Resisting Transnational Repression: The Digital Security Practices of Exiled Activists from Authoritarian Contexts

Transnational civil society and advocacy networks play an important role in exposing rights violations under authoritarian rule. In these networks, exiled and diaspora activists act as essential bridge figures, supporting counterparts in their country of origin, raising international awareness and leveraging external pressure on repressive regimes. Digital media have helped these activists to mobilize across borders for human rights and political change. Yet the reliance on digital technologies creates multiple points of exposure that state actors exploit for surveillance, malware attacks, online harassment and disinformation campaigns in the attempt to silence and punish dissent from abroad. Research has shed light on the different methods and technical underpinnings of digitally enabled transnational repression. Less is known about how the targeted activists perceive these threats and respond to them. Building on more than 50 interviews with exiled human rights defenders and journalists from Egypt, Syria and Iran, this paper investigates risk perceptions and security practices of activists in transnational networks. It shows that activists who navigate in complex and high-risk techno-political environments often do not have the time, resources, or capacity to take informed security decisions. Their usage is often shaped by the “imagined affordances” of digital technologies for surveillance and information control that result from media consumption, expectations, fears, and everyday routines. The paper argues that the complexity of digital tools and constantly evolving risks only work to aggravate activists’ uncertainty regarding the capabilities of the state actors threatening them, reinforcing the silencing effects of transnational repression. Networks of incident response, mutual support and information sharing, in turn, help to strengthen the digital resilience of transnational civil society.