About RightsCon

Each year, RightsCon convenes business leaders, policy makers, general counsels, government representatives, technologists, academics, journalists, and human rights advocates from around the world to tackle pressing issues at the intersection of human rights and technology. In engaging fireside chats, hands-on workshops, strategic roundtables, private meetings, and a lively exhibition space, RightsCon is where a global movement comes together to build strategies and drive forward change toward a more free, open, and connected digital world.

Over the past 13 years, RightsCon has rotated to key hubs around the world, including San José, Tunis, Toronto, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Manila, and San Francisco, and grown, both in size and in scope to meet the evolving needs of a movement.

For its 13th edition, we hosted RightsCon 2025 in Taipei and online from February 24 to 27, our first summit in East Asia and returning to the Asia Pacific region after a decade.

Key moments

Developing a technologist code of ethics

United States Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power and New America Foundation CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter launched an initiative at RightsCon Online 2022 to develop a technologist code of ethics, in an effort by civil society and technologists to build a rights-respecting digital future.

Key moments

Safeguarding from harmful technologies

UN experts present at RightsCon Costa Rica (2023) issued a joint statement calling for greater transparency, oversight, and regulation to address the negative impacts of new and emerging digital technologies.

Key moments

Regulating online platforms

The Manila Principles, a civil society initiative established at RightsCon Manila (2015), set out guidelines on internet intermediary liability. Since then, the push for platform accountability has led to deeper partnerships between company decision-makers, such as Facebook’s Strategic Response team, and activists in our summit space.

Key moments

Responding to shutdowns

The #KeepItOn coalition, a network of more than 220 organizations from 99 countries, was formed at RightsCon Silicon Valley (2016). The summit also marked the first international consensus on the definition of an internet shutdown.

Key moments

Healthcare on the internet

With internet pharmacies and telemedicine on the rise, the Prescription Justice Institute developed the Brussels Principles to ensure safety and quality in the sale of medical products online. Named for RightsCon Brussels (2017), the principles continue to inform approaches to digital health, including responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key moments

Human rights principles in AI

At RightsCon Toronto (2018), Access Now and Amnesty International launched a landmark declaration on the right to equality and nondiscrimination in machine learning. The Toronto Declaration addresses the risk of human rights harms associated with artificial intelligence technology.

Key moments

Combating hate speech

Equality Labs released a report at RightsCon Tunis (2019) detailing the failures of Facebook India’s content moderation policies to protect caste, religious, gender, and queer minorities from hate speech. The report has been cited widely, most recently in an open letter that prompted the resignation of policy chief Ankhi Das.

Key moments

Digital ID

Created in a closed-door Solve My Problem session at RightsCon Tunis (2019), the #WhyID coalition asks key decision-makers to consider the human impact of digital identity programs. Signatories include Audrey Tang, (Digital Minister, Taiwan), and Charles Mok (Legislative Councillor on IT, Hong Kong).

Key moments

Ban Biometric Surveillance

During RightsCon Online 2021, 25 new civil society organizations, and over 500 individuals, joined the #BanBS global coalition, a powerful new network working together to ban biometric surveillance. The coalition had evolved from a Solve My Problem session at RightsCon Online 2020.