A/HRC/40/52 rights (e.g., on freedom of expression and association, freedom of movement, respect for the right to privacy and family life, various due process rights, and the right to nondiscrimination). It will also, through the various provisions on sharing of information across borders, internationalize their “undesirability”. 24. A worrying development is the breadth of some of the measures in resolution 2178 (2014) and, in particular, 2396 (2017), which can, through the application of disjunctive standards, extend beyond “foreign terrorist fighters”. In several instances in resolution 2396 (2017), in particular operative paragraph 5, the Security Council loosely categorizes individuals as “terrorists” and “foreign terrorist fighters”, giving great leeway for implementing States to apply measures to a wide range of individuals. The mandate welcomes the addendum to the guiding principles on foreign terrorist fighters (2018), 44 including the specificity and breadth of human rights language and advice contained in this important document. Despite these considerable advances, while terrorism remains opaquely defined, and States have complete discretion to define terrorism and violent extremism in national law, the risks to civil society and human rights defenders remain. 6. Use of the Internet for terrorist purposes 25. In addition to mandating States to take measures to prohibit by law incitement to commit terrorist acts (resolution 1624 (2005)), the Security Council expressed concern, in its resolutions 2178 (2014) and 2396 (2017), over the increased use of communications technology, including the Internet, for recruiting and incitement purposes. The resolutions are aimed at advancing State cooperative action that formally respects human rights and fundamental freedoms. Measures countering violent extremism online may touch upon multiple human rights, including the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, to privacy, to an effective remedy, to due process and a fair trial and to a family life, as well as health-related rights. They can also seriously impinge on the right to freedom of religion, as noted by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who reported that since 2012, accusations of online blasphemy had risen, and new threats and patterns of violence had emerged. He noted that individuals using the Internet to disseminate views considered blasphemous increasingly faced capricious arrest and prosecution, and that the securitization of online activity had provided a wide margin of operation for national authorities against civil society without proper scrutiny.45 26. Electronic modes of expression are a critical means for civil society to exercise their freedom of opinion and expression, and are particularly important in repressive societies. Restricting such platforms – blocking, filtering or removing content – can affect civil society, journalists, human rights defenders and others disproportionally. 46 27. Enjoyment of the rights to privacy and to freedom of expression are closely interrelated. Undue interference with the right to privacy limits the free development and exchange of ideas,47 and can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Civil society may refrain from online exchange, for fear of attracting government interest. Restrictions have a particularly negative impact on journalists and human rights defenders who fear accusations of “spreading terrorist propaganda”. B. General Assembly and Human Rights Council 28. The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy was the General Assembly’s balanced approach to then pervasive security-first approaches to counter-terrorism. By stating that respect for human rights is part of “the fundamental basis of the fight against terrorism” the Assembly places human rights at the centre of the Strategy. In the Strategy, the Assembly reaffirms the inextricable links between human rights and security. By encouraging non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society to engage, as 8 44 S/2018/1177. 45 A/73/362, para. 49. 46 International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance. 47 A/HRC/23/40 and Corr.1, para. 24.