ECNL factsheet on protests taking place in the online space and how international human rights standards ensure their protection.

PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 2020

A digitally-mediated assembly is a gathering of more than one person for specific purposes that takes place either through the support or by means of digital communication technologies: e.g., via mobile phones, internet services or social media.

In a not-so-distant past, the traditional definition of “peaceful assembly” only included physical gatherings of individuals to protest, commemorate or take part in social/recreational activities. However, nowadays our increasingly digital world has opened up new ways to organize such gatherings and even new virtual spaces to hold them or drum up support for them.

This ECNL factsheet examines digital assemblies and UN standards, focusing on the new General Comment 37.