Freedom House The Promise and Peril of State Regulation G lobal norms have shifted toward greater state intervention in the digital market. At least 48 countries pursued legislative or administrative action aimed at regulating technology companies over the past year. This trend comes amid calls to address societal problems that are exacerbated online, such as harassment, extremism, and serious criminality, and to better protect users from fraudsters, foreign adversaries, and exploitative business practices. While a few measures introduced this year have the potential to hold tech giants more accountable for their performance, most simply impose state and even political responsibilities on private firms without securing greater rights for users. The impact of new laws and regulations on human rights varies from country to country. In robust democracies, well-crafted requirements for platforms have the potential to mitigate online harms while bolstering transparency and accountability. Analogous laws, however, may be abused by illiberal politicians and authoritarians to remove nonviolent political, social, and religious expression. Most alarming are those that bring the private sector further under the authority of the state in a bid to more effectively stamp out dissent, conduct blanket surveillance, and disseminate propaganda. In China, for example, local tech firms are punished not only for lax data security and monopolistic practices, but also for failing to remove cartoons that A demonstrator in Lagos holds a sign advocating for digital rights amidst nationwide protests over the Nigerian government's Twitter ban. Image credit: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images @freedomhouse freedomhouse.org 11