Western business practices is the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title. The internet has been a weapon for a while now. The authoritarians are

Western business practices is the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title. The internet has been a weapon for a while now. The authoritarians are late to the party and they are putting their specific spin on it, but we've been doing it for some time now. NSA, Cambridge Analytica, mass surveillance by big-business, general manipulation through media (e.g. news outlets, advertisement). The authoritarian regimes function differently, so they do it differently. I've no sympathy for them, but pointing fingers saying "they've weaponized the internet" is severe hyperopia.