EFF Stands in Solidarity With RightsCon and the Global Digital Rights Community

When governments shut down spaces for dialogue, dissent, and collective organizing, the damage extends far beyond a single event. The abrupt cancellation of RightsCon 2026—the world’s largest annual global digital rights conference—is not just a logistical disruption for thousands of researchers, journalists, technologists, and activists—it is part of a growing global pattern of shrinking civic space and increasing hostility toward free expression and independent civil society. Just days before the conference was set to begin and as participants had begun to arrive in Lusaka, organizers announ