Human Rights Activists Against High Tech Surveillance

Autocratic governments have been using high technology like AI to harass and detain human rights activists.

I became aware of this from an article by Dominic Gutoman for the Philippine news site Bulatlat (https://www.bulatlat.com/2026/04/03/women-human-rights-defenders-face-r…) describing the online threats faced by the families of victims of Rodridgo Duterte's extrajudicial killings:

"When Filipino women human rights defenders (HRDs) step forward to demand accountability, they are met with a new kind of violence. Technology is now weaponized to silence, shame, and intimidate...

...Online threats and harassment are part of the broader pattern of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, which haunts women and young people in the country, based on a 2026 report by the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA). It also includes non-consensual sharing of intimate images, sextortion, and deepfakes, among others."

In doing research, I found this article by Albert Cevallos for the Journal of Democracy (https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclusive/how-autocrats-weapo…) about how autocrats are using AI against dissent.

Cevallos wrote:

"Autocrats and oppressive governments are increasingly using AI to monitor, target, and silence activists; undermine democratic processes; and consolidate power. Through mass surveillance, facial recognition, predictive policing, online harassment, and electoral manipulation, AI has become a potent tool for authoritarian control.

AI-powered facial-recognition systems are the cornerstone of modern surveillance. The Chinese Communist Party has implemented vast networks of AI-driven cameras capable of identifying individuals in real time. The technology is often used to monitor public gatherings, protests, and even day-to-day activities, making it nearly impossible for activists to operate anonymously. China has also used AI to target the Uyghur community under the guise of counterterrorism. Protesters in Hong Kong employed tactics like wearing masks, shining lasers at cameras, and using umbrellas to thwart facial recognition during antigovernment demonstrations in 2019, but reports emerged of individuals still being arrested based on AI-assisted identification. In Russia too, AI surveillance tools monitor antigovernment protesters. In 2021, Moscow’s expansive facial-recognition network was reportedly used to track and detain individuals participating in anti-Putin demonstrations.

The chilling effect of such technologies cannot be overstated: They deter activism and dissent through fear of retribution. What is worse, the technology is being exported and shared around the world."

A post by Amnesty International titled "Demand an end to the targeted surveillance of Human Rights Defenders" (https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/targeted-surveillance-human-rights-…) states:

"Digital attacks against human rights defenders, journalists and civil society are on the rise. Their digital devices are hacked they can be spied on, silenced, and intimidated. This must stop.

In many countries it is dangerous and risky to speak out for human rights and expose the truth. Governments often intimidate, harass and arrest people – and increasingly rely on digital surveillance to do it. Governments across the world are buying and allowing the sale of sophisticated and intrusive surveillance technology that can compromise anybody’s digital devices and monitor their activity. These tools are made and sold by private companies who are sometimes making profits off human right abuses."

REFERENCES
"China’s Techno-Authoritarianism Has Gone Global" by Maya Wang for Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/08/chinas-techno-authoritarianism-has-…

"The risks commercial spyware poses to journalists, activists and government officials" by Nick Schifrin, Dan Sagalyn, & Teresa Cebrian Aranda for PBS NewsHour
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-risks-commercial-spyware-poses-to…

"Action needed to address targeted surveillance of human rights defenders" by Frontline Defenders
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/action-needed-ad…