10 digital rights organizations operating in Southeast Asia, listed below, sent a letter on March 27, 2026 criticizing the parts of the ASEAN Guideline for Platform Regulation unveiled at the UNESCO Johannesburg conference on February 11-12.
Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
TifaLA (Philippines)
Foundation for Media Alternatives (Philippines)
Human Rights Online Philippines (HRonlinePH)
Indonesia Working Group Against Disinformation (KONDISI)
Movement Against Disinformation Philippines (MAD PH)
Myanmar Internet Project
Open Net (Korea)
Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network/SAFEnet (Indonesia)
Tifa Foundation (Indonesia)
They pointed out that the Guideline recommends that the states “require platforms to act within specific timeframe to remove content in the agreed-upon illegal categories” implying the state-sponsored content moderation. This is odd, they say, because the Guideline itself recognizes that “The regional notice-and-action framework still focuses heavily on
notifications from government authorities.” 0.00015% of the takedowns under DSA were done pursuant to the government orders. The Guideline’s dependence on the government’s direct moderation orders is simply anachronistic.
Also, they pointed to the Guideline’s recommendation to “empower regulatory authorities to request necessary
information from digital platforms”, implying warrantless access to the user data. The Guideline will only consolidate the present situation in ASEAN countries where many instances of surveillance are administered without procedural safeguards such as warrants.
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