Kerala-based digital safety non-profit wins Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2026

Trivandrum / June 23, 2026

Thiruvananthapuram, June 23: Citizen Digital Foundation (CDF), a Thiruvananthapuram-based non-profit entity for digital safety and responsible technology, has won an Honorary Mention in the Digital Humanity category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2026, one of the world's most respected media arts competitions.

The winners were announced on Monday by Austria-based Ars Electronica,that runs the prize since 1987.

CDF was recognised for ‘Margi’, its prototype platform positioned as “India’s one-stop against online harms”, from among 754 entries in the Digital Humanity category. CDF's ‘Margi’ platform will be showcased at the Ars Electronica Festival “Negotiating Humanity” in Linz, Austria, in September.

Conceived as an alternate digital ecosystem, Margi aims to community-source and map every free, open-access preventive resource and responsive solution being built across India for cybercrimes such as harassment, frauds, scams, privacy breaches, manipulation, sextortion, child sexual abuse, and non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), letting users find local or national help, in their own language, in under three clicks.

The platform will also curate media and information literacy resources for researchers and educators. CDF is presently seeking partners to scale up Margi into a full, community-sourced ecosystem.

Significantly, the honor comes amid a sharp rise in digital crime in India. Cybercrime in the country rose 24% in 2025, with Indians losing over Rs 22,495 crore to online scams, while online crimes against women and children grew 118% between 2020 and 2024, as per the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).

Margi is envisioned as a free, open-source; open-access digital public good; independent collaborative, governed by an editorial cooperative. Envisaged as a free platform, Margi will not be run by any single organisation and would not accept funding from Big Tech, CDF said in a statement.

 

“Prix Ars Electronica preserves what is fast disappearing from today’s world - agency, dissent, and art in its most raw, renegade form. Especially amid the homogenisation of everything fundamentally human by one-dimensional technologies and narratives. So, it’s an incredible honour to find a mention among sone of the most creative imaginations of dissent and alternative futures,” said Nidhi Sudhan, co-founder of CDF.

The current prototype was built by a two-member CDF team - Pranav Jerry, a free software enthusiast and Wikimedian, and Farzana Simran Anzarudeen, a linguist and communications expert, under directions from co-founder Nidhi Sudhan. It is supported by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore, a leading incubation centre for startups in the country.

Citizen Digital Foundation works with private and public stakeholders to advance information literacy, and responsible innovation.

For more information: www.margiindia.in | www.citizendigitalfoundation.org

Media Contact: hello@citizendigitalfoundation.org

ENDS