Digital Authoritarianism in the Global South and East

While research on digital authoritarianism has burgeoned in recent years, the scholarship remains limited to a few nations — typically those already deemed authoritarian (Roberts & Oosterom, 2024). We turn attention to the Global South and East to explore the myriad forms digital authoritarian practices take across societies with varied democratic, totalitarian and hybrid political histories. A Workshop is an effective format to bring scholars interested in diverse contexts to share their work with each other. This will also help generate a more cohesive conceptual understanding of digital authoritarianism and its evolving tools, modalities, and effects. The Workshop will aim to advance knowledge in three key directions. First, while foregrounding the significance of political and historical context, the Workshop will illustrate how comparative and transnational approaches can help us explore the material and normative diffusion of digital authoritarianism. For example, contributions could examine how China’s digital policies serve as a 'model' for repressive regimes elsewhere (Bashirov et al., 2025). Second, extant scholarship emphasises internet shutdowns and surveillance as the key instruments of digital authoritarianism (Yingi & Benyera, 2025). The Workshop will also pay attention to novel modalities such as participatory propaganda and violations of digital rights (Freedom House, 2023). Third, moving beyond a narrow focus on states, the Workshop will also consider the role of corporations, tech operators, ordinary users and other actors in reinforcing authoritarianism (Glasius, 2023). It also invites contributions on everyday acts of algorithmic resistance to digital authoritarianism (Bonini & Treré, 2024).

Bashirov, G., Akbarzadeh, S., Yilmaz, I., & Ahmed, Z. S. (2025). Diffusion of digital authoritarian practices in China’s neighbourhood: the cases of Iran and Pakistan. Democratization, 1-24. Bonini, T., & Treré, E. (2024). Algorithms of resistance: The everyday fight against platform power. MIT Press. Dragu, T., & Lupu, Y. (2021). Digital authoritarianism and the future of human rights. International Organization, 75(4), 991-1017. Freedom House. (2023). Freedom on the net, 2023. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2023/repressive-power-artificial-intelligence Glasius, M. (2023). Authoritarian practices in a global age. Oxford University Press. Roberts, T., & Oosterom, M. (2024). Digital authoritarianism: a systematic literature review. Information Technology for Development, 1-25. Schlumberger, O., Edel, M., Maati, A., & Saglam, K. (2024). How authoritarianism transforms: A framework for the study of digital dictatorship. Government and Opposition, 59(3), 761-783. Yingi, E., & Benyera, E. (2025). The future of democracy in the digital era: Internet shutdowns, cyber laws and online surveillance in Zimbabwe. Alternatives, 50(2), 283-297.

1: How do digital technologies, platforms, and infrastructures enable authoritarianism in the Global South and East?
2: How have the modalities of digital authoritarianism—from shutdowns to censorship, propaganda etc— evolved in GSE?
3: What are the roles played by diverse actors—including the state, parties, corporations, civil society and citizens?

Title	Details
Technologies for Liberation and Repression under Autocracy: Exploring the Cat-and-Mouse Dynamics in ICT Adoption in Belarus	View Paper Details
Nonsensical Tweets as Participatory Propaganda: Negotiating Identity through Naming and Stance-taking	View Paper Details
“Common-Sense Solutions:” Surveillance Technologies and the Expansion of State Power in Democratic Contexts	View Paper Details
Depoliticizing the Runet: Platform Narratives and Strategic Framing of Russian Digital Ecosystem	View Paper Details
The Networked Autocracy in Türkiye: Understanding the Strategies of Participatory Censorship	View Paper Details
Digital authoritarianism with a global twist: Pakistan as virtual ‘1984’	View Paper Details
Authoritarianism in the Making: State–Public Narrative Dynamics as Performative Power in Digital Environments	View Paper Details
How Do Fake News Laws Impact Online Opposition in Nondemocratic Regimes? Evidence from Singapore	View Paper Details
When Algorithms Replace Parties: AI Surveillance and Elite Power-Sharing in Autocracies	View Paper Details
Post-digital authoritarianism: From shutdowns and censorship to violations of user rights	View Paper Details
Digital Authoritarianism in the Classroom: Wartime Propaganda Through Social Media in Russian Schools	View Paper Details
Performing Algorithmic Masculinity: AI and Disinformation in Turkey and North Macedonia's Online Forums	View Paper Details
Justifying digital oversight: Informational learned helplessness and support for social media monitoring in conflict settings	View Paper Details
Fact-Checking and AI as Resistance: Countering Political Misinformation in Contexts of Populist Authoritarianism in Latin America	View Paper Details
Digital Authoritarianism Beyond Borders: Transnational Repression, Information Control, and Digital Self-Censorship in the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan Diasporas	View Paper Details
Deepfakes and disinformation in Pakistan: Politicians’ Perceptions and the Politics of Regulation	View Paper Details