Authoritarianism as practice: On the turn toward policing in social media data monitoring

Abstract

This commentary argues that critically examining the industry of AI-powered analytics using OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) data from multiple digital platforms for state surveillance agendas is a crucial avenue toward understanding authoritarianism in the US context. This is evidenced most recently in the targeting of international students posting pro-Palestine content, but the uptake of platform data for state surveillance is part of an initiative towards privatized social listening software that predates the Trump administration. The agendas of privatized national security have shaped the norms that guide platform monitoring over the past few years at the same time as there are fewer data monitoring tools for NGO and non-state applications. I suggest that this trend requires us to understand authoritarianism as a set of practices staked on the erosion of accountability for digital platforms and the establishment of latent surveillance capacities that can be activated at any point by political power.