The digital rights community does not stop moving when circumstances change. That idea sits at the heart of the RightsCon Continues Summit, a 24-hour global online gathering taking place from September 22 to September 23, 2026 through the RightsCon Summit Platform.
Rather than trying to recreate a traditional multi-day, in-person RightsCon online, organizers have designed a more focused experience around resilience, solidarity, movement building, and multistakeholder action. The result is a compact program intended to give people space to exchange ideas, build relationships, and keep digital rights work moving forward.
What Is the RightsCon Continues Summit?
RightsCon is a global summit series that brings together civil society, technologists, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, journalists, academics, and other stakeholders working at the intersection of human rights and technology. For 2026, RightsCon Continues is a series of initiatives designed to maintain community engagement throughout the year.
The centerpiece is the RightsCon Continues Summit: a 24-hour online event that circles the globe and provides programming across multiple time zones. The summit is not intended to replace RightsCon 2026 or function as a full annual summit. Instead, it is a focused opportunity for the community to connect, discuss current challenges, and prepare for continued work toward RightsCon 2027.
Why Is RightsCon Continues Happening Online?
The 2026 RightsCon gathering originally planned for Zambia was effectively cancelled by the Zambian government. According to RightsCon, the organization then consulted more than 1,400 community members and heard strong support for continuing opportunities to connect and collaborate during 2026 rather than waiting until the following year.
Organizers say an additional in-person summit during the remainder of 2026 was not feasible while maintaining the accessibility, operational, security, and program standards expected from RightsCon. The online format therefore offers a way to continue the conversation while allowing participants from different regions to take part.
When Is the RightsCon Continues Summit?
The RightsCon Continues Summit begins on Tuesday, September 22, 2026 and runs for 24 hours into Wednesday, September 23. The program is designed to span the globe rather than focus on a single regional time zone.
Who Will Be Part of the Summit?
One of the defining features of RightsCon is the mix of perspectives across the online platform. The Summit brings together voices from across the digital rights ecosystem, including researchers, technologists, business leaders, government officials, civil society organizations, academics, and other practitioners.
That diversity matters because digital rights issues rarely belong to one sector. Questions around privacy, online expression, platform governance, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital inclusion, surveillance, and emerging technology can involve technical, legal, social, economic, and policy considerations at the same time.
What Can Participants Expect?
The RightsCon Continues program includes more than 50 sessions and uses several formats to keep the experience focused and interactive. Participants can choose from dialogues, roundtables, workshops, meetups, and thematic fireside chats.
The program is considerably smaller than the 500-plus sessions originally planned for RightsCon 2026. RightsCon says the reduced scale is intentional: it allows the organization to create a more curated experience and avoid the overload that can come with very large online programs.
Networking Is a Major Part of RightsCon Continues
A big part of any RightsCon experience is what happens between formal sessions. The RightsCon Continues Summit keeps that tradition alive with dedicated networking opportunities, including regional and thematic meetups.
The Summit is hosting 14 meetups across the 24-hour program, giving participants dedicated spaces to reconnect with people they already know, meet new colleagues, and explore shared interests. The online platform also provides tools for one-to-one and group conversations and social spaces.
For people working in digital rights, Internet governance, technology policy, cybersecurity, privacy, or human rights, these informal conversations can be just as useful as formal sessions. They create room for collaboration, feedback, and discovering projects or communities that may not appear in a standard conference agenda.
How Much Does RightsCon Continues Cost?
The Summit uses a Pay-What-You-Can model. Participants who are able to contribute can choose an amount that works for them, while those who cannot contribute can enter zero and attend without paying.
This approach is designed to keep the event accessible while allowing contributions to support the ongoing work of the digital rights community.
Do You Need to Register Again?
Yes. Registration for the RightsCon Continues Summit is separate from registration for the originally planned RightsCon 2026 event. Participants need to register through the RightsCon Summit Platform to gain access to the online program.
The platform opened to registered participants on September 8, allowing them to create a profile and build a personal agenda before the event. Registration is scheduled to close on September 21, one day before the Summit begins.
A Closer Look at the Digital Rights Themes
The Summit’s common thread focuses on resilience, adaptation, solidarity, and movement building. These themes reflect the broader challenges facing the digital rights ecosystem as technology, policy, and human rights continue to intersect.
The event also reflects a wider Internet governance reality. Organizations such as ICANN, IANA, ISOC, APNIC, and the Internet Governance Forum operate in different parts of the Internet ecosystem, while digital rights communities examine how technology affects people and society. Events such as RightsCon provide another important space where technical, policy, civil society, academic, and private-sector perspectives can meet.
Safety, Privacy, and Participation
Because RightsCon deals with sensitive digital rights issues and brings together participants from many backgrounds, safety and responsible participation are central to the online Summit. RightsCon says its Code of Conduct and Participation & Privacy Policy remain in effect.
The organizers have also outlined measures including technical moderator training, incident-response procedures, participant guidance, risk assessments, and scenario planning. Participants should review the official safety and participation guidance before joining.
Who Should Attend the RightsCon Continues Summit?
The Summit is relevant to anyone whose work, research, or interests connect technology with human rights and digital policy. You do not need to fit neatly into one professional category.
It can be useful for digital rights practitioners, researchers, technology and cybersecurity professionals, policymakers, journalists, academics, Internet governance professionals, students, and emerging professionals who want to understand how different communities approach digital rights and technology policy.
Key event details
- Dates: September 22–23, 2026
- Format: 24-hour global online summit
- Platform: RightsCon Summit Platform
- Registration closes: September 21, 2026
- Access: Pay-What-You-Can, including a free option
- Program: 50+ sessions and 14 meetups
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the RightsCon Continues Summit?
It runs for 24 hours from September 22 to September 23, 2026.
Is RightsCon Continues an in-person event?
No. The Summit is entirely online through the RightsCon Summit Platform.
How much does registration cost?
It uses a Pay-What-You-Can model, including a free option.
Do I need to register separately?
Yes. Registration for RightsCon Continues is separate from the original RightsCon 2026 registration.
How many sessions are planned?
The program includes more than 50 sessions across five formats.
Final Takeaway
The RightsCon Continues Summit is a different format from the traditional RightsCon experience, but its central purpose remains familiar: bringing people together to discuss technology and human rights, build relationships, and turn shared concerns into meaningful collaboration.
With more than 50 sessions, 14 meetups, multiple time zones, and participation from across the digital rights ecosystem, the 24-hour online format gives the community a practical way to stay connected throughout 2026.
Source
RightsCon Summit Series, RightsCon Continues Summit 2026. https://www.rightscon.org/
Dipankar Barua is an internet governance advocate from Dhaka, Bangladesh, who believes that voices from the Global South must be heard in the rooms where the internet’s future is decided. As an ICANN advocate and VSIG member, he actively engages in multistakeholder policy processes spanning DNS security, digital inclusion, and responsible AI governance. With an academic grounding in Computer Science and AI, and over 15 years of applied IT experience, Dipankar bridges the gap between technical communities and policy spaces — writing, participating, and advocating for a more open, equitable, and inclusive internet for all.
