression by journalists, security researchers, vulnerable groups and civil society. The submission also noted that some member states are pushing for a supplementary protocol that would further expand the Convention’s scope, rather than pursuing safeguards such as dual criminality, independent authorisation, effective grounds for refusal, transparency and effective remedies.
The contribution highlighted the acceleration of digital transnational repression, citing examples such as Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act, which grants broad powers to compel content removal and access communications, and the recently endorsed ASEAN Guidelines on the Governance of Digital Platforms, which GNI said could facilitate coordinated regional enforcement based on expansive definitions of illegal content.
Regarding government interventions in AI, GNI pointed to legislation, regulatory guidance, public procurement and other measures that affect the AI value chain. The submission called for clear legal frameworks, transparency, accountability and remedies, and urged the Special Rapporteur to encourage states to ensure that safeguards are demonstrably operational before AI systems are deployed and that non‑AI alternatives remain accessible where essential services are concerned.
On age‑assurance and online safety, GNI noted that age‑verification or age‑estimation systems can require the collection or inference of sensitive personal information, reduce anonymity and restrict access to lawful information. The submission referred to proposals to ban social‑media access for people under 16 in Australia and similar legislative initiatives in more than 60 other countries, and urged the Special Rapporteur to encourage states to consider less intrusive, evidence‑based approaches.
GNI also documented patterns of broad content regulation and intermediary liability that rely on imprecise terms such as ‘false information’, ‘rumours’, ‘defamation’ or ‘public order’. The submission cited draft amendments to India’s 2021 IT Rules published in March 2026, which GNI said would make compliance with a wide range of executive instruments a condition of safe harbour, and Sri Lanka’s Online Safety Act, which GNI said establishes broadly defined categories of prohibited content and disproportionate penalties.
The contribution identified surveillance, data‑access and localisation requirements in countries such as Vietnam and Mexico, and highlighted recent network disruptions and website‑blocking incidents, including increased internet shutdowns in Nepal in 2025, recurring restrictions in Iran and Gaza, IP‑level blocking in Spain that made more than half a million domains inaccessible, and a French court order that required the DNS resolver Quad9 to block domains linked to piracy, prompting Quad9 to withdraw its free service.
GNI called for independent oversight, user notification, effective redress and language accessibility in digital‑policy processes. The organisation emphasised the importance of multistakeholder participation, referencing the WSIS+20 outcome, the Internet Governance Forum’s permanent mandate, the NETmundial+10 Sao Paulo Principles and its own MAP‑AI project on multistakeholder approaches to AI governance. GNI also noted limited consultation in national digital law‑making in Bangladesh and Zambia, and urged the Special Rapporteur to promote consultation standards that include adequate notice, access to draft texts, impact assessments and meaningful public input.
Finally, the submission highlighted the relevance of public‑interest digital infrastructure, citing the WSIS+10 Outcome Document, the Global Digital Compact, the UN Universal DPI Safeguards Framework, UNDP’s DPI safeguards work and related initiatives across the ITU and national governments. The submission argued that digital public infrastructure built on open, interoperable and rights‑respecting foundations can strengthen media independence, provided that strong safeguards prevent surveillance, censorship or undue state influence.
