The Hoover Institution Program on the US, China, and the World invites you to Digital Authoritarianism and Strategies to Promote a Democratic Digital Future, on Monday, April 28, 2025 from 4:00 – 5:30 PM PT in the Shultz Auditorium, George P. Shultz Building.
The People's Republic of China is collecting and analyzing unprecedented volumes of data from both public and private sources, within and beyond its borders, for social control. It is leveraging advanced data-centric technologies such as artificial intelligence, neuro and immersive technologies, quantum computing, and digital currencies to enhance and export its authoritarian governance model. This has led to an erosion of privacy, personal freedoms, and a climate of fear and self-censorship within the PRC. As the PRC exports its technologies to other countries, these authoritarian practices may spread globally. What are the most effective strategies for democratic societies to prevent the misuse of emerging technologies for surveillance and control by authoritarian regimes? How can we effectively track and monitor the global spread of data-centric authoritarian practices? What approaches can democratic governments and civil society adopt to develop and promote privacy-preserving solutions that offer viable alternatives to authoritarian methods, while ensuring accountability, transparency, and the protection of human rights? How can we engineer democratic values into the architectures of our technology platforms? In this event, our panel will examine the unique aspects of the PRC’s approach to digital authoritarianism and the opportunities for a democratic response.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Beth Kerley is senior program officer with the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies. She is editor of and contributor to the Forum's series of publications on emerging technologies and democracy, including most recently Data-Centric Authoritarianism and Leveraging AI for Democracy: Civic Innovation on the New Digital Playing Field. She was previously associate and online editor at the Journal of Democracy, and holds a PhD in History from Harvard University.
Charles Mok is a Research Scholar at the Global Digital Policy Incubator of the Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society, and a board member of the International Centre for Trade Transparency and Monitoring. Charles served as an elected member of the Legislative Council in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, representing the Information Technology functional constituency, for two terms from 2012 to 2020. In 2021, he founded Tech for Good Asia, an initiative to advocate positive use of technology for businesses and civil communities. As an entrepreneur, Charles co-founded HKNet in 1994, one of the earliest Internet service providers in Hong Kong, which was acquired by NTT Communications in 2000. He was the founding chair of the Internet Society Hong Kong, honorary president and former president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, former chair of the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association, and former chair of the Asian, Australiasian and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO) of ICANN. Charles holds a BS in Computer and Electrical Engineering and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
Valentin Weber is a senior research fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations. His research covers the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and technological spheres of influence. Weber is also a China Foresight Associate at LSE IDEAS, the foreign policy think tank of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He holds a PhD in cyber security from the University of Oxford. Most recently, Weber published an online exclusive with the Journal of Democracy on Why DeepSeek Is So Dangerous.
Larry Diamond is the William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. He is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and has written extensively on democratic development worldwide. At Hoover, he co-leads the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region and participates in the Program on the US, China, and the World. At FSI, he is among the core faculty of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.
Christopher Walker is Vice President for Studies and Analysis at the National Endowment for Democracy, an independent, nonprofit, grant-making foundation supporting freedom around the world. Walker oversees the multidimensional department responsible for NED’s analytical and research efforts. Prior to joining NED, Walker was Vice President for Strategy and Analysis at Freedom House. He has been at the forefront of the thought leadership on modern authoritarian influence, including through the exertion of sharp power, a concept he and his colleagues developed. Walker is co-editor (with Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner) of Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy (2016), co-editor (with Jessica Ludwig) of Sharp Power: Rising Authoritarian Influence (2017), and a co-editor with William J. Dobson and Tarek Masoud of Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power (2023).
