Search Climate Insights Directory

The study finds that new ICTs, particularly internet access, are positively associated with government respect for human rights, whereas older technologies such as television and landline telephones are negatively associated with them. Using a large-N dataset, the authors argue that the internet empowers civil society and raises the costs of state repression, whereas older mass media can be more easily captured by states for control and demobilization. The results suggest that internet access can leverage the effects of autocratic regimes upward, improving human rights outcomes even in non-democratic contexts.