At Something Digital in Brisbane, Marwa Fatafta will bring a perspective that is both global and deeply personal. As the Middle East and North Africa Policy Director at Access Now, she leads advocacy on digital rights in one of the world’s most politically charged and technologically surveilled regions.
Her portfolio spans content governance, platform accountability, online censorship, surveillance, and transnational repression. She has written extensively on the digital occupation in Palestine and examines how new technologies shape armed conflicts, humanitarian responses, and the lives of historically marginalised communities. Beyond Access Now, she serves as a Policy Analyst at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, sits on the advisory board of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and is an advisory committee member for Bread&Net.
A Fulbright scholar with master’s degrees in International Relations (Maxwell School, Syracuse University) and Development and Governance (University of Duisburg-Essen), Marwa combines academic depth with first-hand understanding of the risks and realities of digital life under repression.
Communication Generation Perspective
At Communication Generation, we see Marwa’s work as a compass pointing to one of the deepest truths about the digital era: safety and visibility cannot be treated as opposing forces. A healthy digital commons is one where people are free to exist as their whole selves — without fear that their voice, image, or history will be weaponised against them. Her advocacy reminds us that technology is never neutral; it is always embedded in power structures that can either protect or persecute. In a world where entire lives are lived in parallel online and offline, Marwa’s insistence on uniting those selves is not just personal courage — it’s a demand for systemic change that aligns with our vision of communication as a force for liberation, dignity, and connection.
| Theme | Marwa Fatafta’s Contribution | Communication Generation Alignment |
|---|---|---|
| Feminism in Digital Rights | Frames online freedoms as inseparable from liberation and justice for women and marginalised groups. | We believe digital systems must embed equity and care into their design, not as an add-on but as their foundation. |
| Surveillance Accountability | Exposes and challenges spyware companies and state actors. | We call for transparency and ethical oversight in all digital infrastructure. |
| Privacy as Agency | Promotes “digital hygiene” while recognising its limits against systemic threats. | We see privacy not as secrecy, but as the capacity to choose how and when to share ourselves. |
| Support for Survivors | Advocates for accessible legal, psychological, and social resources. | We view communication as a healing tool — and digital spaces as potential refuges, not battlegrounds. |
| Platform Responsibility | Critiques tech giants’ failure to protect vulnerable users during crises. | Our work centres on reshaping platforms as accountable public infrastructure. |
| Alternative Digital Futures | Warns of “tech feudalism” and calls for collective, rights-based systems. | We champion decentralised, community-driven networks over monopolised digital empires. |
At Communication Generation, we see Marwa’s work as part of a larger, global effort to reclaim community from forces that hijack it for control. As Douglas Rushkoff warns, the digital commons have been enclosed — spaces that once promised openness now shaped by corporate and political agendas. Shoshana Zuboff has exposed how our lives are mined for behavioural surplus, and Cory Doctorow shows how gatekeepers tighten their grip over visibility and access.
Women thinkers have been sounding these alarms just as powerfully. Safiya Umoja Noble, in Algorithms of Oppression, lays bare how search and recommendation systems amplify bias. Ruha Benjamin reminds us that tech inherits the values — and prejudices — of the societies that build it, unless we intervene. Zeynep Tufekci points out that platforms designed for connection can be easily weaponised for manipulation and control.
Marwa’s fight makes these ideas tangible. In some regions, the capture of community is not only commercial but explicitly political — weaponised to surveil, harass, and silence. Defending the right to be seen, and the right to be safe, is ultimately about taking back the infrastructure of connection itself. It’s a reminder that digital rights are not a niche concern — they are the conditions for dignity, participation, and freedom in the 21st century.
From Parallel Lives to Public Advocacy
In her TEDx talk Every Move You Make, Marwa recounts growing up in a small Palestinian village where strict rules dictated how women should speak, dress, and behave. A self-described rebel, she learned to live two parallel lives: one self for the public and family sphere, another hidden self for friends and trusted spaces.
When social media emerged, it seemed to promise freedom, connection, and democracy. But for Marwa, it became another place where she had to carefully manage her identity — performing the same exhausting balancing act she did offline. For 15 years, she navigated these dual selves until the mental and emotional toll became too high.
Her turning point came when her career put her in the public eye: interviews, conferences, press requests. Hiding was no longer possible. She chose to unite both identities and live “fully, unapologetically, and regardless of consequences.” That choice freed her — but also sharpened her mission: to fight for digital spaces that do not force women, activists, and marginalised people to choose between visibility and safety.
The Risks Are Real
Marwa speaks from experience and from the testimonies of countless others:
- Women journalists, activists, and lawyers hacked with Pegasus spyware.
- Private photos leaked online to shame and discredit.
- Judges in Tunisia humiliated through the circulation of coerced “virginity tests.”
- Young women in Egypt jailed for “violating family values” — values defined and weaponised by the state.
In these contexts, morality becomes a tool of repression. Women are expected to be invisible, yet their privacy is denied. Any personal detail — a casual photo, an address, a screenshot of a message — can be weaponised.
Key Contributions & Ideas from Marwa Fatafta
1. Feminism as a Core of Digital Rights
Sees the defence of online freedoms as part of the broader struggle for liberation, equality, and justice — particularly for women and oppressed communities.
2. Exposing and Challenging Surveillance
Advocates for banning and sanctioning spyware, exposing the companies and governments that profit from it. Emphasises that public scrutiny is essential.
3. Privacy as Agency
Urges individuals to practise “digital hygiene” — controlling what information they share, reviewing privacy settings, and questioning app permissions — while recognising this alone won’t protect against sophisticated attacks.
4. Supporting Survivors of Digital Violence
Calls for safe spaces where those targeted online can access legal, psychological, and social support, and recover from the trauma of being hacked or humiliated.
5. Holding Platforms Accountable
Critiques the failure of major tech companies to protect users in the MENA region, especially during crises like the war in Gaza, where disinformation, hate speech, and incitement flourish unchecked.
6. Imagining Alternative Digital Futures
Warns of “tech feudalism” — a world ruled by a handful of unaccountable tech billionaires — and urges collective action to build safer, rights-respecting digital systems.
Why Her Voice Matters at Something Digital
Marwa’s presence at Something Digital is a reminder that the conversations about AI, digital platforms, and online policy happening in Australia are part of a much larger global struggle. Her work shows how digital rights are not abstract principles — they are about whether people can live, speak, and participate without fear.
She connects the personal to the systemic: your phone isn’t just a device, it’s an extension of your mind, your relationships, and your memories. When that information falls into the wrong hands, the consequences can be life-altering. And while individual action matters, the deeper fight is against structures — from surveillance industries to negligent tech giants — that profit from harm.
Watch the Talk
To understand the urgency and humanity behind Marwa’s advocacy, watch her TEDx talk Every Move You Make. It’s both a personal story of resilience and a global call to defend the right to be seen — and the right to be safe — in the digital age.
