Digital Soft Oppression: How Artificial Intelligence Harnesses Capitalist Domination
Digital Control and Control
Digital companies, in collaboration with major countries, monitor the movements of individuals across smart devices and various means of communication, with all digital activities, including supposedly secure closed meetings, subject to continuous monitoring and analysis. In fact, almost no digital space is completely immune; data is systematically collected, then used to evaluate individuals and groups and categorize them according to their patterns of behavior and intellectual and political orientations.
In addition, digital censorship has become a central tool for monitoring the intellectual and political orientations of users, enabling companies and governments to follow up and target them through organized disinformation campaigns, or to impose digital sanctions that limit and reduce their influence on public opinion. These strategies are systematically and covertly applied against labor organizations, leftist organizations, and independent human rights and media institutions, as these entities face increasing restrictions that restrict the spread of their ideas in the public digital space through soft indirect methods that are difficult to monitor.
Capitalist corporations and big states employ algorithms in social media networks and artificial intelligence systems in a precise and systematic manner to restrict access to leftist and progressive political posts, sometimes without resorting to direct deletion. These practices make digital repression more complex, dangerous, and invisible, as low interaction with progressive content appears to be a natural response from the public, when in fact it is the result of pre-designed algorithms designed to reduce its spread. Numerous studies have documented related phenomena, such as the “filtering bubble” it creates Algorithms to isolate users from political content that contradicts or challenges their visions, and reports of algorithms biasing in favor of traditional right-wing rhetoric at the expense of left-wing content. Leaks and internal documents leaked by employees also revealed that major companies such as Facebook are implementing strategies to reduce the visibility of certain political or human rights movements by limiting the reach of their posts or disabling notifications associated with them, while maintaining the rhetoric of apparent neutrality. These policies create a false impression among activists that their ideas are ineffective or unpopular, leading some to reconsider or self-modify their discourse. See the sources: (1,2,3,4,5)
Digital Foil
Digital frustration is a new and sophisticated tool of class domination, where algorithms and artificial intelligence are used systematically and imperceptibly, over a long period of time, and gradually, to disseminate content that promotes a sense of helplessness and surrender, especially among users and users of left-leaning and progressive digital platforms. This mechanism amplifies the failure and weakness of socialist experiments and leftist organizations, and projects capitalism as an eternal and invincible system, reinforcing the idea of the impossibility of change. Individualism is also promoted, and individual solutions such as consumption and self-development are promoted, isolating individuals from any organized collective political action.
In addition, debates within left-wing organizations are directed towards and accentuated peripheral conflicts, which distract efforts and weaken the ability to confront. Big corporations rely on digital behavior analysis to target users, users, and groups, with content that generates frustration and makes them feel the impossibility or difficulty of socialist change. These policies and methods are not spontaneous, but rather a scientifically conscious tool to abort or weaken the spirit of change and ensure that the capitalist system remains unchallenged and effective.
Arrest and Digital Assassination
Digital detention is a more dangerous stage of digital censorship and control, as it is not limited to restricting access to content, but extends to imposing arbitrary restrictions on the accounts of individuals and groups, temporarily suspending them for various periods, or permanently deleting them in what can be considered a form of digital assassination, which is carried out without any transparency, clear standards, or local or international laws that defend the rights of users. Pretexts such as “violating societal norms” or “promoting violence” are often used as arguments to block these Voices, although the content posted by activists is often a documentation of the crimes of capitalism as states and corporations or human rights abuses.
An example of this is the digital repression practiced by social media platforms against Palestinian content documenting Israeli crimes against civilians. During the recent aggression on Gaza, companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others deleted and banned hundreds of accounts and posts documenting the crimes of the occupation under the allegations of “violating societal norms” or “promoting terrorism,” even though many of them were accurate documentation of proven war crimes documented by human rights organizations.
In 2023, Human Rights Watch documented more than 1,050 cases of removal or restriction of pro-Palestinian content on Facebook and Instagram between October and November 2023, including purely peaceful content. I was personally banned for a month for sharing a post by the Palestinian left, and the secular Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SecularFB, which had more than 200,000 followers, was shut down for publishing articles exposing the crimes of the Israeli occupation, including articles condemning the crimes of Hamas as well.
Independent media outlets such as Quds News Network have also been targeted by restricting access to their publications or deleting their accounts entirely, in an apparent attempt to silence voices that reveal the truth about violations against Palestinian civilians. Media and human rights reports have also spoken of the phenomenon of “silent banning” or “shadowbanning”, in which the spread of pro-Palestinian publications is reduced without being deleted, especially those that include hashtags such as #FreePalestine or #IStandWithPalestine, which constitutes an undeclared restriction on freedom of expression in the digital space.
See sources (6,7,8)
Voluntary self-monitoring
Digital repression and restricting access to publications coincide with the phenomenon of “voluntary self-censorship”, where individuals and even groups begin to censor themselves, modify their political discourse, or even change its content, turning to public theoretical issues, and moving away from direct confrontation with capitalism and authoritarian regimes, for fear of restricting access to their publications or being banned during digital arrest, or digital assassination by shutting down their accounts by AI algorithms in digital platforms. This fear undermines freedom of expression, and becomes an influential factor in reshaping and regulating public discourse even before actual restrictions are imposed, reinforcing the intellectual dominance of capitalism, shrinking the space for digital resistance, and transforming the internet into a space controlled and self-framed according to the interests of the dominant forces.
For example, during periods of mass protests in different countries against the policies of capitalism and authoritarian regimes, as well as in general and to varying degrees, many users noticed that their posts containing words such as “general strike”, “civil disobedience”, “revolution”, or texts exposing crimes and human rights violations, did not achieve the usual circulation, while publications of a general analytical nature on economics and politics were not equally affected. This has been evident in the “yellow vest” protests in France, where media reports have documented the removal or restriction of access to some posts calling for mass strikes or direct confrontation with the government. In the United States, activists in the Black Lives Matter movement have reported that their posts calling for civil disobedience or peaceful protest against police violence have seen a significant drop in access, especially on Facebook and Instagram. Similar complaints from activists in India emerged during the 2021 farm protests, where Platforms removed posts or blocked hashtags associated with the protests, such as the #FarmersProtest hashtag, for allegedly “violating local laws.” This has led many activists to avoid using terms that platforms classify as “inflammatory,” shifting public discourse toward less intense and revolutionary content, thereby reducing the space for free expression and weakening the role of social media as a tool for political mobilization, mobilization, and radical change.
See sources (9,10,11,12,13)
The erosion of democracy with artificial intelligence
After controlling human minds and consciousness through digitization, it is no longer just a means of maximizing capitalist profits, but has also become a major tool for weakening and even undermining relative bourgeois democracy rather than strengthening or developing it, although its credibility is limited in many countries, where this democracy is subject to the influence of political money, unfair electoral laws drafted to serve certain interests, among other factors. Instead of supporting conscious popular participation in political life, digitization and artificial intelligence are being harnessed to reshape and manipulate public opinion in line with the interests of the ruling classes, by influencing elections, narrowing the space for free debate, and directing political and media discourse to serve the dominant capitalist forces.
The class dominance of AI means that this technology, which is supposed to be a tool to promote transparency and democracy, is effectively used to produce and promote narratives that preserve the existing capitalist system. Big data analysis and intelligent algorithms are being exploited to channel political information to the benefit of capitalist institutions, right-wing and neo-fascist regimes and organizations, and authoritarian forces, which can weaken the ability of the masses to make political decisions based on genuine critical awareness.
Under the capitalist system, AI is not used to empower the masses or promote informed and transparent decisions, but rather as a contributing tool to distort the truth, reproduce propaganda discourse, and disinformation that weakens the true essence of democracy based on transparency, free access to information, and intellectual and political pluralism. This is done by targeting platform owners with targeted content based on the analysis of their digital behavior, creating an artificial public opinion that perpetuates class domination and deepens political and social polarization. This is not limited to misleading voters, but it also extends to reshaping the environment of political debate, emptying it of its real content and imbuing it with propaganda that serves capitalism and its right-wing ideas.
The impact of AI goes beyond simply manipulating information, to becoming a central tool in the reproduction of capitalist political power. By employing algorithms in the management of election campaigns, designing political discourse according to the interests of capital, and influencing voter choices through precision targeting techniques, these platforms are neutralizing dissenting voices and weakening leftist and progressive-democratic alternatives.
For example, right-wing billionaire Elon Musk interfered in the 2025 German elections via his platform “X” (formerly Twitter), where he directly supported the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, by promoting AI-guided content on his platform, influencing public opinion and reproducing political polarization in favor of right-wing and neo-Nazi forces.
In this environment, elections no longer reflect the popular will even in their relative form, but have turned into an arena of conflict between the big states, monopoly powers, and financial juntas, which use the Internet and artificial intelligence as a tool for political and intellectual domination. This distorts political pluralism and corrupts existing relative democratic mechanisms, where the dominant forces either weaken progressive voices or push the masses towards false alternatives that reproduce the capitalist system itself, and in the extreme cases, bring about only superficial change.
Alternatives to leftist, progressive and human rights forces to confront this:
Artificial Intelligence as a Tool for Human Rights Liberation
AI should be geared toward being a tool for liberating and respecting human rights, not restricting or violating them. To achieve this, progressive left-wing initiatives must be adopted that ensure transparency, censorship, and the use of AI in ways that promote justice and equality, rather than being a tool in the hands of authoritarian regimes, states, and large corporations to monitor individuals and curtail and suppress freedoms. Strict international and domestic legal frameworks should be established that criminalize the use of AI in human rights abuses, whether through surveillance or targeting dissidents and activists, or the imposition of digital censorship that leads to arrests, digital assassinations, and restrictions on freedom of expression.
Justice and fundamental human rights guaranteed by international conventions must be respected. All AI security applications should be subject to independent judicial review, with civil society organizations involved in assessing their risks to freedoms, global solidarity networks should be formed to monitor AI abuses, and companies that sell surveillance technologies to authoritarian regimes should be boycotted and blacklisted. To ensure this, AI systems and open-source software run by independent bodies that include representatives of civil society and human rights organizations must be supported and developed, so that they are subject to democratic oversight that prevents their abuse by governments, monopoly corporations, and authoritarian regimes. These systems can be used to promote human rights by detecting abuses, monitoring government performance, and analyzing data to expose repressive practices.
Strengthening the role of leftist, progressive, and human rights organizations in monitoring the use of AI is crucial, as international coalitions can be built to stop the use of this technology to entrench digital domination, control, and repression. AI can also be an effective tool to combat digital censorship by developing data encryption and communication technologies to protect activists and dissidents, in addition to monitoring the activities of dictatorial governments and exposing their human rights violations. Societal awareness of the dangers of digital censorship and control and ways to do so should be strengthened. Countering them by enacting local and international laws that prevent privacy violations, and providing technical tools that help individuals protect their data and ensure freedom of expression in the digital space.
Artificial Intelligence to Support Democracy and Popular Participation
It is essential to transform AI from a tool that contributes to the erosion of relative democracy to a means to promote and develop it. Technology must be a catalyst in empowering the masses, promoting political participation on the basis of equality, and ensuring transparency and integrity in the democratic process. AI can be used to develop secure and transparent electronic dialogue and voting platforms that allow citizens to express their opinions and participate directly and effectively in decision-making at various levels, promoting participatory democracy and restoring power Power is in the hands of the masses. AI tools can also be developed that automatically analyze and detect fake news and disinformation, protecting audiences from disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining their ability to make fact-based decisions. These tools can also be used widely and freely within a public project aimed at promoting media transparency and countering monopolistic media dominance. This also requires fighting for clear international and domestic laws that prohibit the use of AI to manipulate public opinion, and ensure that information provided to the public is It is correct and objective, and reflects reality without any bias that serves specific class or ideological interests.
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Excerpts from my book “Capitalist Artificial Intelligence, the Challenges of the Left and Possible Alternatives: Technology in the Service of Capital or a Tool for Liberation?Free link to the book:
https://rezgar.com/books/i.asp?bid=4
Approved Sources:
- Filter bubble – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble
2.Jonathan Nagler et al. – How tech platforms fuel U.S. political polarization and what government can do about it – Brookings
- PNAS – Algorithmic amplification of politics on Twitter
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2025334119
- Arxiv – The Political Amplification Bias of the Twitter For You Algorithm
https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.01852
- 2021 Facebook leak – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Facebook_leak
- Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook – Human Rights Watch (21
- Are social media giants censoring pro-Palestine voices amid Israel’s war?
- Meta ‘stifling’ pro-Palestine voices on social media, rights group says
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/21/meta-stifling-pro-palestine-voices-on-social-media-hrw
- Why Twitter Blocked Accounts Linked to Farmers’ Protests in India
https://time.com/5935003/india-farmers-protests-twitter
- Civil rights groups urge Facebook to fix ‘racially biased’ moderation system (facebook-moderation-racial-bias-black-lives-matter)
- India: Twitter blocks accounts over farmers’ protest at government request – BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55898708
- How Elon Musk’s X became the global right’s supercharged front page – The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/04/elon-musk-x-trump-far-right
- “Yellow Vest” Facebook group with 350,000 members frozen on European election day
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/28/vest-m28.html