Big data-mediated repression: a novel form of preemptive repression in China’s Xinjiang region

ABSTRACT

Governments repress using different logics. Responsive repression is employed in the aftermath of dissent activities. Preemptive repression is applied in anticipation of challenges to the state's authority. This article brings a novel insight into the mechanism of preemptive repression by giving analytical weight to big data analytics. It is shown that a new type of preemptive repression has emerged in China's Xinjiang region. While targeted repression is generally associated with specific opposition groups, with the use of big data technology, China is now able to apply targeted repression against millions of Muslim minorities by processing data to predict dissent behaviour, which constitutes a radical transformation of preemptive repression. This article defines this mode of repression as ‘a techno-panoptic form of repression’ in which human behaviour is reduced to data and big data analytics becomes an instrument through which the state gains hyper-agency.

KEYWORDS:

• Preemptive repression
• big data
• big data analytics
• techno-panoptic
• China
• Xinjiang

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While the literature on state repression primarily focuses on dissent, Beger and Hill (2019) focus on the repression of criminal suspects, immigrants and other marginalised groups.

2 Numerous studies find evidence to suggest that preemptive repression is employed predominantly by authoritarian states (Greitens, 2016; King et al., 2013, p. 2014; Sullivan, 2015, 2016; Wang & Minzer, 2015). Ritter and Conrad (2016) note that governments that do not engage in responsive repression become more likely to employ preemptive repression.

3 Earl et al. (2022) include the use of traditional repression methods (such as physical violence or legal action) against digital activists in the category of digital repression.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lacin Idil Oztig

Lacin Idil Oztig (PhD) is Associate Professor at Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul. She teaches Middle East politics and international organizations. She does research on border politics, democratization, human rights, secularism, and populism. Her work has appeared in various journals including Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, Government and Opposition, Territory, Politics, Governance, Third World Quarterly, European Policy Analysis, Public Health, Middle East Policy, the Social Science Journal, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Journal of Borderlands Studies, and Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies. She is the editor of Alternatives: Global, Local, Political.