Two new companies and one organisation today joined the Council of Europe Partnership with the digital sector aimed at promoting respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law on the internet: BT, IBM and the Internet Society (ISOC).

To formalise their accession to the partnership, representatives of these entities exchanged letters with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and have been introduced during a meeting of the thematic group of the Council of Europe on Information (TC-INF).

Created in 2017, the partnership is a platform for collaboration between the Council of Europe and digital companies and associations on specific projects. It aims to facilitate the exchange of experiences and views on the protection of human rights and the rule of law in Council of Europe work relevant to this sector.

The new partners join technology firms and associations which already entered into the co-operation agreement with the Council of Europe: Apple, AT&T, Cloudflare, Computer & Communications industry association (CCIA), Deutsche Telekom, DigitalEurope, Element AI, EuroISPA, European Digital SME Alliance, European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO), Facebook, Global Network Initiative (GNI), Google, GSMA, ICCO, IEEE, Intel, Microsoft, Kaspersky, Orange, RIPE NCC and Telefónica.

The partners also held and exchange of views with delegates of the Committee of Ministers on the Organisation’s ongoing work on regulation of artificial intelligence.