Founded in 2019, Confluence Media is a group of journalists, writers, documentary filmmakers, and development professionals. Through their hard-hitting stories, workshops, and collaborations with foundations, nonprofits, and impact organisations, they seek to counter societal and political biases and misinformation, promote information literacy, and fuel a broader public debate on critical human issues.

Founded in 2021, Bangladesh-based Digitally Right Limited (DRL)comprises researchers and journalists dedicated to promoting a free and open digital space. DRL conducts evidence-based research on media markets, disinformation, and technology’s impact on society. It also provides digital security training to journalists and civic communities.

Founded in 1976, the IAS is one of the oldest and most prestigious research institutes in Thailand. It has seven area- and issue-based research centres, including the Mekhong Studies Centre and the Multicultural and Social Innovation Centre, which have carried rigorous inter-disciplinary research on various policy-relevant topics such as migration, youth and development, civic education and sustainable economy. Over recent years, the IAS has engaged in research projects on digital labor and conflicts.

VERA Files is a nonstock, nonprofit media organization registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission.

Established by six veteran journalists in 2008, the organization’s chief purposes, as embodied in its articles of incorporation, are to: (1) engage in the research, writing, production and distribution of news and other media products and related services in multiple formats, including but not limited to print broadcast and online, to advance excellence in journalism; and (2) provide a venue for the training of journalists, students and educators in the practice of excellent journalism.

Currently, VERA Files undertakes a lot of fact-checking. The main outlet for VERA Files’ editorial output is its website.

PENANG INSTITUTE is one of Malaysia’s major think tanks. Funded by the Penang state government, it was established in 1997 (as SERI, the Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute), and underwent a name change in 2011 as part of a rebranding exercise to reflect the heightened ambitions of the state to secure Penang’s reputation as an intellectual hub and as the culture capital of the country, and to enhance Penang’s reputation in ASEAN and beyond.

With the tagline “Making Ideas Work”, Penang Institute encourages bold and innovative thinking not only in academic disciplines but also through the support it gives to literature and culture by way of events such as book launches, public literature seminars; through its public policy briefs, ISSUES, Monographs; through interviews with notable personalities on current state of affairs and trends in the form of podcast recordings which is available in three languages, as well as the Penang Institute Chats; and through its renown magazine Penang Monthly. In times of crisis, Penang Institute will contribute to the management of such crises by publishing informed papers on the local situation and on how this relates to events and initiatives undertaken in other parts of the world.

The Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) was established on 27 June 2013 in line with the increasing criminalisation of expression in the digital arena in Southeast Asia. From our initial activities of monitoring, advocacy, and solidarity on freedom of expression on the Internet, since 2018 SAFEnet has expanded its work to defend digital rights, including the right to Internet access, the right to freely express ourselves, and the right to safety in digital spaces.

SAFEnet has consistently advocated for victims of digital rights violations and been active in advocating for Internet policies to include human rights perspectives. Since 2019, SAFEnet has also provided holistic security training (physical, psychosocial, and digital) for vulnerable groups in Indonesia and Southeast Asia to build their resilience towards increasingly common digital repression.

Legally, SAFEnet became a legally established organisation in January 2019 under the name Perkumpulan Pembela Kekebebasan Asia Tenggara (Southeast Asian Freedom Defenders Association), located in Denpasar, Bali. SAFEnet now has 40 members in more than 20 cities across Indonesia and has networks with civil society organisations in Southeast Asia as well as internationally.