*Authoritarianism Goes Digital: The EUI Conference*
Posted on November 1, 2024 by Milton Mueller
https://www.internetgovernance.org/2024/11/01/authoritarianism-goes-digital-the-eui-conference/
A conference devoted to challenging “digital authoritarianism” is
something that IGP can certainly get behind. But what is digital
authoritarianism, and was it really being challenged in Italy on October
28 and 29? At the meeting “Decrypting Digital Authoritarianism: How the
Use of the Internet Can Threaten Democracy and Human Rights,
<https://www.eui.eu/events?id=565878>” I learned a lot about the answers
to those questions.
[...]
*Conclusion: Mixed Signals*
The good news here is that Europe is seeing a threat to communicative
freedom and is devoting resources to combating that trend. It is also
good news that the academics, activists and some policy makers concerned
about digital authoritarianism are realizing that it is not entirely
about “us” liberal democratic good guys vs “them” geopolitical bad guys.
The drivers of systemic control are present on both sides, and the
competition for geopolitical power between state actors is largely
responsible for the authoritarian trend. The academic researchers
involved in this debate need to be careful that they are not coopted
into supporting certain kinds of repression in that competition.Keep the
fundamental rights of the individual uppermost in mind and don’t get
drawn into any state’s geopolitical agenda.
