The State of Authoritarian Tech | Bankless & Steven Feldstein

Podcast: Bankless
Guest: Steven Feldstein, Senior Fellow at Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program
Date: October 1, 2025

Overview

In this compelling episode, the Bankless team sits down with Steven Feldstein—a leading expert on the intersection of technology, human rights, and global politics—to dissect the current landscape and future trajectory of "authoritarian technology" or "repression technology." Feldstein, author of The Rise of Digital Repression and the forthcoming Bites and Bullets, explores how governments deploy digital tools for surveillance, censorship, disinformation, and financial repression, the global proliferation of these technologies, and their chilling impact on democracy and civil liberties. Key real-world case studies, especially a dramatic protest movement in Nepal, anchor the discussion and illuminate the high-stakes struggle between oppression and resistance in our increasingly digital world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Evolution and Proliferation of Repression Technology

Timestamps: [01:00], [13:34], [17:03]

• Rapid Progress: Feldstein notes a significant reversal from a decade ago, when digital tools were seen as emancipatory, to today's increasingly sophisticated, cheap, and ubiquitous instruments of government power.
• "So I think what's interesting is that they become more common, they become cheaper to use... There’s someone that is...all around us to a much greater degree." — Steven Feldstein [01:00]
• Systemic Approach: Modern authoritarianism entails a "repression stack" or toolkit, encompassing surveillance (mass, social media, targeted), automated censorship, strategic disinformation, and Internet shutdowns.

2. Taxonomy of Digital Repression

Timestamps: [02:01], [13:34]

The Core Categories/Feldstein’s Taxonomy:

• Surveillance:
  • Mass: Ubiquitous public cameras (e.g., facial recognition in public spaces).
  • Social media: Mining millions of messages for political sentiment.
  • Targeted: Spyware to eavesdrop on dissidents (e.g., NSO Group’s Pegasus).
• Censorship:
  • Laws, firewalls, and keyword filtering (e.g., China’s Great Firewall; Nepal’s ban of social platforms).
• Disinformation:
  • Manipulation of political narratives via bot networks, influencers, and fake news (e.g., Duterte’s regime in the Philippines weaponizing Meta).
• Internet Shutdowns:
  • Disrupting connectivity to quash protests—sometimes backfiring (e.g., Nepal’s 2025 anti-corruption revolt).

"It's a system of repression. Right. It's like a structure that you put in place and you use and balance off different tools because each one can serve like a different purpose, but on their own, they don't necessarily bring about the effect you want. In combination they can be very potent." — Steven Feldstein [13:34]

3. Case Study: Nepal’s Failed Censorship and the Role of “Liberation Technology”

Timestamps: [05:10], [08:26]

Narrative Summary:

• Nepal’s youth-led, anti-corruption protests erupted against blatant elite corruption, fueled by the “Nepo babies” social media phenomenon.
• The government tried to enforce a draconian law by blocking major social platforms (Meta, Instagram, X, etc.), aiming to stifle dissent.
• Instead, this triggered mass outrage and protests—"Day one, I think 19 people were killed and immediately the government backtracked… but at that point it was too late." — Steven Feldstein [06:18]
• Protesters shifted to encrypted apps (Signal, Telegram), and notably used Discord not just for communication, but for organizing and political decision-making—cited as the first time a mass movement coordinated leadership in this way ([06:18]).
• Financial repression (de-banking of protestors) was countered by the use of cryptocurrency, primarily stablecoins, to bypass state controls.
• Lesson: Crude, heavy-handed digital repression can backfire by radicalizing moderates and surfacing innovative resistance.

4. The Arms Dealers of Repression Tech: Who Builds and Sells This?

Timestamps: [29:13], [30:36], [31:18]

• Vendors: Not limited to Chinese or authoritarian states:
  • NSO Group (Israel, spyware), Hikvision (China, facial recognition), Huawei (infrastructure, often dual-use), and Meta (US, social platforms—used for both liberation and manipulation).
• Dual-use is common—technology can be for convenience or control (e.g., Apple’s FaceID vs. Hikvision’s government deployments).
• Western companies have a major footprint in enabling repression, not just authoritarian exporters ("Meta was the intermediary, but the source of the motivation came from the government"). [22:50]
• Financial incentives are vast, as governments are the world’s best customers: "Not only are they the most wealthy entities ever, they can all print money..." — Host [27:52]

5. Authoritarianism by Design: China as Exemplar, But Not the Only Player

Timestamps: [17:03], [19:29], [35:09]

• China’s “Great Firewall” blocks foreign platforms, replacing them with controlled domestic ones—offering a more subtle, less obvious form of repression than Internet shutdowns.
  • "You don't see Internet shutdowns happen anymore in China...But what they have done is...create an alternate ecosystem of Chinese apps that we can control..." — Steven Feldstein [17:03]
• Export model: China supplies digital repression tech worldwide (facial recognition in Uganda, Kenya, Serbia).
• Russia, Iran, Gulf States, and many African regimes are enthusiastic adopters, blending imported tech with homegrown repression.
• "If any authoritarian country will also be digitally repressive, the two go hand in hand." — Steven Feldstein [35:09]

6. Blurring Lines: Digital Repression in Democracies

Timestamps: [36:51], [38:38], [41:47]

• Democracies deploy similar tools but frame them as legal, necessary, and proportionate—with varying degrees of oversight and accountability.
• Regulation lag: Laws and consensus lag far behind technological realities, especially for surveillance, AI, and social media monitoring.
• "The law hasn't caught up to the technology. So when it comes to social media surveillance...there aren't clear rules in terms of what's invasive, what's a violation of privacy..." — Steven Feldstein [37:02]
• Economic logic drives mass surveillance: automated, AI-powered repression is far cheaper and more scalable than analog-era secret police.
• Institutional inertia and lack of legal adaptation leave democracies vulnerable to creeping digital repression, often unintentional.

7. The Role of AI and Automation

Timestamps: [44:08], [48:30], [50:01]

• Predictive policing and algorithmic decision-making in law enforcement and warfare represent a troubling horizon.
• Example: AI-assisted military targeting in Gaza shows how automation, even with constant error rates, dramatically scales up civilian harm.
• "You can start to bring about predictions based on how one will post online...this idea of automation where you take out the human and you rely increasingly on computing power and algorithms..." — Steven Feldstein [44:08]
• In authoritarian hands, these tools might not just predict crime, but anticipate and preempt political dissent ("predictive political dissent"), rendering collective action almost impossible.

8. Financial Repression: Digital Banking and Crypto as Resistance

Timestamps: [72:54], [73:02], [75:34]

• Repression increasingly targets the ability to transact—shutdowns of bank accounts for dissidents have been seen in Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam.
• Centralized stablecoins (USDT, USDC) can themselves be frozen upon order, but crypto-native alternatives (BTC, ETH) offer more robust resistance.
• "Economic coercion is hugely important in the arsenal of what governments [do]" — Steven Feldstein [74:14]
• Peer-to-peer crypto rails are becoming core “liberation technology” in anti-authoritarian toolkits.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the structure of repression:

  • "It's a system of repression...a structure...In combination they can be very potent." — Steven Feldstein [13:34]

• On international tech exports:

  • "A lot of Western companies also have been responsible not only for powering China's own repression, but for exporting...repressive means." — Steven Feldstein [19:29]

• On the ever-present risk:

  • "If we kind of sleep on it and look the other way, we could wake up one day and all of a sudden say, wait a second, we live in a surveillance state." — Steven Feldstein [76:32]

• On adapting laws:

  • "The law hasn't caught up to the technology...when it comes to advanced techniques, the law isn’t quite there." — Steven Feldstein [37:02]

• On hope:

  • "I don't believe in sort of a technological deterministic future...there are other situations where you do see the possibility for change, like Nepal, like Indonesia, like Bangladesh, like even in our own country." — Steven Feldstein [76:32]

• On self-censorship and chilling effects:

  • "I started self censoring myself a while ago...not necessarily how I, how I feel...but I also have learned...maybe it's better just to take a beat and certainly not to put it out publicly." — Steven Feldstein [78:37]

Flow of the Episode with Timestamps

• Intro & Setup — [00:03–01:00]
• State of Digital Repression, Taxonomy — [01:00–04:13]
• Nepal Case and Anti-Authoritarian Tech — [04:13–08:53]
• Mapping Nepal’s moves to the taxonomy — [08:53–10:19]
• Repression Stacks & Coordination — [13:04–19:06]
• Exporting Repression: China, Meta, The West — [19:06–25:27]
• Companies & Diffusion in the Industry — [29:13–31:18]
• Legal, Ethical and Dual-use Dilemmas — [31:18–36:51]
• Use in Democracies & Law Lag — [36:51–41:47]
• AI, Automation, and the Future Threats — [44:08–50:01]
• Predictive Policing & Authoritarian Immunity — [50:01–53:50]
• Authoritarian Economics & Effective Control — [53:50–58:04]
• Wealth, Consent & Risk—China vs. Poor States — [58:04–60:53]
• Proliferation of Repression Tech — [61:23–66:11]
• Further Proliferation Patterns — [66:11–68:18]
• Financial Repression & Crypto — [71:12–76:29]
• Personal Hygiene, Chill & Takeaways — [76:32–80:49]
• Outro & Next Book Tease — [81:05–81:50]

Final Takeaways & Actionable Insights

• The fusion of state power and digital technology makes repression both subtle and scalable.
• The difference between a “blunt” and “sophisticated” repression stack often determines whether dissent is crushed or unexpectedly explodes.
• Liberation technology—encryption, decentralized finance, resilient communication—remains crucial battlegrounds.
• Crypto and encryption, while not panaceas, are increasingly vital to resisting both financial and expressive suppression.
• Vigilance, legislation, and civic action are necessary to resist sleepwalking into a surveillance state.
• The proliferation and entrenchment of repression tech is as much about political will and legitimacy as about access to tools. Prosperous, technologically advanced authoritarianism (China) poses a qualitatively new challenge for democracy globally.
• "Using law, using collective action, and using models and examples from other places...can be really instructive and important for future generations." — Steven Feldstein [76:32]

For further reading and coming developments:
Steven Feldstein’s next book, Bites and Bullets: Global Rivalry, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare, coming in 2026.

Recommended Defensive Habits:

• Migrate sensitive conversations to encrypted apps (Signal, disappearing messages).
• Be mindful and deliberate about digital footprints (self-censorship as self-preservation).
• Build onramps from traditional finance to permissionless crypto—before circumstances force you to need them.

This summary captures the rich, nuanced dialogue that unfolded over the episode, condensing key insights, expert analysis, and actionable context for anyone concerned about the fate of freedom in the digital era.