Article by Chloé Berthélémy, EDRi Policy Advisor
In EDRi's series on COVID-19, COVIDTech, we will explore the critical principles for protecting fundamental rights while curtailing the spread of the virus, as outlined in the EDRi network's statement on the virus. Each post in this series will tackle a specific issue at the intersection of digital rights and the global pandemic in order to explore broader questions about how to protect fundamental rights in a time of crisis. In our statement, we emphasised the principle that states must “defend freedom of expression and information". In this second post of the series, we take a look at the impact on freedom of expression and information that the measures to fight the spread of misinformation could have. Automated tools, content-analysing algorithms, state-sponsored content moderation, all have become normal under COVID-19, and it is a threat to many of our essential fundamental rights.