Censorship Diffusion: International Community and Domestic Digital Repression

• In Event: Digital Authoritarianism and Censorship

Abstract

Recent decades have witnessed increasing levels of internet censorship as part of the global diffusion of digital authoritarianism, yet the causes and patterns of the diffusion remain uncertain. This article argues that the international environment constitutes a vital factor in the cross-national diffusion of censorship through influencing the norm and expertise to censor. I develop and test three hypotheses to examine the two proposed paths. The norm diffusion hypothesis posits that states employ higher levels of censorship in response to the increase of observed appropriateness to censor within their “neighborhood”. The technology diffusion hypothesis incorporates two stages: states receive more technological expertise on censorship from their “neighbors”, and the availability of censorship expertise increases states’ employment of censorship. Using social network analysis, I construct three types of international neighborhood based on linkages of geography, trade, and military alliance. Using panel data of 96 countries over a period of eleven years (2009-2020), I test the hypotheses with fixed-effects regression and spatially weighted censorship measures. The analysis shows that the military alliance neighborhood has the most salient impact on the diffusion of censorship through both norm and technological availability, while the trade neighborhood also shows homogeneity in the perceived norm to censor. The evidence implies that allying with authoritarian states with sophisticated censorship systems facilitates the diffusion of censorship, contributing to the growing literature on digital democratic backsliding by introducing the international dimension.

Author

• Yueyi Li, Princeton University