Knowledge Base

Online counterterrorism practices can have a direct impact on human rights, with certain rights particularly at risks and in need of safeguarding:

• Rights to freedom of expression and access to information may be infringed as there is a risk of removing legal speech when countering TVE. For instance, by removing journalistic reporting or criticism of a terrorist group’s activities, or by removing political dissent.
• Rights to political opinion are at risk when the principles of counterterrorism are abused to stifle political dissent, by designating political dissidents as terrorist actors or by pressuring tech companies to disclose user data for counterterrorism and security reasons.
• Rights to freedom of assembly, association, and political participation are at risks as online CTVE efforts may impact users’ rights to assembly, association, and political participation online when accounts are removed and users are banned. Content removal may also impact discussion to organise political protest online and offline.
• Rights to access the internet and to non-discrimination in access can be infringed upon when deplatforming users. This is of particular relevance and importance in the case of major platforms, for which users may have limited equivalent alternatives.
• Rights to privacy and to data protection are compromised by counterterrorism efforts when monitoring users’ content and behaviours to detect TVE content. This is particularly relevant with countering terrorist use of private and/or encrypted services.¹See Tech Against Terrorism’s report on Terrorist Use of E2EE: State of Play, Misconceptions, and Mitigation Strategies
• Right to dignity, may be infringed by OSPs failing to act against hate speech and discriminatory conduct. This is of particular relevance to the countering of TVE use of the internet as incitement to hatred is common to such content.