Iron net: digital repression in the Middle East and North Africa
London:
European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
(2022), 25 pp.
ISBN 978-1-914572-56-2
"Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the leading exponents of digital authoritarianism in the Middle East. The two states have intensified their collaboration with China and Israel to gain greater access to advanced technologies. The EU has responded to concerns about the risks of new technologies with a raft of regulations on digital markets and services, artificial intelligence, and technology exports. The fact that European governments have been targeted, and implicated, in NSO Group’s Pegasus scandal should sound the alarm about the global threat of digital authoritarianism. The EU should treat the threat as an urgent security and political concern." (Summary)
Contents
Threat ctrl, social ctrl, 4
Threat control: Online crackdowns and censorship, 5
Social control: Re-establishing the state’s grip on dominant narratives, 6
Threat control: Spyware and Israeli-Gulf collaboration, 8
Social control: Mass surveillance and the Chinese model, 12
Europe’s response to digital authoritarianism, 16
European policy priorities, 22
Threat control: Online crackdowns and censorship, 5
Social control: Re-establishing the state’s grip on dominant narratives, 6
Threat control: Spyware and Israeli-Gulf collaboration, 8
Social control: Mass surveillance and the Chinese model, 12
Europe’s response to digital authoritarianism, 16
European policy priorities, 22
