Does the Internet Favor Dictators or Dissenters?

The internet has been heralded as an innovation that will lead to the democratization of the world. Allowing everyone to access more information on their local and national government, their politicians, and other government officials. It also allows the public to be more aware of world events, making it easier for people to be good citizens. Unfortunately, this has not come to fruition. The internet in the west is largely just a handful of websites run by major corporations and authoritarian regimes around the world have tight control over what people can and can’t see online.

Dictators

            Authoritarian regimes use three methods to control the population through the internet. They strategically turn the internet on and off nationwide, they control what the population can see, and they utilize the same functions we use to promote propaganda. Each approach has a case study country that have used each method the best. Egypt is infamous for being one of the first countries to cut the cables connecting them to the outside world. China is infamous for their great firewall. Russia is infamous for their misinformation campaigns. I will outline these three cases.

            The Arab Spring was a collection of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world started largely by activist on twitter. In an effort to save the regime, then president Hosni Mubarak ordered telecommunication companies to shut the internet down, which they did for five days. They successfully did this by messing with the undersea cables coming from the outside world into the city of Alexandria. After the Egyptian military coup d'état, which happened in 2013, the same tactic was used. This time it caught the attention of the Russian state, who learned about internet kill switches from Egyptian military personnel, and have since implemented their own kill switches. In this Egyptian case study, the internet was suppressed both during a democratic protest and after. Showing that the internet is not as stable as we think it is. The internet can be turned off at will by singular dictators, and the resulting power imbalance greatly favors authoritarians over dissenters.

            The Chinese know the internet is a great tool for wealth and income creation, and thus have an interest in keeping it around. The Chinese social contract is built on the idea the Chinese Communist Party will keep economic growth high in exchange for controlling everything. The internet helps them do this, but it also harms the regime. They can’t let the population have access to capitalist propaganda. Because of this, the party has created the great firewall. A giant internet blocker that forces everyone in China to use government approved websites. All western social media website are banned in the country. Instead, they are replaced by Chinese equivalents that allow the party to conduct surveillance on users. Allowing them to easily clamp down on dissenters.

            Russian misinformation in another iteration of how authoritarianism is using the internet. The current Russian invasion of Ukraine is filled with it. Russian news sources are comparing the current Ukrainian regime to the Nazi regime and comparing their president to Adolf Hitler. By mimicking the Egyptian and Chinese models of internet control, the Russian Federation has made their perspective is the only one presented to the Russian people. This keeps reality away from their own people, making them easier to control and manipulate.

Dissenters

            The argument for the internet being pro-dissenter is quickly losing ground worldwide. Many believed the internet would allow for the democratization of the world. Twitter and other social media websites were supposed to bring color revolutions, overthrowing the remnants of 20th century dictatorships, and installing new democratic institutions and regimes. The internet enables citizens to gather information about anything, including on their politicians, institutions, and government officials, as well as important information about industry

Policy recommendation for democratic nations

            Not only is does the internet current favor authoritarian regimes, but I would also argue these authoritarian policies are winning. Internationally, the internet is more under attack now than ever and the internet is being used to attack democratic institutes from abroad. We face an invisible enemy, and we do not know who they are. Any policy measure taken by the government should be aware of overstretching and become the thing they are trying to prevent. At the same time, something must be done. Limited censorship is now a necessity to save democratic society, as fake new, misinformation, and distrust are all at record levels across the free world. To prevent this from heading to a boiling point, or perhaps more importantly to protect our republican institutions, government should work with private technology companies who run the internet to help them combat misinformation. The most important of which are social media companies. The feasibility of this policy is highly questionable, and I don’t think it will be popular.