How AI is fueling transnational repression

AI is making cross-border repression faster, farther-reaching, and easier to scale, and researchers call this practice of cross-border surveillance, intimidation, and suppression of dissidents digital transnational repression (DTR). Tools include facial recognition surveillance, predictive threat scoring and automated blacklists, as well as deepfakes that smear exiled activists. In 2025, the Chinese government was reported to have used deepfake videos to smear Rushan Abbas, founder of a Uyghur advocacy organization in the United States.