Columbia International Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the event of an built-in and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and data around the globe. It maintains an in depth database of worldwide case legislation. That is its e-newsletter coping with current developments within the area.
Trump takes his bully-to-the-press techniques abroad. Aboard Air Drive One final Friday, the US President mentioned he would sue the BBC over an edit of his January 6, 2021, speech for which the BBC has apologized. “They modified the phrases popping out of my mouth,” Trump added. How a lot does he need? “Wherever between $1bn and $5bn.”
The menace is effectively examined. Over the previous months, the US President filed a defamation lawsuit in opposition to The New York Instances and used authorized motion to safe settlements from ABC and CBS. The brand new assault “additionally exhibits how his administration has sought to undermine the very idea of public media,” writes Joel Simon of the Craig Newmark Graduate Faculty of Journalism, referring to the dismantling of the US Company for International Media that CGFoE coated in Widakuswara v. Kari Lake and RFE/RL v. Kari Lake.
The Trump administration retains leaning on a drained chorus: declaring that the BBC is “100% pretend information,” because the White Home press secretary instructed The Telegraph. Such labels, worn-out as they’re, nonetheless undermine the general public’s belief within the media, whereas actual, coordinated disinformation continues to form individuals’s beliefs globally.
The Philippines, featured under, has seen the injury of falsehoods surging, on-line and off, together with via the longtime observe of “red-tagging.” Few have fought the disaster of lies as relentlessly as Nobel-winning journalist Maria Ressa. “The road between data operations and data warfare could be very skinny,” Ressa instructed CGFoE.
This previous weekend, Rappler, the Philippines’ foremost digital media, led by Ressa, hosted Social Good Summit 2025. Info integrity was on the dialogue desk, together with the facility of civic areas and journalism in advancing basic rights. Worldwide human rights lawyer and CGFoE knowledgeable Amal Clooney headlined the Summit. Each in her speech and in an earlier assembly with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., she urged the Philippines to decriminalize libel.
“States are weaponizing their authorized system through the use of the prison legislation to instill worry in journalists,” Clooney famous on stage. Calling for tenacity in motion, “one case at a time, one nation at a time,” she spoke of crippling lawsuits in opposition to the press, reporters unjustly imprisoned, and misinformation skewing elections. “My thesis is that justice have to be waged,” Clooney burdened, “as a result of justice will not be a state – it’s an act.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and CEO of Rappler Maria Ressa and worldwide human rights lawyer and CGFoE knowledgeable Amal Clooney mentioned public governance, judicial oversight, and the function of civil society throughout The Rule of Regulation Discussion board hosted by the College of the Philippines Faculty of Regulation in Bonifacio International Metropolis, Taguig Metropolis, on November 14, 2025.
Picture credit score: Jire Carreon/Rappler
IndiaNeha Singh Rathore v. State of Uttar Pradesh Choice Date: September 19, 2025The Allahabad Excessive Court docket held that the suitable to freedom of speech and expression beneath Article 19(1)(a) will not be absolute and could also be restricted when its train threatens nationwide safety, public order, or communal concord. The case arose after Neha Singh Rathore, a singer and social activist, posted a number of tweets in April 2025 criticizing the Prime Minister and the ruling get together for allegedly exploiting a terrorist assault in Kashmir for political acquire. Following the viral posts, the police registered an FIR beneath Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Info Expertise Act, 2008, alleging that her statements incited hatred and endangered India’s sovereignty. The Court docket examined whether or not her tweets have been protected speech or punishable expressions, finally holding that their “timing and content material have been so essential and value contemplating” since they may disturb public peace. The Court docket concluded that her remarks, being “derogatory and disrespectful” towards constitutional authorities, fell exterior constitutional safety.
EgyptHagar Mohamed El-Khreisey v. Public ProsecutionDecision Date: January 27, 2024The Prison Chamber of the Egyptian Court docket of Cassation upheld a decrease courtroom’s determination that convicted a person for spreading false information about cops. The case arose from a video posted on social media wherein the applicant accused particular cops of corruption, collusion, and threatening her household, which was later broadcast by a tv channel affiliated with an opposition group. The decrease courtroom discovered that her actions amounted to the deliberate dissemination of false data dangerous to the general public curiosity and imposed a brief jail sentence and a tremendous. On attraction, the Court docket of Cassation dominated that the decrease courtroom had supplied sufficient reasoning for its determination. It additional held that the applicant’s statements, no matter her claimed intent to hunt assist, constituted false information able to undermining public order. The attraction was due to this fact dismissed.
PhilippinesABS-CBN Company v. Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr.Choice Date: April 25, 2023The Supreme Court docket of the Philippines dominated in favor of a broadcast community and its reporter, dismissing a petition for oblique contempt in opposition to them. The case arose after a tv community aired an interview with a witness within the ongoing Maguindanao Bloodbath homicide trials, which an accused alleged violated the sub judice rule by publicly discussing a matter earlier than the courts and making an attempt to affect the end result. The Court docket held that oblique contempt is a quasi-criminal continuing requiring a verified petition to allege particular information demonstrating that the speech created a “clear and current hazard” to the administration of justice. It discovered that the petition failed to satisfy this excessive normal, because it didn’t sufficiently allege how the interview posed an imminent and critical menace, notably in a judge-tried case. Emphasizing that contempt powers have to be used sparingly to keep away from chilling free speech, the Court docket reversed the decrease courts and dismissed the petition.
● COP 30: Declaration on Info Integrity on Local weather Change. At this yr’s UN Convention of the Events in Belém, Brazil, members of the International Initiative for Info Integrity on Local weather Change adopted a declaration upholding the suitable to dependable environmental data. Drafted with the assistance of Reporters With out Borders and the Discussion board on Info & Democracy, the doc, now signed by 12 States, contains such commitments as nurturing a various and resilient media ecosystem, guaranteeing the security of environmental journalists, and urging know-how firms to participate in assessing how platforms undermine local weather data integrity.
● EU: European Democracy Protect. Final week, the European Fee introduced a listing of measures to bolster Europe’s collective functionality to counter disinformation. The plan builds on three pillars: free and unbiased media, robust establishments, and strong civil society. As a part of the “integrity of the data house” goal, the Fee will develop a Digital Companies Act incidents and disaster protocol and launch an unbiased European Community of Truth-Checkers. Press freedom teams welcomed the pledges however cautioned that “guarantees” should develop into “concrete actions.” Reporters With out Borders, nevertheless, demanded stronger measures on entry to dependable data for residents.
● India: New IT Guidelines on Deepfakes Threaten to Entrench On-line Censorship, by Sarthak Gupta. In an article for Tech Coverage Press, CGFoE Authorized Researcher and Editor Sarthak Gupta unpacks India’s proposed amendments looking for to curb the unfold of “synthetically generated data,” generally referred to as deepfakes. Citing the landmark Shreya Singhal v. Union of India and different case legislation, Gupta argues the amendments place imprecise obligations on intermediaries and fail to outline clear enforcement limits, threatening to censor non-malicious, expressive utilization of AI. “Underneath the pretext of defending customers from misinformation,” Gupta writes, “the State acquires an expansive mandate to dictate the authenticity of on-line expression.”
This part of the e-newsletter options instructing supplies centered on world freedom of expression that are newly uploaded on Freedom of Expression With out Frontiers
● Joint UN, OSCE, OAS, ACHPR Declaration on AI, Freedom of Expression, and Media Freedom. Freedom of expression rapporteurs on the UN, the Group for Safety and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Group of American States (OAS), and the African Fee on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) endorsed a declaration on freedom of expression, entry to data, and media freedom amid the rising ubiquity of AI. The doc outlines seven guiding rules – similar to “the suitable to freedom of opinion and expression […] have to be embedded all through the lifecycle of AI, together with its design, improvement, coaching and deployment” – and affords suggestions to States, worldwide organizations, the personal sector, civil society, and the media.
● Sudan’s Info Struggle: How Weaponized On-line Narratives Form the Humanitarian Disaster and Response, by Ila Schoop Rutten, Wala Mohammed, Stijn Aelbers. Addressing the reviews of horrific atrocities in Sudan – streets so soaked with blood that its purple was seen from satellite tv for pc photos – freedom of expression teams have underscored the function of knowledge warfare within the battle. This report, printed by CDAC Community, a worldwide alliance working to make sure individuals’s entry to dependable data throughout crises, maps out how Sudan’s opponents have used propaganda, hate speech, and connectivity blackouts to justify and gas violence, together with obstructing efficient humanitarian treatments. “Dangerous data in Sudan is […] a central instrument of the continuing battle,” the authors contend. “It determines who will get assist, who’s trusted, and who’s focused.”
● New Documentary – Silenced: The Struggle on Journalism. Produced by Al Jazeera, the movie honors the legacies of journalists murdered for his or her work, with far too many in Gaza. Drawing from interviews with reporters and specialists – Irene Khan, UN Particular Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, and Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Shield Journalists, amongst others – the documentary speaks to the present second: the deadliest time for journalists globally.
● Name for Proposals – Lawyering With out Regulation: The Authorized Occupation in an Age of Authoritarianism. The Knight First Modification Institute at Columbia College invitations “theoretical, empirical, historic, and/or comparative” takes on the authorized career inside authoritarianism. As a part of the undertaking, run in partnership with Senior Fellow Madhav Khosla, the Institute will host a workshop in September 2026 and publish chosen essays on its web site. Submit abstracts by December 5. Be taught extra right here.
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