News and Events

11 Nov WITNESS calls for stronger AI transparency rules and privacy protections in the US

As AI-generated and manipulated content becomes increasingly common online, knowing where digital content comes from and how it has been changed is becoming more important. But efforts to improve transparency must also protect people’s privacy and security. This is especially important for activists, journalists, and human rights defenders, whose work documenting and exposing human rights violations can put them at risk. WITNESS has been working with policymakers in the United States to advance legislation that helps people assess the origin and authenticity of digital content while safeguarding human rights. In California and New York, the organization has focused on strengthening rules around content provenance, AI disclosures, and personal data protection. California: Strengthening transparency and content provenance California has become a key center for AI regulation in the United States. WITNESS engages with lawmakers on proposals addressing AI transparency and content provenance, a form of ‘watermark’ showing where digital content comes from, how it was created, and whether it has been changed. On August 17, 2026, WITNESS submitted a statement of support for California’s SB 1000, the California AI Transparency Act, recommending changes to strengthen the bill. “We are focused on ensuring that provenance requirements are based on reliable technical standards

22 Oct Polly Fields joins WITNESS as Interim Executive Director

News and Events | WITNESS

Polly Fields joins WITNESS in the role of Interim Executive Director following Sam Gregory’s decision to step down. She will lead the organization while the Board conducts its search for a permanent Executive Director. Polly has deep knowledge of WITNESS having served on its Board for the past seven years, including as co-Chair from 2021 to 2024 and most recently as Board Secretary. She stepped down from the Board on taking up her new role. In this role, Polly will work closely with WITNESS’s Senior Leadership Team to deliver on our existing strategy and priorities. She will also strengthen our relationships with the communities we serve, our allies and our funders, and help prepare the way for WITNESS’s next permanent leader. Polly brings over 30 years of leadership in philanthropy, global health and human rights. At Dropbox, she founded the Dropbox Foundation and built its human rights portfolio, providing trust-based, unrestricted support to human rights organizations worldwide. Earlier in her career, she worked to expand access to treatment for life-threatening diseases across the Global South and was the first Chief of Staff for President Clinton’s HIV/AIDS Initiative. “Polly has been a champion of WITNESS for many years, and she understands

24 Sep WITNESS Launches Its First Regional Deepfake Rapid Response Force in Brazil

News and Events | WITNESS

The new initiative brings together Brazilian fact-checkers and forensic experts with WITNESS’ expertise to detect AI-manipulated media before it can distort the 2026 election in the country Read this text in Portuguese here. To safeguard Brazil’s 2026 elections, taking place in October, WITNESS is adapting its Deepfakes Rapid Response Force (DRRF) model for the country’s fast-moving information landscape. Since 2023, the organization has led the first initiative of its kind globally: a Deepfakes Rapid Response Force connecting frontline journalists, human rights defenders, and fact-checkers in real time with leading AI detection and media forensics experts. The DRRF has helped identify and expose synthetic media in high-stakes moments around the world, protecting the integrity of information when it matters most. Earlier this year, Brazilian fact-checking organization Aos Fatos identified at least 50 TikTok videos simulating street interviews and testimonials about two of Brazil’s presidential candidates, Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro. None of the “voters” in them were real. The videos had accumulated millions of views, illustrating the scale and speed at which synthetic content can spread during an election. The DRRF in Brazil marks the first time WITNESS has adapted this model at a regional level. Developed in collaboration with Brazilian fact-checking

22 Sep WITNESS releases report on five lessons from the Nepal floods for verifying what’s real

News and Events | jessicaribeiro

WITNESS has released a new report examining five lessons from the Nepal floods for verifying what’s real in the age of AI. Drawing on cases investigated by fact-checkers and on WITNESS’ work, the report examines the limits of AI detection, the growing role of technology companies in determining what is real, and why human investigation remains essential in a crisis. On 26 August, a glacial collapse high on the Nepal-Tibet border sent a wall of ice, rock and water down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli valleys. More than 1,380 people were killed in Nepal and over 5,100 remained missing. Within hours, social media filled with footage of the disaster. Some of it was real, but much of it was not. Fact-checkers identified AI-generated videos, footage recycled from other disasters, and authentic footage that was mistakenly questioned as AI-generated. Some fake videos also disputed the cause of the disaster, attributing the floods to a Chinese-built dam or a missile strike rather than the documented glacial collapse. The cases from Nepal reveal a broader challenge in how we establish what is real during a crisis. The problem is not only the volume of AI-generated content, but also the limits of the tools

10 Sep WITNESS Backs Indigenous Youth in Brazil to Document and Defend Their Territories Through Visual Investigations

News and Events | WITNESS

Brazil is the fourth deadliest country in the world for environmental defenders, according to Global Witness’s most recent report. Despite these threats, Indigenous communities across the country continue to fight for their rights, increasingly up against coordinated disinformation campaigns designed to discredit the realities they face. In this environment, visual evidence has become an essential tool of resistance. In 2026, WITNESS supported 30 young Indigenous people in Brazil through REVIDE (Video School for the Defense of Territories), a training program in audiovisual and digital technologies for Indigenous communities in the North and Northeast of the country. REVIDE means “to fight back” in Portuguese, and that is precisely our focus: equipping Indigenous communities with the tools they need to effectively defend their territories. The program supports communities in documenting environmental and human rights violations and using audiovisual evidence for advocacy, accountability, climate justice and reparation. REVIDE participants documented threats including illegal soy and cattle production, logging, illegal mining that contaminates rivers, and violence and persecution against those defending their lands. On territories that have not yet been demarcated, participants also documented occupation by large agribusiness companies, including transnational corporations such as Cargill, affecting artisanal fishing and communities’ ability to move freely

News and Events

11 Nov WITNESS calls for stronger AI transparency rules and privacy protections in the US

22 Oct Polly Fields joins WITNESS as Interim Executive Director

24 Sep WITNESS Launches Its First Regional Deepfake Rapid Response Force in Brazil

22 Sep WITNESS releases report on five lessons from the Nepal floods for verifying what’s real

10 Sep WITNESS Backs Indigenous Youth in Brazil to Document and Defend Their Territories Through Visual Investigations

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