Autocracy login: How the Internet is used to repress civil society?

• In Event: 3267 - Section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Institutions & Media

Abstract

This study addresses the question: does the Internet contribute to the rise of civil society, or does it offer the state superior methods to suppress collective actions? This study provides a reactive approach to present the dual functions of the Internet in civil society. Examining cross-sectional time-series data regarding 153 countries from 1995 to 2017, this study finds that not only the technology itself but also Internet censorship as a reactive strategy of autocracies is used to repress civil society. Although sharp Internet diffusion undermines Internet censorship in authoritarian states, the use of censorship as a political reaction to technological diffusion and contentious global politics (for example, the Arab Spring in 2011) has damaged global civil society in the last decade. A more nuanced illustration of Internet politics delivers a warning of threats to civil society.

Authors

• Chun-chih Chang, Xiamen University

• Thung-hong Lin, Academia Sinica