Graphic credit: Ahmad Mazloum and Salam Shokor/SMEX (CC BY SA)
Mobile users in Arab states lack critical information about basic policies affecting their freedom of expression and privacy, according to new research by the Social Media Exchange (SMEX), a Beirut-based media development and digital rights organization.
The report, “Dependent Yet Disenfranchised: The Policy Void that Threatens the Rights of Mobile Users in Arab States,” uses the Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index methodology to analyze policies of all 66 mobile operators based in the 22 countries of the Arab region. Research showed that only 14 of the region’s 66 mobile operators publish terms of service and just seven operators publish privacy policies. Most mobile operators in the region also do not publish transparency reports providing data on government requests for user data and content blocking or removals. Apart from the local subsidiaries of MTN, Orange, and Vodafone, not a single operator made a commitment to respect users’ free speech and privacy rights in a publicly accessible human rights policy.
Of the 14 operators that publish terms of service policies, the research found that these policies fall vastly short of protecting users’ freedom of expression rights. The analysis showed that these policies fail to clearly disclose the rules and how they are enforced, and some operators do not even publish terms of service policies in the primary languages of their users. Companies also failed to provide users with remedy mechanisms addressing their free speech complaints.
The report was researched and written by Afef Abrougui, who currently serves as Corporate Accountability Editor at Ranking Digital Rights.
