Technology should empower people, not control them. In 2025, that core belief faced unprecedented challenges. But with the support of our members, donors, partners, and communities, we fought back and made meaningful progress. 

Today, we’re proud to share our 2025 Annual Report, highlighting the people, cases, campaigns, and advocacy that shaped our work over the past year. 

In 2025, we launched our Take Back CTRL campaign to challenge efforts to normalize online surveillance and censorship. Across the country and around the world, governments pursued age-verification requirements and other measures that could force people to surrender sensitive personal information simply to use the internet as they have for years. At the same time, automated license plate readers and other technologies made it easier for authorities to track everyone as they go about their daily lives. 

We used litigation, public records requests, advocacy, and community organizing to expose how these systems operate and the risks they pose to privacy, free expression, civil liberties, and democratic accountability. We also supported efforts in courts and legislatures, working alongside communities and citizen groups pushing back against invasive technologies. 

Our work extended beyond surveillance and censorship. We continued challenging government overreach, defending free speech and privacy, advancing government transparency, and advocating for greater accountability around algorithmic systems that can influence people’s access to opportunities and services. 

For 35 years, we’ve worked to ensure that the law keeps pace with technology while protecting the rights and freedoms that underpin an open society. The 2025 Annual Report is a look at that work and a reminder of what we can accomplish together. 

We invite you to read the report and explore what we accomplished in 2025. Thank you for supporting EFF’s efforts to ensure technology serves people and our freedoms remain protected.