ARM · The Long Arms of Authoritarian States

What strategies do authoritarian states deploy to control information beyond their borders? While disinformation efforts as foreign influence has received extensive attention, little has been done to systematically dissect information suppression strategies. By analysing the ways in which Russia, China, Ethiopia and Rwanda suppress information, the ARM project will conceptualise, identify and help address information suppression as foreign information manipulation and intervention (FIMI) by authoritarian states domestically, within Europe, and among diaspora communities residing in Europe. China and Russia are selected as two major powers highly active in managing information as a part of their foreign policy. Ethiopia and Rwanda, though less influential on the global stage, are some of the most engaged African states in transnational repression. Having substantial diaspora populations in Europe, their reach should be analysed and the implications of their information suppression should be understood. By conceptualising information suppression as part of FIMI, the ARM project will broaden the established approach to FIMI, which has traditionally only been focused on disinformation. By delineating the concept of information suppression within the strategic toolbox of authoritarian regimes, we will contribute to the scholarly discussions how autocracies manoeuvre to strengthen their power base. With the identification of the tactics, techniques, and procedures of information suppression, we will make a toolkit, including recommendations on how to combat information suppression operations, taking the risks and vulnerabilities of target groups into consideration. Through the lifespan of the project, we will involve the defender community: key actors within policy and civil society who try to detect, understand, and respond to threats stemming from authoritarian regimes’ suppression of information.