Digital Hopes, Real Power: How the #ArabSpring Fueled a Global #Surveillance Boom
For #activists , #journalists , & everyday users, that means now living with a constant threat: the phone in your pocket, the platforms you organize on, and the systems you rely on for safety and connection can be #weaponized at the flip of a switch. A global surveillance industry has treated repression by many #MENA governments as a growth opportunity, …now shape digital authoritarianism

Digital Hopes, Real Power: How the Arab Spring Fueled a Global Surveillance Boom
When people remember the 2011 uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), they picture crowded squares, raised phones, and the feeling that the internet had finally shifted the balance of power toward ordinary people. But the past decade and a half is also a story about how governments, companies, and platforms turned those same tools into the backbone of a powerful state surveillance apparatus.