Digital Transnational Repression
Digital transnational repression arises when governments use digital technologies to surveil, intimidate and silence exiled dissidents and diaspora communities. It is part of the broader practice of transnational repression, which refers to states using methods such as harassment, coercion-by-proxy, kidnapping, and assassination attempts, in order to control dissent outside their territories. Digital transnational repression has emerged as a critical area of concern in the context of digital threats against human rights, shrinking civic space, and authoritarian interference in democratic societies. The Citizen Lab’s research explores the methods and impacts of digital transnational repression.
Featured in Digital Transnational Repression
Gender-based Digital Transnational Repression
Country Spotlights
Read about how different states engage in digital transnational repression
Experiences of Digital Transnational Repression
Read about the experiences of human rights defenders targeted through digital transnational repression
Latest Research
Weaponized Words: Uyghur Language Software Hijacked to Deliver Malware
Our investigation of a spearphishing campaign that targeted senior members of the World Uyghur Congress in March 2025 reveals a highly-customized attack delivery method. The ruse used by attackers replicates a pattern in which threat actors weaponize software and websites aimed at preserving and supporting marginalized and repressed cultures to target those same communities.
Gender-Based Digital Transnational Repression and the Authoritarian Targeting of Women in the Diaspora
The Citizen Lab’s Marcus Michaelsen and Siena Anstis published a research article in the peer-reviewed journal Democratization about the gendered forms of digital threats faced by women human rights defenders and journalists in exile and in the diaspora. Click here to read the article.
Locked In, Locked Out: How Data Breaches Shatter Refugees’ Safety
In an article published by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, Citizen Lab senior researcher Noura Aljizawi discusses the leak of personal data of Syrian refugees in Türkiye and the severe impact on their lives.