Скачать или смотреть AIRA Talks: Digital Authoritarianism: Escalation of State Repression and the Erosion of Thresholds

From Kenya's controversial Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act signed in October 2025, to Tanzania's pre-election internet disruption and ongoing X platform shutdown, to Benin's June 2025 two-year imprisonment of digital activist Steve Amoussou for "politically motivated insult”, all agains the backdrop of the internet shutdowns in 2024, African governments are seemingly deploying an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of control mechanisms. The environment for progressive digital rights policies as well as for demanding accountability, seem to be rapidly shrinking, while authoritarianism seems to be growing and democratic thresholds falling.
The objective of this webinar was to examine the emerging rise of repressive digital acts across the continent. We highlighted evidence of this rise in digital authoritarianism on the continent, exploring the possible drivers of this rise, and discussing strategy (What must we continue to do? Or do differently?)