Ichihara Maiko, Professor, Hitotsubashi University Repression and resistance Freedom on the Internet has declined for the twelfth year in a row. This was reported in Freedom House’s annual “Freedom on the Net” (FOTN) statistics released in October 2022.[1] Twelve years ago, in 2010, the potential of the Internet was at its strongest. That year, a young vegetable seller self-immolated in Tunisia, with his message being shared via Facebook and calls for demonstrations spreading throughout Tunisia, eventually overthrowing the dictatorship of Ben Ali and coming to be known as the Jasmine Revolution. The movement spread throughout the Arab world, dubbed the “Arab Spring.” Larry Jay Diamond, an expert on democracy, called the Internet “liberation technology” that enables mobilization for freedom.[2] Twelve years have passed since then, and now there is an awareness that the Internet also has a “repression technology” dimension.[3] As AI-based face … Continue reading Fragmentation in Liberalism and Japan’s Role