What is the Digital Rights Observatory in Spain and how does it work?

What is the Digital Rights Observatory in Spain and how does it work?

The Digital Rights Observatory is a project that is part of the Digital Rights programme and seeks to guarantee the real accessibility of digital rights for all citizens.

Birth and background of the Digital Rights Observatory

This public initiative, presented last February 2025, has been led by the Government and was created to promote the monitoring, debate and dissemination of digital rights among citizens and among the different public and private organisations that participate.

The programme shared by the Observatory and the Digital Rights Charter is made up of experts in digital rights, representatives of public institutions, civil society organisations and professionals from the technology and law sectors, totalling one hundred and fifty entities and more than three hundred and sixty experts.

The Observatory Project has twenty of these entities, from the Telefónica Foundation or the Atresmedia Foundation to universities from all over Spain, such as the Autonomous University of Madrid or the University of Santiago de Compostela.

Spain as a pioneer in digital protection

The creation of the Digital Rights Observatory is not a surprise for society, but rather a step forward in our country’s continued involvement in the digital protection of individuals.
In 2021, the Government presented the Digital Rights Charter as a guide for future projects protecting different areas in which digital rights are found:

• Right to freedom
• The right to equality
• Rights of participation and confirmation of public space
• Workplace and business environment rights
• Digital rights in specific environments

This Charter of Digital Rights, together with the Observatory, is part of a programme that seeks to ensure the protection of rights in the digital environment, promoting a balance between technological progress and citizens’ security.

Key goals of the Digital Rights Observatory’s action

The main function of the Digital Rights Observatory is to ensure the fulfilment and promotion of the rights established in the Charter of Digital Rights. Although this charter does not constitute a binding norm that entails the obligation of compliance, it is presented as a formal and fundamental guide to frame the clear limits that ensure a safe, fair and respectful digital environment for all. Its primary objective is to ensure that the digital space is a protected place where fundamental rights are respected, where fairness and security in the use of new technologies are promoted.

Access to the Digital Rights Observatory website offers a wide range of activities to reinforce and achieve its objectives. These activities take the form of courses, conferences and seminars, which seek to foster knowledge and debate on the present and future challenges and opportunities of the digital environment.

The topics covered focus on key issues such as the governance of neurotechnologies, data protection, the governance of artificial intelligence and its application in the legal field.

This project starts with a confirmed budget to be able to cope with all the actions it intends to integrate and to be able to expand more training, encompassing as many fields as possible to guarantee constant training to serve the protection of society.

How it affects companies and content creators

The Digital Rights Observatory is projected as a key initiative in the protection of people’s rights in the digital environment, addressing security challenges to be taken into account by lawyers in the sector.

Companies must adapt to changes and comply with current regulations to avoid potential security breaches that could interfere with valuable assets such as confidential information, trade secrets and customer and employee data. To do so, they must put in place robust measures to ensure this security, as well as sign contracts with their suppliers, employees and customers to provide security.

These challenges also affect content creators, as their content is part of the digital ecosystem as a public image, exposed in multiple ways. These issues need to be addressed to ensure their safety and respect for their rights in their daily lives.

Increasing digitisation has led to an increase in threats to the protection of personal data, exposing victims to threats from cybercriminals and constant monitoring that invades their privacy.

In order to strengthen trust in the digital environment and encourage innovation and technological progress, companies, social networkers, lawyers and legal professionals, should be a support to ensure compliance with regulations and the safeguarding of citizens’ rights.

In conclusion, initiatives such as the Digital Rights Observatory, together with the work of the legal sector, must go hand in hand to achieve the common and social goal of growing as a modern and protected society.