Venezuela shows danger of dictators who use tech to control people

In Venezuela, 2,000 activists have been arbitrarily detained by the government in the aftermath of the July 28 presidential election, which was tainted by blatant manipulation by President Nicolas Maduro to maintain his grip on power.

Technology is one of the key tools to overcome this situation: people are using social networks and privacy messenger technologies to coordinate their actions, spread messages and document injustices.

But Maduro has managed to undermine these efforts. He has used tools designed for mass surveillance that would never have been available to him if sanctions had been properly implemented to repress the people. He even managed to ban X and Signal from the country, showing how easy it is to take away people’s digital freedoms.

President Maduro: “The people are cowering and silent” due to crackdown on political opponents after fraudulent election

To ensure victory in Venezuela, the United States should develop a technology-based foreign policy agenda. The United States and the free world should advance policies that guarantee access to technology for people around the world, block authoritarian regimes’ access to surveillance technology, and protect the privacy of people around the world, especially in democracies.

Maduro’s Tech Crackdown

Since the 2000s, Venezuela’s socialists have suppressed freedom of expression in the country, with the regime shutting down virtually all opposition media, including television stations that criticized the government.

“For this reason, Venezuelans have turned to X to access reliable political information. During political events, accounts like mine can reach over 1 million people in Venezuela. Similarly, we share important messages on WhatsApp and Signal to help people make sense of the world around them.”

In response, President Maduro has begun to crack down on his citizens’ digital freedoms. As in the Soviet Union, he is encouraging Venezuelans to report fellow citizens who sympathize with the opposition by installing an app called VenApp.

Additionally, security forces are stopping citizens to search their mobile phones for photographs, social media profiles, WhatsApp conversations, etc. Detainees are frequently held based on content discovered during these searches, including images or conversations related to protests or anti-government rhetoric.

The Venezuelan regime has been under heavy sanctions from the United States and the European Union for years, but Maduro and his cronies have had access to cutting-edge technology from countries like China. For example, Chinese company ZTE has supplied Maduro with advanced surveillance technology, according to local NGOs.

Building a Technology-Based Foreign Policy Strategy

This deal should never have happened. If policymakers in democracies truly want to support freedom activists in places like Venezuela, they need to avoid the transfer of surveillance technology between authoritarian regimes. In fact, they need to ensure that technology developed in the West is not used by dictators to violate the human rights of their citizens.

Maduro’s repressive power allows him to suppress not only the people but also technology itself. Maduro decided to ban X and Signal in Venezuela starting in early August. We have been in contact with VPN providers to provide free services in Venezuela, but the reality is that most of the population is paralyzed by this measure.

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Maduro should not be able to ban free technology like X and Signal. That’s why I’ve been discussing with policymakers the idea of ​​a technology-based foreign policy strategy to fight authoritarianism. We should ensure people’s access to technology; we should block authoritarian regimes’ access to surveillance technology; and we should promote policies globally that protect people’s privacy, especially in democracies.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro casts his vote during the 2024 presidential election in Caracas on July 28. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)

These efforts are key to promoting democracy in places like Venezuela. Unfortunately, Western countries are currently doing just the opposite. Many democracies are empowering dictators around the world by proposing policies that undermine the freedoms of their own people. As always, politicians propose these measures for reasons of national security or personal safety. But as Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who are willing to give up essential liberties to purchase temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security.”

For example, in the financial sector, governments have great power over their citizens’ bank accounts. Global regulations to combat financial crimes allow governments to arbitrarily block citizens’ bank accounts, freeze assets, access banking data, and more. This means that Americans’ financial data is vulnerable to attack by nation states and competitors around the world, including Chinese companies.

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My organization, the Economic Inclusion Group, has been at the forefront of addressing this issue, discussing it with the public and policymakers, including with agencies such as the U.S. Treasury and State Departments. Most Americans are surprised when I talk about this. But around the world, financial laws are used by regimes to attack dissidents at home and in exile. Indeed, Canadians witnessed this in 2022 when their government froze the bank accounts of truck drivers who were protesting mandatory vaccination across the Canada-U.S. border.

From this perspective, to advance democracy internationally, it is important to protect people’s rights to communicate securely, access information and make payments. In Venezuela, the regime is winning on all these fronts. We need to stand up and win on this crucial battlefield.