12. Conclusions and recommended actions

12.1 Main Conclusions

The cross-sectional analysis of the normative and institutional framework of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Dominican Republic and Mexico, contrasted with UNESCO Guidelines and enriched by the multi-stakeholder dialogues of the regional workshops, allows us to extract the following structural conclusions:

1. Contrast between constitutional protection and operational reality.

The region shares a valuable constitutional heritage that dogmatically protects freedom of expression, access to information and the right to privacy. However, in practice, the effectiveness of these guarantees is diluted in the face of political, infrastructure and violence barriers. Phenomena such as judicial harassment through anachronistic defamation laws (SLAPPs in Panama and Honduras), systemic violence against the press (Mexico), digital espionage of journalists and the use of exception regimes that legalize unrestricted surveillance and promote self-censorship (El Salvador), demonstrate that the digital civic space is under siege, violating the "high threshold" of protection required by international law.

2. Need for regulatory advancement.

The region operates under obvious lag compared to technology corporations. Except for sectoral approaches in Mexico (copyright) and Panama (e-commerce), countries lack modern laws that define the role of digital platforms and establish a conditional liability regime (safe harbor). This vacuum forces states to improvise through consumer protection laws or high-tech criminal codes, resulting in a punitive approach to the end user, rather than imposing due diligence obligations, algorithmic transparency and appeal mechanisms (due process) on the platforms themselves.

3. Institutional fragility and asymmetry in data protection.

With the exception of Mexico and Panama, which have legislation applicable to the private sector, privacy protection in the region is precarious, relying on the reactive remedy of Habeas Data or limited laws for the public or credit sector. This is coupled with a critical failure to meet UNESCO's standard on regulator independence. Telecommunications authorities are often subordinate to the Executive Power. The case of Mexico is concerning, which recently eliminated constitutional autonomy of its key regulators (such as INAI and IFT), dismantling basic institutional checks against state intervention.

4. Vulnerability of electoral integrity to misinformation and Artificial Intelligence.

The digital ecosystem has become the main political battlefield, exceeding the sanctioning capacity and technical ability of electoral bodies. While Panama stands out as a regulatory pioneer by prohibiting bots, inauthentic accounts and criminalizing malicious AI use for misinformation, the rest of the region relies on fragile voluntary agreements or finds itself in an absolute legal vacuum (as in El Salvador or Dominican Republic, unable to audit foreign microsegmented advertising). The arrival of generative AI threatens to cheapen and automate psychographic manipulation, demanding urgent reforms focused on safeguarding the democratic process.

5. Market asymmetry and the need for a regional bloc.

One of the most compelling conclusions from the 2025 workshops is that Central America and Caribbean nations, due to the reduced size of their markets, lack the bargaining power ("diplomatic muscle") to force large technology companies (Big Tech) to be accountable, open local offices or adapt their automated moderation systems to the dialects and indigenous languages of the region (linguistic sovereignty). To overcome this asymmetry, isolated state action is useless; it is essential to move towards the formation of regional negotiation blocs.

6. Towards innovative governance.

Faced with the lack of physical jurisdiction over platforms, the region must think outside traditional schemes. As proposed in inter-institutional dialogues, a highly effective way to force platforms to comply with human rights standards and mitigate systemic risks is to involve financial system superintendencies and tax authorities. Using control over economic flow (advertising payments, subscriptions and monetization) provides states with the leverage needed to demand the transparency and shared accountability that electoral and other competent bodies have failed to impose.

12.2 Recommended actions

Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean region is at a crossroads. To materialize the vision of a "trustworthy internet" promoted by UNESCO, states must abandon punitive and surveillance models, and embrace multi-stakeholder systemic governance. This requires providing true independence to regulators, modernizing electoral laws, promoting digital literacy to break information bubbles, and acting as a united region that demands platforms adapt their technologies to the dignity and human rights of their populations. That said, our research allowed us to identify a series of key areas where civil society and regulators found consensus and where work can be done.

In that sense, the I4T Knowledge Network can work with authorities and civil society entities in the region and serve as an interlocutor with UNESCO, providing support, sharing knowledge, technical assistance and evidence to help the countries of the region advance towards governance of digital platforms that addresses the common challenges to different regions of the world and also responds to the priorities that have been identified in the region.

The key areas and recommended actions are summarized below: