Authoritarian Alliances and the Politicking of Data in Africa

Abstract

This research note explores the need for further research into increasing accounts of the unregulated acquisition, use, and control of personal data by foreign states in collaboration with certain African states. Limited local research on the acquisition of large-scale digital data by African authoritarian governments, with the backing of certain foreign actors, has meant that African civil society has insufficiently confronted the human rights implications. Yet these practices are not new and are a continuation of authoritarian influence into the digital era.