This project will contribute to arresting democratic regression across Africa by identifying, documenting and analysing existing and newly emerging elements of digital authoritarianism and the practices of digital citizenship that work best to mitigate or overcome them.
This project documents three elements of digital authoritarianism:
(a) the increasing proliferation and targeting of internet shutdowns to close online civic space and,
b) billions of dollars of Western funding for biometric digital-ID that provide the verified unique identifier that enables the integration of data from citizens’ mobile phones, financial transactions, social media, and all other digital traces to profile and micro-target citizens, and
(c) billions of dollars of Chinese funding flooding Africa to finance massive “safe city” programmes involving surveillance of public spaces using facial recognition software driven by artificial intelligence.
Read more
This project will contribute to arresting democratic regression across Africa by identifying, documenting and analysing existing and newly emerging elements of digital authoritarianism and the practices of digital citizenship that work best to mitigate or overcome them.
This project documents three elements of digital authoritarianism:
(a) the increasing proliferation and targeting of internet shutdowns to close online civic space and,
b) billions of dollars of Western funding for biometric digital-ID that provide the verified unique identifier that enables the integration of data from citizens’ mobile phones, financial transactions, social media, and all other digital traces to profile and micro-target citizens, and
(c) billions of dollars of Chinese funding flooding Africa to finance massive “safe city” programmes involving surveillance of public spaces using facial recognition software driven by artificial intelligence.
These practices represent an unprecedented descent into digital authoritarianism and demand an urgent response. The project will produce analysis to enable understanding of the dimensions, dynamics, and drivers (root causes) of this democratic regression, which will be used to inform emerging practices of digital citizenship designed to mitigate and overcome digital authoritarianism.
The Digital Authoritarianism project builds on previous work on digital rights:
- Digital Rights in Closing Civic Space (2021 report)
- Surveillance Law in Africa: a review of six countries (2022 report)
- Digital Citizenship in Africa: technologies of agency and repression (2023 book)
- Supply Lines of Surveillance Technologies (2023 report)
- Digital Disinformation in Africa: hashtag politics, power and participation (2024 book)
- Digitalisation of Social Protection: marginalised workers perspectives (2024 report)
- Digital Surveillance in Africa: power, agency and rights (2025 book)
African Digital Rights Network
The African Digital Rights Network, established by IDS, has evolved into an independent initiative which is producing the most comprehensive analysis to date of digital authoritarianism in Africa.
Find out more
Read less
