Your Clicks, Your Rights - Episode 10: WANA - Cybercrime Laws: Security or Suppression?

What happens when laws designed to protect your rights online are instead used to restrict freedom and suppress dissent? Picture this: it’s 2010. In Tunisia and Egypt, a wave of pro-democracy protests spreads across West Asia and North Africa (WANA). This revolutionary movement, known as the Arab Spring, relied heavily on social media platforms to communicate, coordinate, and organize activism. During this time, many Arab countries enacted cybercrime laws that were intended to protect internet users and create safe online spaces. In reality, these laws were often exploited to criminalize dissent, restrict free expression, and enable digital surveillance—undermining the very rights they were meant to safeguard. This video by the Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment (CADE) explores how these laws can be misused, the impact on civil liberties, and the role of civil society in advocating for rights-based, transparent digital governance. #CybercrimeLaws #DigitalRights #OnlineFreedom #InternetGovernance #ArabSpring #CivilSociety #CivicSpace #WANA #LetsTalkDigital #CADE 👉 Join the #LetsTalkDigital campaign to learn more and add your voice to the conversation: https://www.forus-international.org/en/campaign/let-s-talk-digital Stay tuned for more Your Clicks, Your Rights videos. Disclaimer: This video was co-funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Forus and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.