In an era where freedoms are shaped and shaken online, BIRN’s Digital Freedoms Monitoring Tool offers systematic tracking and analysis of digital rights violations in Southeast Europe – aiming to safeguard those rights and drive accountability through evidence.
As a living document, the methodology builds on BIRN’s previous monitoring efforts, now upgraded to address emerging digital violations.
It is organised around seven overarching categories:
- Freedom of expression and media
- Freedom, pluralism of information and protection from manipulation
- Personal data protection and security
- Digital civic participation and engagement
- Technological access and equity
- Threatening behaviour and harmful content
- Economic rights and digital assets protection
The categories are further broken down into subcategories and types of violations to capture complex and overlapping cases. For each, the methodology outlines affected rights and public interest, targeted groups, perpetrators, and methods of attack.
BIRN’s monitoring across ten countries is grounded in ethical standards, backed by a thorough legal review of national and international frameworks, and informed by diverse sources – including court records, reports of regulators and human rights bodies, media investigations, civil society and academic research and direct citizen reports via BIRN’s Engaged Citizen Reporting tool.
Importantly, BIRN also tracks legal proceedings and policy changes to assess state responses and real-life impact of violations.
Philosophy of Monitoring
The methodology views digital rights as integral to human rights, calling for equal protection online and offline, while also addressing emerging norms like internet access, digital literacy, and inclusion – all aimed at promoting digital equity and fairness.
Its philosophy rejects digital authoritarianism, opposing the surveillance and censorship used by authoritarian regimes to suppress dissent. It seeks transparency and accountability from both public and private actors, and supports a multi-stakeholder, decentralised approach to internet governance. This stance is especially relevant when monitoring countries that continue to grapple with the legacies of past authoritarian rule, conflict, or war – many of which operate nowadays as hybrid regimes.
Embracing intersectionality, the methodology recognises that digital harms disproportionately affect marginalised groups and reflect deeper social inequalities. Whether by documenting violations against women, ethnic or sexual minorities, economically disadvantaged individuals, or groups like journalists and civic actors, the monitoring centres the experiences of those most at risk, aspiring for a digital environment that challenges structural injustices.
Open Data for Advocacy and Accountability
What sets the Digital Freedoms Monitoring Tool apart is its transparency.
Users can access, search and download documented cases by country, facilitating trend tracking for interested stakeholders.
The open-access database, continuously updated by the monitoring team, serves both as a resource and a call to action, supporting advocacy and reinforcing accountability by documenting the actions of governments, tech companies, and other societal actors.
The website was created and maintained with the financial support of the European Union, as part of the Reporting Digital Rights and Freedoms project. Its content is the sole responsibility of BIRN and does not necessarily reflect the views of the EU.