- The United States has withdrawn from 66 organizations, including the Freedom Online Coalition.
- The organization promotes Internet freedom and digital rights.
- Experts say global standards are now at risk
Digital rights experts have criticized the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) and its broader withdrawal from multilateral cooperation.
In a press release, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) President and CEO Alexandra Givens said: “These withdrawals are an abdication of important commitments and responsibilities of the United States to defend human rights and democratic principles, generally and in the digital world.”
It’s a view shared by Konstantinos Komaitis, senior resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Laboratory and a member of the FOC advisory network.
“The message is unmistakable: Internet freedom is no longer a pillar of US foreign policy,” Komaitis wrote in Tech Policy Press.
Targeting ‘progressive’ tech organizations
On Wednesday, the United States withdrew from 66 international organizations that the Trump administration considers “contrary to the interests” of the country. Affected groups include UN climate treaties, organizations working on international conflict resolution and gender equality initiatives.
In its statement, the CDT highlighted the broad scope of the withdrawal, highlighting the inclusion of the FOC alongside the Venice Commission, the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
In a press release, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that these organizations have become “dominated by a progressive ideology and separated from national interests.”
Repercussions in the real world
The Freedom Online Coalition is a group of more than 40 governments working together to promote a world “where the use of the Internet and digital technologies strengthens human rights, democracy and the rule of law.”
Their strength lies in their collective voice, according to Komaitis. When “member states collectively spoke about internet shutdowns, surveillance practices, or digital repression, those interventions were amplified by the presence of actors capable of projecting influence across multiple policy arenas,” he wrote.
In 2012, the FOC launched the Digital Defenders Partnership (DDP), a fund managed by Hivos to support threatened digital activists. The fund has been instrumental in funding digital rights initiatives, including providing VPNs “to protect human rights defenders from censorship and surveillance.”
The US withdrawal is unlikely to “have an immediate or direct impact” on the group, Komaitis told TechRadar. However, he noted that the decision could affect the broader international landscape in which DDP and similar organizations operate.
Asked if the BDC had any recourse to oppose the decision, Komaitis said: “Any response would likely focus on maintaining cooperation between the remaining partners and ensuring continuity of support through existing multilateral channels.”
A gift for authoritarians?
While U.S. involvement in these organizations was important, experts say they will continue to operate. “It would be a mistake to suggest that the BDC will falter, much less collapse, in the absence of the United States,” Komaitis argues.
However, the long-term implications of this move could be significant. By stepping away from the global stage, the United States risks inviting others to take its place.
By withdrawing, the United States “creates space for China to reappropriate the language of governance and rights,” Komaitis warns. With this change, the basic concepts of Internet freedom could be transformed “in ways that subordinate individual freedoms to regime stability.”
The feeling, then, is that this withdrawal puts the digital security of everyday users at risk.
CDT’s Alexandra Givens argues in her statement that the administration is “abandoning long-standing efforts to promote democracy, defend human rights online, and stop spyware abuses, particularly now that free speech is under attack by governments around the world, including our own.”
“U.S. participation in international collaboration on human rights standards helps keep Americans safe,” Givens concludes. “This action will inevitably undermine the rights and security of Americans and people around the world for years to come.”
