Save the Date: Global Gathering 2026
📅 Date: September 4, 5 and 6, 2026
📍 Location: Estoril, Portugal
🔗 Applications will open in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
Save the date for the 2026 Global Gathering, which will be held on September 4, 5 and 6 in Estoril, Portugal. The gathering brings together groups throughout the world working on the most urgent technology-related challenges affecting human rights, social justice, civil society, and journalism at the local, regional and global levels.
The gathering’s humane design, unique outdoor venue, and robust security and safety protocols have been celebrated for fostering authentic trust-building and catalyzing impactful coalitions.
Examples of issues participants work on: holistic digital security and protection of civil society; counteracting online censorship and surveillance; community-focused approaches to issues like AI, disinformation, internet policy and governance; and climate and tech, among others.
Gathering defenders
at the intersection of technology and rights
🌿 What to Expect:
Community-lead design that prioritizes networking, collaboration and knowledge sharing across borders.
A unique outdoor venue surrounded by trees and steps away from the beaches of Estoril.
Opportunities to meet hundreds of tool developers, organizations, and networks at the forefront of digital rights and security/protection for civil society.
Numerous options to attend (or host) partner-lead satellite events such as workshops, network meetups, team retreats, topical sessions, and more.
Programming covering diverse aspects of: security and protection; surveillance and censorship; disinformation; regional intelligence and network measurement; emerging challenges such as artificial intelligence; policy environments related to these issues; and, of course, the sustainability and health of our organizations and networks.
🌱 Equity Fund Relaunched
Like most organizations in digital rights and other rights spaces, in 2025 we were impacted by historic funding cuts, which led to the first-ever pause of our Equity Fund. In 2026, we will be relaunching the fund, which supports the travel, lodging and security of individuals that truly cannot attend the gathering otherwise. More information to come shortly.
⭐ Host a Village or Satellite Event
to Amplify Your Work
For our 2026 edition, we are making the GG a more effective tool for participants to advance their goals. We will be expanding opportunities for Villages, community-led hubs focused on specific themes, regions, or areas of practice; and Satellite events, private or public gatherings hosted by partners before, during, or after the GG. To learn more about these opportunities, please reach out to us as soon as possible to ensure we can provide you with the best support possible.
☘️ Updates, Tips, and More
🩵 Applications will be launched by the end of the year.
🩵 While all applications must be vetted and approved, we strongly encourage anyone interested in attending the GG to schedule their visa appointments as soon as possible. Many embassies and consulates — including Portuguese ones — have backlogs which delay processing times. If you are unable to attend the event, your appointment can be cancelled. If you need support or have questions about applying for a Schengen visa, please refer to the visa support information on our wiki.
🩵 We are making a concentrated effort to bring in resources, organizations and individuals that can help address the funding challenges the broader digital rights ecosystem is facing.
🩵 We have been hosting one-on-one interviews with folks to gather feedback on how to make the 2026 edition an even more impactful tool for participants. Please reach out if you would like to schedule a call with us. You are also welcome to share asynchronous feedback via email by emailing us at gather@digitalrights.community.
🩵 We would like to feature more talent from our community. If you are a musician, comedian, drag artist, or practice any other performance art form that you would like to share, we’d love to hear from you!
Contact: You can reach us at gather@digitalrights.community.
.
\ stand out
