Date: 6 October 2026

Time: 9am Sao Paulo; 1pm London; 2pm Geneva; 3pm Nairobi

Big Tech is shaping every aspect of our society, influencing economic relationships, labour markets and becoming increasingly embedded in sensitive public functions such as defence, intelligence, law enforcement and public service delivery.

While there is growing domestic and regional movement to regulate the tech sector, these approaches limitations given the cross-border nature of digital business models. Big Tech companies continue to challenge the limits of domestic and regional legal frameworks and judicial systems. An international legally binding instrument on business and human rights, such as the one under discussion at the UN, could potentially provide a clear global baseline of standards and help address persistent accountability gaps that enable tech companies to evade liability.

This online roundtable will explore whether and how a binding treaty on business and human rights could address the challenges posed by the tech sector. The discussion will focus in particular on large digital platform companies and technology actors whose cross-border operations create distinct accountability challenges.