Digital systems can support rights, but surveillance and automated decisions can also scale discrimination, censorship and abuse.
Digital systems can support rights, but surveillance and automated decisions can also scale discrimination, censorship and abuse.
WHRF focus area. Governments and companies use data-driven systems in policing, borders, welfare, employment, education and online platforms. Their speed and reach do not remove the need for legality, necessity, proportionality, transparency and meaningful human oversight.
Risks include unlawful surveillance, biometric tracking, biased automated decisions, opaque profiling, censorship and weak remedies. Communities already subject to discrimination often bear the greatest burden while having the least influence over system design.
International human rights law applies to digital technologies. The UN has repeatedly called for safeguards throughout the full life cycle of artificial-intelligence systems and for moratoria where a use cannot meet human-rights standards.
WHRF approaches this issue through independent research, public-interest analysis, non-partisan advocacy and cooperation with credible human-rights actors. This page identifies a focus area; it does not claim that WHRF currently operates a field programme or provides direct services in a particular country.
Contact WHRF if your organization has relevant evidence, expertise or a responsible partnership proposal.
Last reviewed: 20 October 2026.
