Additional Context: This quote was obtained by Human Rights Watch, or HRW, in a June 2025 interview with the leader of a digital rights organization who chose to remain anonymous. According to HRW, the loss of the U.S. as a reliable partner in the digital rights space is seen by many organizations as a major threat to the sector, affecting planning, staffing, and the ability to deliver infrastructure that safeguards digital freedoms and security in contexts where authoritarianism and censorship are on the rise.

Devex Researcher Note: One of the primary institutions supporting U.S. efforts for digital rights and freedoms abroad was the U.S. Agency for Global Media's Open Technology Fund, or OTF, for which $43.5 million had been appropriated by Congress for FY2025, serving about 46 million users in the world's most restricted digital environments. Support for the OTF was terminated in March 2025 and, although a court order obligated the U.S. government to pay out the funds that had already been promised to organizations, as of April 2026 future support remains uncertain. The need for technologists working towards internet freedom in the global majority was underscored by OTF in the legal battle to restore funding following U.S. aid cuts, when it stated that, if the organization ceases to be funded, "the vast majority of internet freedom technology projects anywhere in the world will cease and the internet freedom technology field as a whole will be largely decimated."

Source: Human Rights Watch