The Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) proposed to the Committee of Ministers to set up a Committee of Experts on Rights of Internet Users (MSI-DUI), after April 2012. The Internet Users Rights' Committee, composed of Council of Europe member states and independent experts from civil society and academia, worked for an approximate period of two years.

In the exercise of their Internet human rights' mandate, the experts consulted with stakeholders in the framework of the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (20-21 June 2013, Lisbon, Portugal) and the Internet Governance Forum (22 to 25 October 2013, Bali, Indonesia). They also organised an open consultation on Internet Users' Rights, in October 2013, in which they received contributions from representatives of the private sector (telecommunications companies, online service providers), key civil society organisations, the technical community as well as academicians from different parts of the world.

In January 2014 the CDMSI endorsed the draft Guide to Human Rights of Internet Users elaborated by the experts, notably its user-friendly and simple approach, and finalised a draft recommendation by the Committee of Ministers to its member states.

On 16 April 2014, the Committee of Ministers adopted the recommendation to which the Guide to Human Rights of Internet Users is appended.

The Guide to Human Rights of Internet Users does not create new rights; it explains the existing ones and joins them up to provide users with an overview of selected core rights on Internet. Its basis remains the European Convention of Human Rights.