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legal compliance into everyday life and reinforcing infrastructural power (Gravett, 2022). In summary, integrating these technologies into the state’s repressive apparatus illustrates how modern governments utilise despotic and infrastructural power to maintain control and suppress dissent in an increasingly digital world.
recommendations
A key recommendation emerging from this analysis is the need for widespread education and dissemination of knowledge about the various technologies used by the state for repression, particularly within communities, schools, and tertiary institutions. Understanding these technologies is critical for ensuring that citizens are aware of how their data, behaviours, and actions are monitored and manipulated by governments. Integrating facial recognition systems, mass data collection, and AI-based predictive policing into everyday governance underscores the importance of raising public awareness about how these tools function and their potential risks to privacy and civil liberties (Kam & Clarke, 2021). Educational programmes should focus on providing individuals with a thorough understanding of the mechanics of these technologies, such as how AI-driven surveillance systems analyse personal data or how social media platforms can be manipulated through disinformation campaigns (Feldstein, 2021a). This would empower citizens to navigate digital environments more safely and encourage critical thinking about the ethical and legal implications of such pervasive monitoring.
Additionally, disseminating information about state- sponsored propaganda and content manipulation is crucial, particularly in a world where governments often co-opt social media platforms to spread disinformation and suppress dissent (Woolley, 2022). Students and communities must be taught to evaluate online content critically, recognise state-sponsored psychological operations, and understand how AI and bots are covertly used to shape public opinion (Bazarkina & Matyashova, 2022). Including curricula on digital literacy, data privacy, and state surveillance in schools and universities would help foster a generation of informed individuals who can engage critically with the digital tools and platforms they interact with daily.
Moreover, educational institutions should provide a platform for discussing the implications of AI-driven legal systems and biometric monitoring technologies used to enforce compliance with laws (Maphosa, 2023). Such discussions would raise awareness about the potential for algorithmic bias, systemic injustice, and the erosion of individual freedoms in the name of security and efficiency. By embedding knowledge about these repressive
technologies in educational settings, society can better equip individuals to protect their privacy, question the ethical use of these tools, and push for transparency and accountability in how governments deploy such technologies (Gravett, 2022).
Conclusions
In conclusion, the growing integration of advanced technologies into state apparatuses for repression has transformed how governments maintain control and suppress dissent. Surveillance technologies, AI-driven predictive policing, digital propaganda, and automated systems of direct violence represent a complex interplay between despotic and infrastructural power. These technologies allow states to monitor, predict, and influence citizen behaviour unprecedentedly, often with minimal overt violence, creating an efficient and largely invisible control system. From facial recognition to social media manipulation, these tools are reshaping the political landscape by embedding state control into the very infrastructure of daily life.
The implications of these technologies are profound, particularly for civil liberties, privacy, and social justice. AI-driven legal systems and biometric monitoring raise questions about fairness, transparency, and the potential for systemic bias, while disinformation campaigns and psychological operations distort public discourse, undermining democratic processes. To counter these threats, educating communities, students, and citizens about how these technologies operate and the risks they pose is crucial. Disseminating knowledge in schools and universities about the various technologies used by the state for repression and encouraging critical engagement with these tools will empower individuals to safeguard their privacy and hold governments accountable for their use of digital repression. In this way, society can begin to address the challenges posed by these technologies while advocating for more ethical and transparent governance in the digital age.
Supplementary materials: None. Statement on data availability: None. funding: None.
declaration of interest: None.
author contribution note: None. appendices: None.
references
Anstis, S. (2023). Regulating Transnational Dissident Cyber Espionage. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Volume 73, Issue 1, pp. 259 – 274
Bazarkina, D. and Matyashova, D. 2022. “Smart”
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