Digital Freedom Fund

🚀📝 The European AI & Society Fund is accepting concept notes for its AI Accountability Grants call until January 6. Find out more about the call and how to apply below 👇🏾

This past 26-27 November in Berlin we hosted the second edition of our Collective Action for Platform Accountability Workshop. Building upon the momentum of the first edition held in September, this time around the thematic focus was on determination and quantification of harm as well as evidence gathering. 🔎 ⚖️ During the peer-led sessions at the workshop, we discussed notable case law related to damage claims and elements of EU national laws related to the assessment of immaterial damage, unjust enrichment, and limitation periods, as well as how they could be leveraged in collective redress cases. 🔎 📊 We also shared insights on data access provisions in the Digital Services Act to advance tech accountability and analysed evidence-gathering methods, including adversarial auditing, reverse-engineering, and digital archiving. Additionally, we delved into case studies on various issues including online hate speech and incitement to violence, ad tech, gig workers' rights, and features of Big Tech platforms, particularly regarding political ads and elections. 🙏 A very big thank you to all the participants and organizations who joined us and helped make this an insightful, productive and collaborative space for sharing knowledge and brainstorming ways in which technologists and litigators can work together to hold Big Tech platforms accountable though collective action: AI Forensics, AlgorithmWatch, Amnesty International, Aston Business School, BEUC - The European Consumer Organisation, Coalition for Independent Tech Research, The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation , Digital Rights Ireland, Dreddge Partners, Ekker Advocatuur, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V., Good Law Project, Ius Omnibus, mnemonic, noyb.eu, University of Oxford, PersonalData.IO, Politiscope and Worker Info Exchange. 👏 👏 #collectiveredress #damageclaims #immaterialdamage #digitalarchiving #unjustenrichment #adversarialauditing #reverseengineering

🚀 Call for grant applications is now OPEN! 🚀 Any digital rights advocates seeking to protect and advance digital rights in Europe can apply. ✅ Check out our grants page to find out more and prepare your application:  https://lnkd.in/grB5bZT We welcome applications from both returning and new, emerging candidates, especially those representing under-served populations and regions in Europe.   ✅ Check out the key dates and our guides for this application round: https://lnkd.in/eaUeWFXV ❓ Do you have any questions about your grant application? Our Grantmaking Lead will host an #AskUsAnything call on the following days:   ▪️ Wednesday 4 December 2024 11:00 CET ▪️ Wednesday 15 January 2025 12:00 CET ▪️ Monday 27 January 2025 11:00 CET   Join the session to get a comprehensive overview of this application round. To attend, contact us at grants@digitalfreedomfund.org  

🎉 We’re proud to announce the release of our latest resource “Pathways to Justice Toolkit” created to help civil society organisations, litigators, and activists protect digital rights across the EU. This toolkit is designed to provide clear, practical advice on how to use strategic litigation to defend digital rights under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. What’s inside the toolkit? 🔹 Step-by-step guidance on different legal pathways CSOs, activists, and lawyers can take to enforce EU Charter rights. 🔹 Strategies for impactful litigation exploring how combining court actions, appeals to independent authorities, and organizing efforts can drive real change. 🔹 Case studies and resources from experts and practitioners, including detailed examples, litigation tips, and a curated list of guidelines to help you start strong. Stay tuned as the toolkit will soon become available in French and Spanish. ➡️ Check out the toolkit here: https://lnkd.in/eGc9HReS Toolkit design by studio kitschen & illustrations by Tessa Curran.

🚨 The new call for grant applications is approaching! 🚨   We will run a new call for grant applications from 2 December 2024 to 17 February 2025.   Are you taking or planning litigation to advance digital rights in Europe? Check out our grants page to prepare your application: https://lnkd.in/grB5bZT   We fund a variety of cases intersecting with racial, social, and economic justice movements. Check out the variety of causes we support on our revised case study page:   https://lnkd.in/gjS7pZVW   Do you have any questions about your grant application? Our Grantmaking Lead will host an #AskUsAnything call on the following days:   ▪️ Wednesday 4 December 2024 11:00 CET ▪️ Wednesday 15 January 2025 12:00 CET ▪️ Monday 27 January 2025 11:00 CET   Join the session to get a comprehensive overview of this application round. To attend, contact us at grants@digitalfreedomfund.org

🌍 We’re excited to share a significant resource developed as part of the digiRISE project: a comprehensive Collective Redress Database designed to empower collective action in defense of digital rights under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. We have just published a lot of resources on how ten different EU Member States have implemented collective redress mechanisms. In the Collective Redress Database, you can find: 🔹 Country reports from Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Portugal, and Belgium written by our country experts 🔹 Comparative report on the state of collective redress in these jurisdictions 🔹 A comparative tool to quickly uncover convergences and differences between studied jurisdictions Through this database, we map and analyse collective redress mechanisms, practices, and case law across EU Member States, examining everything from early examples to the latest implementations of the EU Representative Actions Directive. Our goal is to provide an essential tool for advocates, legal practitioners, and impacted communities, supporting strategic litigation efforts in the digital sphere and comparing how different countries approach collective redress for digital rights violations. We couldn't have done this work without the support of the Observatory of Class Actions, our country experts Joshka Sellinger, Ali Ighreiz, Maria José Azar-Baud, Anna van Duin 🟥, Aart Jonkers, Francesca Episcopo, Chiara Angiolini, Stefano Rossetti, Duje Prkut, Duje Kozomara, Anella Buković, Carolina Ramalho dos Santos, Vicky Tzega, Julia Suderow, Clara Fernandez Lopez, Alejandro Martínez Luna, Laura San José Fernández, Catherine Forget, Franck Dumortier, TJ McIntyre; and the experts drafting the comparative report Maria José Azar-Baud, Ander Maglica, Ianika Tzankova, and Alexandra Giannopoulou. 👉🏿 Explore the full database here: https://lnkd.in/ewni_heW

📅 On November 26-27, we will host the second edition of our Collective Action for Platform Accountability Workshop in Berlin. This workshop aims to provide a collaborative space for the digital rights community to reflect on the collective dimension of digital rights. Participants will explore how to situate collective redress within broader efforts to counter tech-driven fundamental rights violations and develop litigation strategies to hold Big Tech platforms accountable for the harms they create and exacerbate. The workshop will cover a range of topics, with a strong focus on determining and quantifying harm, as well as evidence gathering and the critical role that public interest technologists and tech researchers can play in strengthening collective redress cases. This builds on our previous Tech Community Engagement Programme, which culminated in a Evidence Gathering Report that you can read here: https://lnkd.in/ejumWmVy 🫱🏾🫲🏽 If you would like to learn more or have any ideas on ways to collaborate on these topics, you can reach out to us at projects@digitalfreedomfund.org. We’d love to hear from you! Artwork by: Kruthika N. S.

After two years of multiple collaborations with our network, dedication and continuous expert research, we’re thrilled to announce the final outputs of the digiRISE project! 📌 Here are our recent digiRISE achievements: 🗺️ Country Reports: Insights from experts across Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Portugal, and Belgium. Find in-depth, expert country reports on collective redress systems across these ten EU countries, and stay tuned for translations in each native language! 📊 Comparative Analysis: A deep dive into collective redress mechanisms across ten EU jurisdictions, co-authored by experts like our own Dr. Alexandra Giannopoulou, Professor Maria José Azar-Baud, Professor Ianika Tzankova, and Dr. Ander Maglica, highlighting similarities and discrepancies across these national systems. 📚 Pathways to Justice Toolkit: Developed as a practical guide to support your journey through the matrix of decisions for enforcing EU Charter rights in the digital world. https://lnkd.in/eGc9HReS 📂 Explore Our First DFF Collective Redress Database: The database and country reports are now available on our website. Start here to uncover collective redress options in your jurisdiction: https://lnkd.in/ewni_heW If you are interested in further collaborations or more information, reach out at alexandra@digitalfreedomfund.org. 👉🏿 Read more about our digiRISE resources in our latest blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eKqTchmN Artwork by: Kruthika N. S.

🚀 New Resource Alert! 🚀 We're excited to announce the release of our latest research: "Available Judicial Pathways: A compare-and-contrast analysis of ten jurisdictions in the European Union". Despite the EU Charter’s strong potential to protect digital rights and the Court of Justice of the EU’s active role in applying these protections, national-level legal practice often defaults to more general rights in national or international frameworks. Our report explores viable legal pathways available in 10 jurisdictions: Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland, and highlights where and how the EU Charter can play a stronger role in national contexts. This report also ties into our recent work on collective redress mechanisms, providing a holistic view of EU digital rights protections. ➡️ Download the full report here: https://lnkd.in/e-xZeBwx 🖼 Artwork: Kruthika N. S. 🖼 Graphic design: Justina Leston

🎉🎊 We’re excited to share our latest animated video, "Digital Rights are Charter Rights," designed to explore how the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights intersects with our digital lives! The video is based on the "Digital Rights are Charter Rights" essay series, which explains how digital rights are also fundamental rights. With this essay series, we bring a wide range of EU Charter experts to the foreground of digital rights discourse. You can read the essay series in ▪️ English: https://lnkd.in/eg2xC28M ▪️ Spanish: https://lnkd.in/eCWw2SRJ ▪️ French: https://lnkd.in/e_GJ8ECx ✅ Both the video and essays provide information for anyone interested in the opportunities and strategies for applying the EU Charter in digital spaces. You can watch the full video on our website here: https://lnkd.in/exJPG-Zd 🖼 Special thanks to our animator & art director Irene Izquierdo!