This is absolutely wild: The #Zambia government has just cancelled the world's most important digital rights conference #RightsCon 2026 which was supposed to start next week in #Lusaka.
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This is absolutely wild: The #Zambia government has just cancelled the world's most important digital rights conference #RightsCon 2026 which was supposed to start next week in #Lusaka. 3,000+ participants are now hanging in limbo (myself included), some already traveled to the country.
I feel for the folks at #AccessNow who have been working so hard on this for months.
Ministry of Information and Media - Zambia
THE POSTPONEMENT OF THE RIGHTSCON 2026 SUMMIT
(www.facebook.com)
@ilumium truly devastating!
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TIL check the strings attached to the "donations" you receive:
"...However, well-placed sources have told News Diggers! that #RightsCon has actually been cancelled because the programme involves Taiwanese delegates who would potentially speak against #China at a venue donated by the Chinese government."
#AccessNow has now publicly confirmed that they also believe the Chinese government pressured #Zambia into censoring #RightsCon 2026 because of participants from #Taiwan.
The statement of what happened is a testament of how strong the influence of authoritarians has become and how the global #DigitalRights community is a target.
A statement to our community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia
Our official statement to the digital rights community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia
RightsCon Summit Series (www.rightscon.org)
