“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” In setting out the words of the First Amendment to the Constitution, America’s founders also laid a milestone in the…
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Executive Summary A New, More Permissive Context for Authoritarian Influence at Scale / Kevin Sheives (NED) China’s Authoritarian Influence: Ambition and Scale Meet Open Doors and New Opportunities / Caroline Costello (Atlantic Council) & William Nee (NED) Losing Allies, but Doubling Down: Russian Authoritarian Influence after the Invasion of Ukraine / Alexander Cooley (Barnard College…
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Authoritarian regimes worldwide are intensifying their crackdown on independent voices—silencing dissent, restricting access to information, and punishing those who refuse to conform. On September 18, NED’s International Forum for Democratic Studies brought together courageous democracy defenders from Iran, Nicaragua, and Tibet to reveal how they are defying censorship and standing firm for free…
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The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is among the world’s most systematic suppressors of free speech. For many PRC citizens and diaspora members—not to mention citizens of other countries around the world—last month’s anniversary of the June 1989 Tiananmen Massacre may have passed with little remembrance. This was not solely due to the simple passage of time. Rather, the CCP’s draconian censorship…
In China today, AI can censor a million online posts in less than a second and generate convincing propaganda at a keystroke. At the latest in the China Salon series of events hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy, experts warned that this fusion of artificial intelligence and authoritarian governance is redefining censorship, surveillance, and state control—not only within China’s…