Rahima Mahmut’s Remarks on World Privacy Day

Feb 12, 2026

Source: Index on Censorship

To mark World Privacy Day on January 28, 2026, Index on Censorship hosted a special event highlighting the critical role of encrypted communication tools for human rights defenders. The event, sponsored by former UK cabinet minister Louise Haigh MP, brought together several Members of Parliament and prominent activists to discuss digital security and freedom of expression.

Among the featured speakers were Uyghur human rights activist Rahima Mahmut and former Pussy Riot member Olga Borisova. Both emphasized that encryption is not a luxury or optional safeguard, but a vital necessity for their personal safety and professional work.

Rahima Mahmut, Director of Stop Uyghur Genocide, shared the following remarks:

As a Uyghur, when I hear the words “online safety” I do not hear reassurance.

I hear a warning.

I come from a community where the language of “safety” was used to justify one of the most extensive systems of digital surveillance the world has ever seen. In China, the government claimed it was keeping people safe, while it monitored every message, every contact, every digital footprint of Uyghur lives. People disappeared not because they committed crimes, but because of what they searched, shared or said online.

That is why I am deeply concerned by the Online Safety Act.

I understand its intention. Protecting children and preventing harm matters. But intention is not enough. We must look at how power operates once it is written into law.

When governments pressure platforms to remove vaguely defined “harmful” content, the result is not safety – it is pre-emptive censorship. Platforms will always choose caution over justice. They will silence first and ask questions later.

For Uyghurs in exile, digital platforms are not a luxury. They are our lifeline.

They are how we document atrocities, speak to journalists, warn the world and preserve our culture.

When content is removed, when accounts are suspended, when voices are quietly buried by algorithms, the cost is not abstract. It is human.

I have seen where this road leads. In China, online control did not stop at content moderation. It led to mass surveillance, collective punishment and genocide.

The UK must not – even unintentionally – normalise the logic that safety requires less freedom, less privacy and more state control.

True online safety does not come from expanding surveillance powers. It comes from protecting rights, enforcing transparency and defending the most vulnerable voices – not silencing them.

As someone who has lived the consequences of digital authoritarianism, I urge you: do not build a system that future governments could abuse. Do not trade freedom for a false sense of security. Because once lost, our voices are very hard to recover.