The Special Rapporteurship publishes its thematic report “The Impact of Digital Surveillance on Freedom of Expression in the Americas.”

October 9, 2025

Washington, D.C. — The Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression (SRFOE) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) publishes its thematic report “The Impact of Digital Surveillance on Freedom of Expression in the Americas,” which analyzes the use of surveillance technologies in the region, their growing normalization in public life, and their effects on human rights. In addition, the document examines the applicable legal framework, documents good practices and advances, and identifies the main challenges to ensuring compliance with international standards.

The report warns that invasive digital surveillance techniques—deemed exceptional under international human rights law due to their impact on rights such as freedom of expression and privacy—are becoming increasingly normalized in practice and in public perception in the Americas, creating a permissive environment for the continued violation of fundamental rights. In this regard, the Special Rapporteurship found that surveillance technologies—from commercial spyware to facial recognition systems, geolocation tracking, and mass data collection—have been deployed throughout the region under insufficient legal frameworks, with inadequate oversight mechanisms, and minimal transparency.

The Office also noted with concern the use of digital surveillance for the selective persecution of journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents, lawyers, and other civil society actors, as documented in several countries in the region. These cases demonstrate that, in many contexts, surveillance is not used for legitimate law enforcement or national security purposes, but as a tool for political control, repression of dissent, and censorship. The Rapporteurship emphasizes that the repercussions of digital surveillance on human rights are serious and widespread, affecting not only the individuals under surveillance, but also their families, contacts, and society as a whole, by undermining the defense of human rights, press freedom, public discourse, citizen participation, and democracy itself. It also highlights that no State in the Americas has succeeded in prosecuting those responsible for surveillance abuses or providing meaningful redress to victims.

The information presented in this report underscores the urgent need for comprehensive mechanisms to prevent surveillance abuses before they occur, detect them when they do, provide effective remedies to those who have been harmed, and hold entities accountable that commit or are complicit in rights abuses.

The report therefore presents a set of recommendations aimed primarily at OAS Member States, with a view to overcoming legal and jurisdictional gaps in state surveillance legal frameworks, establishing independent oversight mechanisms, and creating and strengthening accountability systems. Recommendations are also made for companies that develop surveillance technologies and for financial institutions and investors that finance these activities, highlighting their duty to implement comprehensive human rights due diligence processes, cooperate with criminal investigations and judicial proceedings related to abuses in the use of these technologies, and establish binding contractual requirements for human rights compliance by all their government, corporate, and institutional clients. These recommendations are aligned with the Inter-American Human Rights Legal Framework, reaffirming the commitment to promote free and pluralistic public debate, which is essential for strengthening democracy in the Americas.

Finally, the Special Rapporteurship emphasizes that this report was prepared with the broad participation of various stakeholders. The Office is especially grateful to the OAS Member States, civil society organizations, academic institutions, journalists, experts, and those who provided their testimonies, inputs, and contributions throughout the different phases of the preparation process.

To access the full report, click here.

The Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression is an Office established by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to promote the hemispheric defense of the right to freedom of thought and expression, considering its fundamental role in the consolidation and development of the democratic system.

No. R204/25

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