Mass Surveillance in the Maghreb and Mashreq: A critical analysis to protect civil society

In recent decades, technological development and digitalization have facilitated the emergence of new, increasingly widespread and intrusive surveillance and control techniques, posing new challenges to the protection of human rights. This report presents an analysis of how governments and companies in the Maghreb and Mashreq regions use advanced digital surveillance technologies to control and repress civil society, disproportionately affecting migrants, women, and the LGBTIQ+ community.

Here is the executive summary.

These technologies, largely developed by companies from the Global North, have created a context of mass surveillance that threatens fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, privacy, and the right to information. Emerging technologies are acquired and utilized in the name of national security and under the pretext of adapting to new forms of criminality, but they ultimately restrict political participation and increase social control.

The report provides a specific analysis of the situation in 9 countries in the region: Morocco, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq.

The main mass surveillance trends identified in the region are:

• Increase in authoritarianism and repression of dissent.
• Involvement of international companies in the development of repressive technologies.
• Use of spyware and cyberespionage.
• Strategies for social media control.
• Internet shutdowns.