Digital Citizenship and the Right Not to Use the Internet: The European Approach
Abstrakt
The growing importance of the concept of digital citizenship reflects the integration of online participation, rights, and responsibilities into everyday life. European policies and initiatives increasingly emphasise digital inclusion, universal access, and the promotion of digital literacy as prerequisites for active citizenship in the digital era. At the same time, the question arises of whether individuals should also be entitled to a right not to use the internet without facing social, economic, or political exclusion. This article explores the European approach to digital citizenship in the context of this emerging right, highlighting tensions between policies aimed at inclusion and the freedom of individual choice. It analyses how to reconcile the promotion of digital participation with respect for the autonomy of individuals who choose to remain offline. It also argues that recognising the right not to use the internet is crucial for protecting personal freedoms and preventing forced digital dependency, while inclusive strategies should ensure that non-users are not marginalised in exercising their civic rights.Bibliografia
Bennett, W. L. (2007) ‘Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age’ in Bennett, W. L. (ed.) Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1–24.
Chen, Y. C., & Gant, J. (2001). Transforming local e-government services: The use of application service providers. Government Information Quarterly, 18, 343–355.
Council of Europe. (n.d.). Digital citizenship education. https://www.coe.int/en/web/education/digital-citizenship-education
Custers, B. (2019). Nieuwe digitale (grond)rechten. Nederlands Juristenblad, 44, 3288–3295. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4014541
de Hert, P., & Kloza, D. (2012). Internet (access) as a new fundamental right: Inflating the current rights framework? European Journal of Law and Technology, 3(3). https://ejlt.org/index.php/ejlt/
article/view/123
de Moraes, J. A., & de Andrade, E. B. (2015). Who are the citizens of digital citizenship? International Review of Information Ethics, 23, 4–19.
Emejulu, A., & McGregor, C. (2019). Toward a radical digital citizenship in digital education. Critical Studies in Education, 60, 131–147.
European Commission. (2021a). 2030 Digital Compass: The European way for the digital decade. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0118
European Commission. (2021b). State of the Union: Commission proposes a path to the digital decade to deliver the EU’s digital transformation by 2030. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/
detail/en/ip_21_4630
European Commission. (2023). eGovernment benchmark 2023: Entering a new digital government era. Publications Office of the European Union. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/
egovernment-benchmark-2023
European Parliament, Council of the European Union, & European Commission. (2023). European declaration on digital rights and principles for the digital decade (2023/C 23/01). https://eur-lex.europa.
eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023C0123(01)
Hintz, A., Dencik, L., & Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2019). Digital citizenship in a datafied society. Polity Press.
Isin, E., & Ruppert, E. (2015). Being digital citizens. Rowman & Littlefield.
Isman, A., & Güngören, Ö. C. (2014). Digital citizenship. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 13(1), 73–77.
Jenkins, H., & Carpentier, N. (2013). Theorising participatory intensities: A conversation about participation and politics. Convergence, 19(3), 265–286.
Jóźwicki, W., & Szoszkiewicz, Ł. (2025). Non-use of the internet as a human rights enabler? The curious cases of the right to privacy and the right to health. In D. Kloza, E. Kużelewska, E. Lievens, &
V. Verdoodt (Eds.), The right not to use the internet: Concept, contexts, consequences (pp. 106–120). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003528401–7
Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 24 September 2019 on the case of Vučina v. Croatia, application no. 58955/13.
Karaboga, M., Matzner, T., Obersteller, H., & Ochs, C. (2017). Is there a right to offline alternatives in a digital world? In Leenes, R., van Brakel, R., Gutwirth, S., De Hert, P. (Eds.), Data protection and
privacy: (In)visibilities and infrastructures (pp. 31–50). Springer.
Kaur, H. (2021). Protecting internet access: A human rights treaty approach. Brooklyn Journal of International Law, 46(2), 767–806.
Kloza, D. (2024). The right not to use the internet. Computer Law & Security Review, 52, 105907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2023.105907
Kloza, D., Kużelewska, E., Lievens, E., & Verdoodt, V. (Eds.). (2025). The right not to use the internet: Concept, contexts, consequences. Routledge.
Kużelewska, E., Malinowski, D., & Tomaszuk, M. (2025). Human rights and digital choice: Rethinking the right (not) to use the internet. Białostockie Studia Prawnicze, 30(4), 57–71. https://doi.
org/10.15290/bsp.2025.30.04.04
Kużelewska, E., Tomaszuk, M., & Malinowski, D. (2025). The elderly digital divide: Digital exclusion versus the right not to use the internet. International Journal for Semiotics of Law. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s11196–025–10334–4
Lucchi, N. (2013). The role of internet access in enabling individuals’ rights and freedoms [EUI RSCAS Working paper 47]. European University Institute Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.
Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C. J., & McNeal, R. S. (2007). Digital citizenship: The internet, society and participation. MIT Press.
Nieborak, T. (2025). Digital coercion? The financial market and the right to digital opt-out between fiction and reality. Białostockie Studia Prawnicze, 30(4), 119–136.
Nowina-Konopka, M. (2017). The European concept of e-governance in the light of European Commission indicators. Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, 60(2), 329–349.
OECD. (2020). The OECD digital government policy framework: Six dimensions of a digital government. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2020/10/the-oecd-digital-
government-policy-framework_11dd6aa8/f64fed2a-en.pdf
Ożóg, M., & Puchta, R. (2025a). The right not to use the internet and protection against the digital divide: Some preliminary remarks. Białostockie Studia Prawnicze, 30(4), 9–23. https://doi.
org/10.15290/bsp.2025.30.04.01
Ożóg, M., & Puchta, R. (2025b). The right not to use the internet: Toward a negative digital freedom in Polish law. In D. Kloza, E. Kużelewska, E. Lievens, & V. Verdoodt (Eds.), The right not to use the
internet (pp. 92–105). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003528401–6
Pangrazio, L., & Sefton-Green, J. (2021). Digital rights, digital citizenship and digital literacy: What’s the difference? Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 10(1), 15–27. https://doi.
org/10.7821/naer.2021.1.616
Passaglia, P. (2022). Behind the curtain: Questioning the right to access the internet. Völkerrechtsblog. https://doi.org/10.17176/20221017–110251–0
Passaglia, P. (2025). Conceptualising the right to access the internet and its impact on the right not to use it. In D. Kloza, E. Kużelewska, E. Lievens, & V. Verdoodt (Eds.), The right not to use the internet
(pp. 29–43). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003528401–4
Pollicino, O. (2020). The right to internet access. In A. Von Arnauld, K. Von der Decken, & M. Susi (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of new human rights (pp. 263–275). Cambridge University
Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108676106.021
Ribble, M., & Bailey, G. (2007). Digital citizenship in schools. ISTE.
Right to Offline Coalition. (2024). Essential services must be accessible, even offline. https://righttooffline.eu
Robles, M. (2009). Digital citizenship. Editorial UOC.
Rossi, J. (2025). Is there a right to be offline ‘for no reason’ in France? In D. Kloza, E. Kużelewska, E. Lievens, & V. Verdoodt (Eds.), The right not to use the internet (pp. 76–91). Routledge. https://
doi.org/10.4324/9781003528401–6
Rutkowska-Tomaszewska, E., & Gałązka, P. (2024). The role of European supervisory authorities in consumer protection standard setting. Studies in European Affairs, 28(2), 223–232.
Shelley, M., Thrane, L., Shulman, S., Lang, E., Beisser, S., Larson, T., & Mutiti, J. (2004). Digital citizenship: Parameters of the digital divide. Social Science Computer Review, 22(2), 256–269.
Susi, M. (2025). Framing the right not to use the internet. In D. Kloza, E. Kużelewska, E. Lievens, & V. Verdoodt (Eds.), The right not to use the internet (pp. 44–70). Routledge. https://doi.
org/10.4324/9781003528401–6
SwissInfo. (2025a). ‘It’s political’: Why some people refuse to have a smartphone. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/digital-democracy/its-political-why-some-people-refuse-to-have-a-smartphone/89012366
SwissInfo. (2025b). How Swiss federalism is helping the rise of a new digital right. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/digital-democracy/how-swiss-federalism-is-helping-the-rise-of-a-new-digital-right/89023201
Terzis, G. (2025). Ethical meditations for a human right to an analogue life. In D. Kloza, E. Kużelewska, E. Lievens, & V. Verdoodt (Eds.), The right not to use the internet (pp. 29–43). Routledge. https://
doi.org/10.4324/9781003528401–6
Thrane, L., Shelley, M., Shulman, S., Beisser, S., & Larson, T. (2004). E-political empowerment: Age effects or attitudinal barriers. Journal of E-Government, 1(4), 21–37.
Tomalty, J. (2017). Is there a human right to internet access? Philosophy Now, 118, 8–11. https://philosophynow.org/issues/118/Is_There_A_Human_Right_To_Internet_Access
United Nations Human Rights Council. (2016). The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet (A/HRC/32/L.20). https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/
G16/108/02/PDF/G1610802.pdf
Warren, S., & Brandeis, L. (1890). The right to privacy. Harvard Law Review, 4(5), 193–220.
Vromen, A. (2017). Digital citizenship and political engagement. Palgrave Macmillan.
Yao, C., & Quinn, P. (2025). Bridging the digital divide. In S. Serpa & A. I. Santos (Eds.), Digital equity and literacy (pp. 1–24). IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.1011614
