[Lgpolicy] How Governments Use Tech to Erode Democracy

[Francis M. Hult via Lgpolicy]

[image: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]
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[image: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]
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Dear Colleague,

Global democracy is entering a period of profound change, as rapid
technological innovation increasingly challenges the foundations of open
and free societies. Authoritarian leaders and antidemocratic actors are
leveraging artificial intelligence technology and digital
interconnectedness to consolidate power—at the expense of democracy. To
make sense of these developments, Carnegie’s Digital Democracy Network
<https://go.carnegieendowment.org/ODEzLVhZVS00MjIAAAGgfH6TFR5yg5Tu99bLeMsZUo3cxW4VKWQ5GRGfPVd3aBLhT2cpdYR3oTQIZneJtKDUT_1wA-w=>
is releasing a new series of essays exploring the evolving relationship
between politics and technology, with the full set expected to be published
in the summer of 2026.

The first essay in the series, ‘The Architecture of Digital Repression
<https://go.carnegieendowment.org/ODEzLVhZVS00MjIAAAGgfH6TFdRLchOQ85ibIlhm3TWHBI6DWe-7pZ3L9PrlTAbJBBY7ssd2hZZYyiNUx3i0S5PVmi0=>’
reveals how internet service providers (ISPs) are a critical yet overlooked
tool of state repression. Case studies in Myanmar, China, and Russia show
how ISPs can be leveraged by repressive governments, either through buyouts
by state-linked entities as seen in Myanmar, or total state control of
internet infrastructure, as seen in China.

In ‘China’s AI-Empowered Censorship: Strengths and Limitations
<https://go.carnegieendowment.org/ODEzLVhZVS00MjIAAAGgfH6TFP2sfVed34YSTXiU34hSCI-UXrpHLe9dzHlri3QK1zYA6Dd0wmmyQ71iqVC0I2mVimk=>,’
Nathan Law draws on his experience as a democracy activist and former
legislator in Hong Kong to examine how powerful artificial intelligence
systems enable repression. As China’s internet userbase has ballooned to
over one billion users, human reviewers alone have proven to be
insufficient. AI systems, used in tandem with human moderators, can shift
censorship from reactive deletion to proactive suppression. Despite their
capabilities, AI censorship systems face significant constraints: the more
tightly it represses speech, the less useful data it produces to train its
algorithms: “the ingenuity of human expression can still outpace the
seemingly superior machine.”

Click on the button below to explore additional work from Carnegie’s
Digital Democracy Network, and stay tuned for more.
Explore more
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Sincerely,
Steve Feldstein
Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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[image: LinkedIn]
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[image: Youtube]
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[image: Instagram]
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[image: Facebook]
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© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the
views represented herein are the author[s]’s own and do not necessarily
reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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