Authoritarian leaders often fear that open debate on political or social issues could threaten their power.

Their worldviews are often clouded by paranoia and an overarching concern for regime preservation, internal control, and stability.

It took a little while for such leaders to recognize that the digital connectivity of citizens could represent an existential threat to their power.

The autocrats belief that Western governments, particularly the United States, are using the influence of the Internet to undermine the stability of their regimes, with growing public protests around the world, has only exacerbated fears.

Digital technologies and methods to monitor and restrict the right to freedom of expression are on track to become even more pervasive and influential in the next few years, further limiting freedoms globally.

Generative artificial intelligence will only increase the sophistication of authoritarian regimes techniques, making it more difficult to oppose such activities. 

The Chinese and Russian Models of digital repression

The Peoples Republic of China is a global leader in digital repression.

For the eighth year in a row, Freedom House has identified China as the country with the least freedom on the Internet.

Compared to Russia, Beijing is better at censoring digital information and surveillance of the population, in part because they have prioritized digital control.

Beijing uses digital repression techniques to control the flow of information, curtail and disrupt its citizens access to information, and try to strengthen Chinas legitimacy and its overarching reach.

Chinas smart cities use surveillance technology to combine the provision of essential public goods, such as traffic safety, with authoritarian control.

Russia is also no stranger to digital repression but has a different approach than China.

That country relies heavily on complex legal and institutional structures that promote its control over information.

Russia has been particularly active in spreading disinformation, especially since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has used a full range of malicious influence activities to defend its actions in Ukraine and spread false, misleading, or unsubstantiated information.

Russia is sixth on the infamous list of the least accessible internet environments in the world.

Internet freedom hit an all-time low in Russia last year, as the Kremlin blocked social media sites and more than 5,000 websites in Russia and introduced a law that provides up to 15 years in prison for anyone spreading "false information" about the conflict in Ukraine.

Moscows efforts to force foreign IT giants to comply with content moderation requirements increased last year as Google, Meta, and other companies received hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for failing to filter "prohibited content.”

Increased targeting of non-Russian platforms has resulted in increased self-censorship and, in some cases, complete abandonment of the Russian media space.

The expansion of Kremlin-oriented media corporations has accompanied efforts to eliminate non-Russian media.

Thus, the software giant VKontakte - the most popular social network in Russia and is controlled by the state - bought the Yandex news aggregator (Yandex News) and the blog platform Zen.

In doing so, the Kremlin has gained even greater control over the content that Russian citizens encounter online.

The Russian government then encouraged Russian companies to create domestic platforms to replace foreign social networks, thereby increasing control over the content.

Russia has also undermined Internet freedom in Ukraine.

In 2022, the Russian military shut down the Internet in Ukrainian cities and regions more than 20 times through cyber attacks, targeted airstrikes, and deliberately dismantled telecommunications infrastructure.

Last September, a Russian influence operation in Ukraine was uncovered in which more than 60 websites impersonated media organizations with accounts on major US social media platforms.

More and more cases of digital repression

However, more and more cases of digital repression exist in other countries worldwide, which undoubtedly contributes to further democratic erosion.

For example, Internet shutdown tactics are increasingly being used.

According to some estimates, governments and other actors shut down the Internet at least 187 times in 35 countries last year, a new record.

Blackouts have been imposed during protests, active conflicts, school exams, elections, periods of political instability, or high-profile events such as religious holidays or visits by government officials, in many cases aimed at imposing and silencing voices.

Some governments have blocked websites with non-violent political, social, or religious content, undermining users rights to free expression and access to information.

Commercial spyware is also used, sometimes targeting political opponents or critics.

A growing number of internet users worldwide have access to an online-only space that reflects their governments views and interests — but the phenomenon is not limited to China, Russia, and Iran.

Authorities in 47 of the 70 countries covered by the 2022 Freedom House research study have restricted users access to information sources outside their borders.

Ethiopia, India, Myanmar, Russia, and Singapore were among the countries with strict restrictions on what information users could access from abroad.

But centralizing government control over Internet infrastructure is less common because it is much more challenging to achieve.

The Freedom House report found that only seven of 70 countries—Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Iran, Thailand, Russia, and Ukraine—have attempted to centralize control of domestic Internet infrastructure.

^{The author is data protection manager}

^{North Macedonian Media Partner Link: https://www.slobodenpecat.mk/avtoritarnite-rezhimi-i-digitalnata-represija/}