Civil Society Is At Risk—and Tech Is Part Of The Problem

Gina Romero is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly.

Across the globe, the rights to peaceful assembly and association are under severe and escalating threat. Civil society organizations (CSOs), vital to defending human rights, advancing democratic values, and supporting vulnerable communities, face an unprecedented assault, not only through repression, criminalization, and ill-intended laws, but also from a deeper structural crisis in the global aid system.

While foreign aid has been shifting in recent years, the arbitrary termination and dismantling of major aid institutions, such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), have left CSOs struggling for survival, forcing thousands to shrink operations dramatically, shut down entire departments, and transform their advocacy strategies. At the same time, the growing securitization of global policy and the politicized targeting of foreign-funded groups are eroding civic space.

States have been rapidly redirecting budgets toward defense and military capacities while reducing support for development, democratization, and human rights—thereby defunding civil society and even national and regional human rights protection mechanisms. This environment, combined with the growing crisis of trust and efficiency in multilateralism, has normalized the use of security frameworks to suppress civic freedoms, significantly lowering the threshold for their restriction.

Technology, while offering new tools for resistance and resilience, is also being weaponized to surveil, discredit, and disrupt. The cumulative effect is a shrinking space for civil society, at the very moment the world needs it most.

First, surveillance and digital repression are rapidly expanding. Measures intended to counter terrorism and violent extremism—often misused by States—have enabled intrusive policing and unlawful mass surveillance. Activists and organizations that demand accountability, expose corruption, or challenge government policies are increasingly being targeted. Smear campaigns and unfounded allegations linking foreign aid to terrorism financing have led to intimidation, investigations, raids, accounts freezing, and surveillance of civil society actors worldwide. At the same time, peaceful protests are being criminalized under terrorism charges and met with excessive—and sometimes lethal—force.

Second, the erosion of civic space and the targeting of civil society are being fueled by disinformation and misinformation, amplified through social media and other technologies to spread hostile narratives and hate speech. The vacuum left by weakened and underfunded CSOs is increasingly being filled by well-resourced anti-rights actors and coordinated disinformation campaigns. Moreover, securitization narratives are being misused to address perceived threats to democracy—such as misinformation—ironically undermining the very principles they claim to protect.

The reduced capacity of CSOs increasingly limits their ability to engage effectively in technology policy, including contributing to the design and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies to ensure they are human rights–compliant and do not cause harm or have a chilling effect on fundamental freedoms. This also weakens their capacity to defend against growing digital threats.

At the same time, the ongoing crisis is driving CSOs to innovate and explore new funding and operational strategies—many of them technologically based—to survive and adapt. Some are experimenting with new financial models, including community and cooperative mechanisms, blended finance, and other forms of investment, to strengthen long-term independence, foster cross-sector collaboration, and attract private funding. Microdonations and online fundraising tools, such as crowdfunding, have enabled resource mobilization for specific projects. In closed or repressive contexts, some organizations have even turned to cryptocurrency to maintain access to funding, despite concerns about volatility and regulation. Most of these innovations rely on internet-enabled platforms.

It is important to note that even digital financial innovations, while offering potential lifelines, also carry significant risks. For instance, reliance on cryptocurrencies can help circumvent regimes’ control over funding access but raises serious concerns regarding volatility, regulatory gaps, privacy, and inclusion. Likewise, online fundraising platforms such as crowdfunding may impose heavy administrative burdens, while their algorithms can reinforce bias, disadvantaging marginalized communities and less visible agendas. However, the solution is not to restrict these possibilities—as is occurring in some contexts, including in Europe—but rather to ensure proper regulation and equitable access.

The crisis demands immediate and concerted action rooted in human rights obligations. For the tech policy world, this means ensuring that technology becomes an enabler of civic space, not an accelerator of its demise. Following this path, we must pursue a framework that:

• Aligns technology with human rights and equity: Digital tools and platforms involved in aid delivery (including crowdfunding and cryptocurrency) must be governed by rights-based safeguards. This includes strengthening data protection and equity in access to uphold international human rights obligations in the digital sphere.
• Applies a human rights-based approach to security: Security policies—both physical and digital—must be firmly rooted in international human rights standards. Civil society actors must be treated as partners in the design, oversight, and implementation of security strategies to preserve and promote inclusive civic spaces.
• Strengthens digital resilience and protection: Emergency protection instruments—including legal, financial, and digital support—must be reinforced to support human rights defenders and organizations operating under threat or in exile. This should include providing support for digital literacy, security, and the ability to counteract harmful disinformation campaigns.

The future of global democracy, peace, and sustainable development depends on a vibrant, autonomous civil society. We can no longer afford for technology to be a bystander—or worse, an accomplice—to the attacks on these fundamental freedoms. The time for urgent, rights-based innovation in the aid and tech ecosystems is now.