Responding to reports of the Venezuelan government-backed app, being updated to allow users to report people voicing dissent towards the current government in the immediate aftermath of the disputed re-election of President Nicolas Maduro, Matt Mahmoudi, Head of Amnesty International’s Silicon Valley Initiative, said:
“The fact that technology developers revised the app to add this new function and technology platforms then put it on widely available sources, begs the question: are these companies fulfilling their human rights responsibilities?
“If they were, they would have assessed the risk of such an app being used by the Venezuelan government to not only limit people’s right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, but also potentially contribute to unlawful arrests, detention, and other serious human rights abuses.
“By encouraging the reporting of protestors and providing a platform in which this can be done at a large scale, the Venezuelan government risks breaching international human rights law.
Matt Mahmoudi, Head of Amnesty International’s Silicon Valley Initiative
“Amnesty has documented repeatedly how, too often, technology companies engage in practices that creates adverse human rights impacts without proper assessment of these risks. These companies have a responsibility to do their due diligence and adequately address any potential risks, which should have been quite clear in this case, given the Venezuelan…
