The State of Authoritarian Tech | Steven Feldstein

Authoritarian regimes are upgrading their playbook — from surveillance cameras and spyware to algorithmic censorship and AI-driven policing. Steven Feldstein, senior fellow at Carnegie and author of The Rise of Digital Repression, joins Bankless to map the expanding world of repression technology. We cover everything from Nepal’s protest movement to China’s sophisticated censorship stack, the global spyware industry, and the unsettling rise of predictive policing and AI in warfare. Along the way, Feldstein explains how financial repression and social credit systems extend state power into the economic sphere — and where crypto fits into the story of resistance. 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌳KGEN | REQUEST A DEMO https://bankless.cc/KGEN-podcast 🐂BULLISH | U.S. EXCHANGE LAUNCH https://bankless.cc/bullish 💠BIT DIGITAL ($BTBT) | ETH TREASURY https://bankless.cc/bit-digital We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:54 The Toolkit of Digital Repression 4:22 Nepal Protests & Freedom Tech 13:32 China’s Integrated Control Playbook 19:48 Who Builds And Sells Repression 28:51 Vendors, Dual-Use, Governance Risks 36:04 Democracies Use These Tools Too 45:00 AI Supercharges Repression 51:57 Crushing Mobilization & 3.5% Rule 58:55 Blunt Backfires, Iran Copies China 1:07:43 How Repression Tech Spreads 1:13:29 Financial Repression, Crypto Workarounds 1:18:48 How To Resist, Practically 1:23:44 Closing Thoughts --- RESOURCES Steven Feldstein https://x.com/stevejfeldstein The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance https://stevejfeldstein.com/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures