Digital Repression

In Iran, CCTV, facial recognition and AI are used to police hijab. In China, messages are filtered mid-conversation and payments can be tracked at the level of the individual transaction. In India, authorities repeatedly shut down the internet around protests.

These are not isolated cases. They are part of a wider pattern.

Digital repression refers to the use of technology to monitor, influence, and control what people can say, see, and do. It sits at the centre of a broader conversation about human rights, freedom of expression, and power.

Across countries, the methods are varied but familiar: censorship, disinformation, mass surveillance, and spyware. What is changing is how these tools are used. Broad shutdowns are increasingly replaced by more targeted and less visible forms of control - systems that are harder to detect, and often harder to challenge.

At the same time, people adapt. Workarounds emerge - technical, linguistic, and social - but they are often temporary, and the balance continues to shift.

Digital repression within borders

Most digital repression takes place within national boundaries.

Governments use a combination of technical systems and legal frameworks to shape the digital environment. This can include blocking platforms, filtering content, monitoring communications, and collecting large amounts of data through cameras, devices, and online services.

In some contexts, these systems are highly visible — such as nationwide internet shutdowns or platform bans. In others, they are more subtle, operating through algorithms, platform pressure, or selective enforcement.

The result is not always total control, but a narrowing of what can be safely said or shared.

Transnational digital repression

Increasingly, these practices do not stop at national borders. They follow people.

For those living in exile, digital repression can take the form of coordinated online harassment, often driven by networks of accounts operating across platforms. Campaigns may aim to overwhelm, discredit, or silence individuals who continue to speak out from abroad.

These efforts can also involve the manipulation of platform systems themselves — for example, coordinated reporting designed to trigger account suspensions, or the framing of harassment as legitimate speech in order to avoid moderation.

Open societies can unintentionally enable this. Public records, social media profiles, and other accessible data can be used to identify and target individuals. Information that is available to everyone can be repurposed to intimidate.

In some cases, the methods are more direct. Spyware such as Pegasus has been used to target individuals beyond national borders, allowing access to messages, calls, and personal data. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi remains one of the most widely known cases linked to such tools.

What connects these approaches is not just the technology, but the reach. The same systems that allow people to communicate across borders can also be used to monitor and pressure them.

The project

This project is concerned with how these systems are experienced in practice.

Digital Repression is a planned anthology bringing together first-hand accounts from writers, journalists, and activists now living in Norway who have experienced these forms of control elsewhere. Told in their own words, these contributions will show not just how the systems work, but what they mean in real terms.

Each account will be paired with a short, plain-language explanation of the tools involved, placing personal experience within a wider context.

Publishing this work in Norway matters. The country has a long-standing commitment to freedom of expression, and is home to many who have lived under very different conditions. Their experiences offer a way to understand how these systems function — and how they can extend beyond borders.

Digital repression is not static. It evolves quickly, and it is not limited to states. Platforms, infrastructure, and private actors all play a role in shaping what is visible, permissible, and possible.

This book aims to make that landscape clearer.

Getting involved

We will open a call for contributions in late 2025 for people now living in Norway who have experienced digital repression.

If that applies to you, you are welcome to get in touch.

We are interested both in the systems people encountered, and in how they navigated them.

All enquiries are treated in confidence.