The notion of communication rights encompasses a set of human rights as they apply to the contemporary communication environment. It gained popularity in the 1970s, to be surpassed by the notion of digital rights from the 2010s onward. The two are connected and their history intertwined, yet they emerged in different sociohistorical contexts and are mobilized by distinct communities of practice – the former oriented to the intergovernmental realm while the latter seeks to lobby also tech companies.