Technology's suppression of freedom facing opposition by Amnesty International
In the digital age, where technology has become an integral part of our daily lives, Amnesty International has evolved its focus to include digital rights as a core concern. This shift comes in response to the rise of digital surveillance, state hacking, and online repression targeting civil society and human rights defenders.
Recent years have seen a growing trend of political leaders in France expressing a desire to see facial recognition deployed, as well as the use of drones during protests and the legalization of algorithmic video surveillance for the 2024 Olympic Games. These examples highlight the increasing presence of surveillance tools in French public spaces, a development that is increasingly concerning for human rights advocates.
Amnesty International began focusing on digital world issues in the late 2010s and early 2020s. One of their most notable actions was a 2019 legal challenge against the NSO Group, a surveillance technology firm implicated in abuses against activists and journalists. This case reflects Amnesty's ongoing concern about digital tools used to violate rights.
The organization's Security Lab has analysed cases of digital intrusion on activists, such as a 2024 incident in Serbia where spyware was used against a journalist, as documented in Amnesty's 2025 report “A Digital Prison”.
Amnesty International views technologies, especially AI-based surveillance and authoritarian digital practices, as both tools of repression and arenas for defending human rights. They collaborate with networks like European Digital Rights (EDRi) to protect online freedoms and advocate for legislation promoting digital rights in the EU.
The European Union has shown pioneering regulation of technologies, but the adopted texts are not always up to the challenges. For instance, the AI Act provides limited protections for affected and marginalized persons and does not prohibit the dangerous use and export of draconian AI technologies.
Meanwhile, advanced technologies are being used by states around the world to widely monitor populations or illegally spy on members of civil society. Amnesty has contributed to exposing the global crisis of targeted digital surveillance, through revelations such as the Pegasus Project or the Predator Files.
Amnesty Tech, a dedicated team within Amnesty International, aims to hold tech giants accountable, fight against an automated digital state, and denounce the growing surveillance and censorship exercised by governments using these technologies. They also explore innovative digital governance models, such as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), to empower global activism and address structural limitations in centralized human rights advocacy.
In summary, Amnesty International has evolved from primarily traditional human rights campaigns to incorporating digital rights as a core focus. They actively confront the misuse of emerging technologies while promoting responsible digital governance to defend human rights in the digital age.
Technology's rise in politics has led Amnesty International to address cybersecurity concerns, as nations like France consider deploying surveillance tools such as facial recognition and drones. Amnesty International, in response, has often advocated for digital rights and legislation promoting these rights within the EU, while simultaneously working to hold tech giants accountable for their roles in digital surveillance.
