Heba Zainab Islam

HEBA ISLAM, then a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, was awarded funding in October 2021 to aid research on “Mediating Surveillance: Digital rights Advocacy in Pakistan,” supervised by Dr. Naveeda Kahn. This research examines how the rise of internet use, and its subsequent regulation and surveillance is mediated by digital rights NGOs in Pakistan. Through participant observation conducted in Lahore and Islamabad over the course of 12 months at two NGO offices, it analyzes the work of advocates in mitigating state suppression, far-right campaigns of hate and disinformation, and a lack of digital literacy to protect the rights of Pakistani citizen subjects. Such advocacy work takes place despite digital rights advocates themselves having to be mindful of censorship and backlash. This research highlights the constricted circumstances of NGOs working within a vast techno-legal landscape that is rapidly changing to address the rise of generative AI, fake news, lack of accountability within Big Tech, and online harassment. Simultaneously, the work of these NGOs, shaped by local human rights discourse and transnational networks of internet freedom advocacy, intervene in everyday ways against these waves of restrictions through their own local networks: via digital safety workshops, legal advocacy, dedicated research teams, and informal modes of aid for media professionals. This research contributes to the literature on digitality, generative AI, disinformation, and human rights.