RightsCon, World's Largest Digital Rights Conference, Canceled After Zambia Demands 'National Values' Alignment

Civil society organizations and digital rights advocates lose a critical platform for advocacy and networking on internet freedom and human rights issues.

In the spring of 2026, Zambia's government effectively ended RightsCon — the world's largest digital rights conference — before it could begin, demanding that the event demonstrate 'full alignment' with national values as a condition of proceeding. The organizers, whose entire mission rests on the freedom to question state power, chose cancellation over compliance. The episode is not merely a scheduling loss; it is a reminder that the spaces where dissent is organized are themselves contested terrain, and that governments have learned to close doors without always appearing to lock them.

RightsCon, World's Largest Digital Rights Conference, Canceled After Zambia Demands 'National Values' Alignment

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