Last year, 12 digital rights organizations from across South Asia came together in Kathmandu to exchange lessons and learnings amid rising state-sanctioned and platform-mediated technology authoritarianism in the region. The discussions tackled a broad range of issues, from repressive digital laws and policies to whether or not existing models of platform accountability are working in South Asia, to the impact of geopolitics on domestic technology ecosystems. This whitepaper is an outcome of the conversations which have taken place over the past year, with an aim of developing a South Asia-focused digital rights network that collaborates and exchanges best practices in addressing the sprawling and interconnected issues of technology governance and accountability across a range of technologies from digital public infrastructure to platforms in one of the fastest growing regions in the world.
This paper has been drafted by Faisal Lalani, with final refinements by Shumaila H. Shahani. We are also grateful to numerous civil society organizations, individuals, and activists who provided their invaluable feedback in shaping this paper. We are additionally grateful for contributions from Farieha Aziz, Dovan Rai, Omar Rajaratnam, Saritha Irugalbandara, Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, and Shahzeb Mahmood.
