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Online censorship and digital surveillance: the relationship between suppression technologies and democratization across countries

ABSTRACT Using country- and multi-level analyses, we dissect how internet censorship and surveillance obstruct democratization, providing the first cross-national tests of online surveillance effects. Across 63 countries, online government monitoring is negatively associated with democratization, while internet censorship exhibits no additional effect. We theorize that suppression technologies erode democratic progress by thwarting collective action and examine how they affect individual-level disruptive political participation in a sub-sample of 21 countries. Together, these results suggest the need for greater scrutiny of countries that use suppression technologies. Political implications are discussed.