Some African governments are spending millions to spy on their citizens – stifling debate and damaging democracy

Tony Roberts

Governments around the world use surveillance technology to monitor external threats to national security. Some African governments are also spending vast sums on mass surveillance of their own citizens.

They are using mobile phone spyware, internet interception devices, social media monitoring and biometric identity systems. Artificial intelligence for facial recognition and car number plate recognition is another digital surveillance technology in their growing toolkit.

I recently led research which found that governments in Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Malawi and Zambia were collectively spending over US$1 billion a year on these digital surveillance technologies, supplied by companies in the US, the UK, China, the EU and Israel. These are enormous amounts of public expenditure in countries where public services such as education and healthcare are under-funded.

The research also uncovered the harms that this digital surveillance causes.

We found that states were using surveillance technology contracts to spy on opposition