3 years on, there is still complete impunity for crimes committed during & since the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in #Iran. Victims & their families deserve justice. @hrw.org 👉 www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Author copies for Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics by me & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social arrived today! If you re-post this by Sept 30 we'll put you in a drawing & send the winner a free signed copy anywhere they happen to be on the planet.

Powerful interests are trying to change the internet. It's worse than you know. Your safety and freedoms are on the line. Thank you for your attention to this matter. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz_8...

Leaked dataset casts light on Chinese company Geedge Networks business around the world, incl #Myanmar. Our report exposes 13 telecom biz in Myanmar that are integral to the functioning of Geedge’s sophisticated surveillance & censorship tech on behalf of the junta. Read more👇🏽 #GreatFirewallExport

Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics by me & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social is now published by OUP in the USA (rest of world soon) If you are interested in why you see so many dictatorships & illiberal leaders influencing world politics then this is the book for you.

It is a heartbreaking day for many, many people who worked in the broader foreign assistance, foreign policy, and journalism worlds. USAID, RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia—all illegally closed. Hundreds of State Dept employees being laid off right now. Hundreds more grants being terminated.

#TransnationalRepression does not stop at European borders. That’s why we have to come up with unified response -something we are working on with a TNR report in #DROI and later #AFET

Proud to present our study on transnational repression at the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights this morning along with my wonderful colleagues @mmichae1sen.bsky.social and @saipirafurstenberg.bsky.social. Recording here: multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstream...

Important work by @mmichae1sen.bsky.social on #TNR This is not theory, my case is one of many and despite complaints, my case acknowledged by Germany&UN. Still unprotected. This study shows why that must change!! what EU states must do to fix it! 👇 www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en...

"Transnational repression of human rights defenders: The impacts on civic space and the responsibility of host states" - Study on transnational repression with @mmichae1sen.bsky.social and @saipirafurstenberg.bsky.social now online.

Excellent piece by Narges Bajoghli on the dangerous fallacy of regime change in Iran time.com/7295877/issu...

G7 Leaders adopt statement on transnational repression, recognising it as a threat to national security, state sovereignty and the human rights of targets. Now words must be followed by action.

NEW @citizenlab.ca report confirms the targeting of two more journalist with #Paragon spyware in the context of 🇮🇹 Details here: citizenlab.ca/2025/06/firs... @billmarczak.org @jsrailton.bsky.social

🌱 Spyware Accountability Initiative has an open call for proposals addressing the harms of the global #spyware industry on civil society, through regulation, #litigation, research and investigation and other means. Deadline: June 13, 2025.

Canada 🇨🇦's Liberal govt has proposed a new "Border Security Bill," in large part in response to pressures from 🇺🇸 I raised concerns about that back in March 2025 👇 macleans.ca/politics/the...

When you equip half the world's dictators with Pegasus spyware. And get constantly caught. And sanctioned. Do you look in the mirror? If you are NSO Group you do. And you like what you see. So you decide to add little dystopian flair. NSO's new branding: "NSO Group: Safer Society"

Do you know what the date is today? Today is the anniversary of the Tiananmen square massacre. Dictators hope that if they make us afraid to speak the truth for long enough... we'll forget it. This is how history is erased. A Day to Remember, 2005, by Liu Wei Full: vimeo.com/44078865

🇨🇳 China's reaching across borders, including in Canada, spying on and harassing dissidents, ethnic groups, and politicians while threatening family members back in mainland China. Hard to say for sure, but it feels to us like it's ramping up... www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

📣 New open-access publication As authoritarian actors have increasingly turned to Big Tech platforms to repress dissidents, pro-democracy activism has experienced notable changes. Our latest research examines an under-analysed yet important phenomenon of pro-democracy platform advocacy 🧵1/6

citizenlab.ca uncovered a spear-phishing campaign targeting Uyghur exiles with malware for remote surveillance. This shows a pattern where state-aligned actors, especially those linked to the Chinese government, use tools meant to empower marginalized groups for repression.

The UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights has posted a number of written submissions filed with the Committee which has been examining transnational repression in the UK: committees.parliament.uk/work/8867/tr.... Worth reviewing if you're interested in the topic!

DOGE bro Kyle Schutt's computer infected by malware, credentials found in stealer logs micahflee.com/doge-bro-kyl...

📣 DIGITAL DEFENCE RESOURCES As part of the EU-funded “Pro-democracy platform advocacy" project, our resources suggest solutions for specific harassment problems, based on our academic research. The resources are available in English, Burmese, Khmer and Thai. Check them out: www.digidef.info 1/2

Meiya Pico, a Chinese state-owned digital forensics firm, will the Tibet Police College in Lhasa with an offensive cyber operations training and digital forensic lab. With a domestic control and a transnational repression, Beijing monitors and intimidate Tibetan communities.

Cyberattack against Uyghur rights activists shows hallmarks of Chinese repression tactics, researchers say www.icij.org/investigatio...

New report out @citizenlab.ca A spearphishing campaign against senior @uyghurcongress.bsky.social members as part of ongoing digital transnational repression against the Uyghur diaspora. citizenlab.ca/2025/04/uygh... 1/3

Fear is dictatorship glue. You can't imprison everyone with a dissenting thought. Or inconvenient factual observation. But fear teaches self censorship. It's a scalable system of control. The autocrat's challenge is to keep the fear going. 1/

"Were any of the Houthi Signal group members compromised at the time they discussed the Yemen attack plans? Frankly, it would be shocking if they were not." My latest in @foreignaffairs.com on "The Real Lessons of SignalGate" www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Signal is secure and private. Understanding the larger issues raised by SignalGatee requires interrogating the surveillance business model. Brilliant work, getting right to the marrow of the issue, from @rondeibert.bsky.social !

The attacks of the Iranian regime on European soil are not isolated incidents - they are of a systematic nature. The regime’s transnational repression targets its critics and Jews across #Europe - undermining European #security too. We need to add the #IRGC to the EU terror list (1/2)

friendly reminder: if it's your first time experiencing authoritarianism, or if you are a fellow veteran, come hang out tomorrow with this all-star panel (and then there is me) hosted by @globalvoices.org

Join us on April 16 as we talk about all things authoritarianism globalvoices.org/2025/04/11/l... via @globalvoices.org

Kseniia Petrova, a Harvard scientist who fled Russia after protesting its invasion of Ukraine, has been captive to the hard-line immigration policies of the Trump administration for nearly eight weeks. She fears arrest if she is deported.

"I feared living my entire life in exile. I walk the streets feeling a sense of connection, belonging, happiness and relief. I am here. I am finally in Homs." Ammar Azzouz in Democracy in Exile on returning to Syria after 14 years. @dawnmenaorg.bsky.social dawnmena.org/returning-to...

New peer-reviewed article by the Citizen Lab’s @mmichae1sen.bsky.social & @sanstis.bsky.social discusses the gendered forms of digital threats faced by women human rights defenders and journalists in exile and in the diaspora. Read it here ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ICYMI--Recording of our @citizenlab.ca webinar on gender-based transnational repression, with comments and insights from @hneumannmep.bsky.social @sanstis.bsky.social @noura.bsky.social @arzugeybulla.bsky.social @emiledirks.bsky.social & Maryam Mirza www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxP8...

Join us today at 15.00CET for a deep dive into gender-based digital transnational repression:

🚨 Reminder: Authoritarian regimes are weaponising gender & digital tech to silence women #HumanRightDefenders. Join us for the launch of @citizenlab.ca new report exposing how exiled women activists and journalists face online harassment, surveillance & intimidation. Register here: bit.ly/4imEVvC

When authoritarian regimes turn misogyny into a tool of political control: in a new paper w/ @sanstis.bsky.social we investigate key tactics of gender-based digital transnational repression against women human rights defenders in the diaspora. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Join our senior researchers @noura.bsky.social, @sanstis.bsky.social & @mmichae1sen.bsky.social on 03/24 for a virtual presentation and Q&A about tackling gender-based digital transnational repression. Learn more and register to attend 👇 citizenlab.ca/2025/03/onli...

NEW @citizenlab.ca report: Virtue or Vice? A First Look at Paragon’s Proliferating Spyware Operations citizenlab.ca/2025/03/a-fi...

Authoritarian regimes are weaponising gender & digital tech to silence women #HumanRightDefenders. Join us for the launch of @citizenlab.ca new report exposing how exiled women activists and journalists face online harassment, surveillance & intimidation. Register here: bit.ly/4imEVvC

Join us next Monday for a discussion on gender-based digital transnational repression: methods, impacts, and what to do about it. Opening remarks @hneumannmep.bsky.social , together with @arzugeybulla.bsky.social @sanstis.bsky.social @noura.bsky.social @emiledirks.bsky.social & Maryam Mirza.

I also received a termination notice for our DOS Freedom on the Net grant. The work has been championed by bipartisan admins & is the foundation for understanding & advocating for internet freedom. We’re going to figure out a way forward. This work is too important for anyone to shut down.

📝 In this essay for @knightcolumbia.org, The Citizen Lab’s @sanstis.bsky.social and @rondeibert.bsky.social discuss how states use digital surveillance technologies to target journalists, human rights defenders, and activists in exile. Read it here: knightcolumbia.org/content/sile...

NEW BOOK: 'Transnational Repression and International Law' co-authored by The Citizen Lab's @sanstis.bsky.social is out now. It explores the issue of state-sponsored extraterritorial killings and the international legal frameworks to counter them. ⚖️ Order here: www.nomos-shop.de/en/p/transna...

New article by @cyn-k.bsky.social and @kate-ro.bsky.social warns of the constitutional dangers posed by a potential Canada-U.S. CLOUD Act agreement. If signed, this would extend the reach of U.S. law enforcement into Canada’s digital terrain to an unprecedented extent. citizenlab.ca/2025/02/cana...