Concerns were expressed by Human Rights Watch on Thursday regarding two new laws in El Salvador related to cybersecurity and data protection, which were said to potentially threaten freedom of speech, press freedom, and privacy
The two bills, aimed at protecting personal information, were passed in mid-November by El Salvador’s Congress, which is controlled by President Nayib Bukele’s party
In a press release, Juanita Goebertus, HRW’s director for the Americas, stated that in the current atmosphere of opacity and harassment of independent journalists and civil organizations in El Salvador, a serious risk exists of these laws being used as tools to threaten, silence, or obstruct freedom of expression and information
The implementation of these laws is to be overseen by the State Cybersecurity Agency, a newly created entity to be led by a presidential appointee responsible for enforcing the new regulations
It was highlighted by HRW, based in Washington, that the law establishes a “right to be forgotten,” granting the agency excessively broad authority to demand the removal of online information about individuals.
The Salvadoran government has previously been accused of lacking transparency and spying on journalists and critics of Bukele’s administration, though these allegations have been denied by the government
Leave a comment