Digital Authoritarian Practices: Internet Surveillance and Repression against Transnational Activist Networks

Project Information

DIGIACT

Grant agreement ID: 845988

DOI

10.3030/845988

Project closed

EC signature date 10 April 2019

Start date 1 December 2019

End date 2 March 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 178 320,00

EU contribution

€ 178 320,00

Coordinated by

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DIGIACT (Digital Authoritarian Practices: Internet Surveillance and Repression against Transnational Activist Networks)

Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2021-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

DIGIACT investigated forms of digitally enabled information control, surveillance and repression against political activists, journalists and human rights defenders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) who reside in the European Union. It analyzed how threats to freedom of expression and privacy of transnational activists emerge and spread in an environment of rapidly evolving digital technologies. The research studies the motivations and capabilities of the regimes behind the threats, the effects on targeted communities, and the implications both on a normative (international human rights law and other legal frameworks) and practical level (risk mitigation and capacity building). DIGIACT contributed to a) concept building on the relationship between digital technologies and authoritarian politics, and b) the debate on how to protect fundamental norms and rights in the digital age.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Publications:
o Accepted for publication: “Going after the family: Transnational repression and the proxy punishment of Middle Eastern diasporas.” Global Networks (co-authored with Dana M. Moss & Gillian Kennedy).
o Accepted for publication: “Nowhere to hide: Digital transnational repression against exiled activists from the Middle East”. In: Moss, D.M. & Furstenberg, S. (eds.). Transnational Repression in the Age of Globalization. Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming in 2023.
o Under review: “Drawing a Line: Digital Transnational Repression against Political Exiles and Host State Sovereignty”. Submitted to the European Journal of International Security. (co-authored with Johannes Thumfart)
o 2021: “How Europe Helps Authoritarian Regimes to Export Repression” Open Democracy (co-authored with Saipira Furstenberg). https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/how-europe-helps-authoritarian-regimes-export-repression
o 2021: “Iranian Media: Centralised Control and Tattered Accountability.” In: Karmasin, M, T. Eberwein, & S. Fengler (eds.): Global Handbook for Media Accountability. London: Routledge. (co-authored with Mahsa Alimardani).
o 2020: “The Digital Transnational Repression Toolkit, and Its Silencing Effects”. In: Freedom House Special Report 2020 Perspectives on ‘Everyday’ Transnational Repression in an Age of Globalization (edited by Schenkkan, N., Linzer. I., Heathershaw, J. & Furstenberg, S.). https://freedomhouse.org/
report/special-report/2020/digital-transnational-repression-toolkit-and-its-silencing-effects

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project moved beyond the state of the art by providing detailed insights into the toolkit of digital transnational repression and its effects on diaspora communities. Digital technologies have given repressive regimes new tools to monitor and respond to the activities of political exiles and diaspora communities with greater scope and speed. Surveillance and other digital threats extend the reach of regime agents far into foreign countries, enabling them to invade the lives of targeted exiles, wherever they are. Moreover, surveillance, online harassment and disinformation campaigns are often intertwined with other methods of transnational repression, such as pressure on home-country families, kidnappings and even assassinations. Emigrants who often left their home countries to escape similar infringements on their personal and political liberties thus find themselves once again exposed to the arbitrary exercise of power. Activists’ reliance on digital media creates vulnerabilities and exposes sensitive information that state agents use to threaten dissidents abroad and their cross-border ties. Digital threats aim to unravel their networks and diffuse a silencing fear far beyond the immediate target person. The chilling effects of targeted surveillance and online harassment are exacerbated by the complexity of today’s digital platforms and applications. Project results provide a basis for further research into the responses of host governments to digital transnational repression. Both for academic and applied research, it will be important to understand how democratic host governments can counter digital threats against diaspora communities residing on their territories.

An image symbolizing digital surveillance