Newsletter Oct 16, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #22 This week, we examine an investigation into the growing influence of the UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, over the country’s AI future.
Newsletter Oct 15, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #142 In Iraq, the regime devalued the dinar by about 14.5% overnight, pushing up the cost of imported food, medicine, and fuel while eroding the value of salaries and savings.
Newsletter Oct 10, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #21 El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is rolling out AI-powered public services that could boost his popularity — even as democratic checks on his power continue to erode — and expand his access to citizens’ personal data.
Newsletter Oct 8, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #141 In India, Apple removed Bitchat from the country’s App Store after the government ordered the company to block the offline messaging app.
Newsletter Oct 2, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #20 This week, we discuss how Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States reflects the Chinese regime’s significant influence over the future of artificial intelligence (AI).
Newsletter Oct 1, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #140 This week reminds us how fragile financial access can be in difficult political environments. In Iran, Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi announced that the regime had identified and frozen 2,191 bank accounts belonging to 394 people accused of collaborating with a “hostile enemy.”
Newsletter Sep 28, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #19 In Iran and China, state-backed actors are using AI to run autonomous influence campaigns. These actors can now deploy hundreds of AI agents to create social media accounts and flood platforms with political content, marking a new era of authoritarian propaganda.
Newsletter Sep 24, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #139 In Russia, organizers of an international youth festival reportedly created multiple versions of the internet, including an unrestricted network for foreign visitors and a censored one for Russian citizens.
Newsletter Sep 18, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #18 This week, China’s top civilian intelligence official warned that artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a security threat to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule. He pointed to risks including AI-generated political content against the CCP, AI-powered cyberattacks, and sensitive data leaks, while calling for tighter state control over AI.
Newsletter Sep 17, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #138 In Iran, the clerical dictatorship doubled the price of gasoline beyond subsidized quotas from 5,000 to 10,000 tomans per liter. With inflation above 87% and food prices also doubled, security forces are now deployed around fuel stations in at least 11 cities.
Newsletter Sep 11, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #17 In Taiwan, officials revealed that Chinese tech companies are ramping up efforts to recruit Taiwanese engineers and gain access to the island’s AI chip expertise.
Newsletter Sep 10, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #137 El Salvador’s $1.4 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan is moving forward after officials reduced the government’s role in Bitcoin infrastructure. Majority ownership and control of the state-backed Chivo wallet have shifted to a private operator, while the IMF says recent additions to the country’s Bitcoin holdings came from private donations rather than public funds.
Newsletter Sep 4, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #16 Chinese tech giant Huawei is bidding to expand Egypt’s AI capacity, bringing more powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools into the hands of a dictatorship. In a country where officials already closely monitor and suppress dissent, that expansion could make surveillance faster and more sophisticated.
Newsletter Sep 3, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #136 In Russia, officials sentenced a senior programmer to a four-year suspended sentence for donating $21 to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF). Leonid Stepanov was convicted using his own bank statements, showing how the Kremlin weaponizes financial surveillance and demonstrating precisely why alternative payment rails like Bitcoin matter in the struggle for democracy.
Newsletter Aug 28, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #15 This week, Saudi Arabia’s state-linked AI company HUMAIN announced a partnership with French AI lab Mistral. When authoritarian regimes collaborate with leading AI companies from democracies, they may gain greater influence over how AI systems are developed and deployed.
Newsletter Aug 13, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #135 In Iraq, the hybrid authoritarian regime has decided to remove three zeros from the dinar and issue new banknotes, a move officials argue would force hoarded cash back into banks.
Newsletter Aug 24, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #14 Welcome to the 14th edition of HRF’s AI for Individual Rights newsletter. We begin in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is using tens of thousands of cameras to surveil women forced to follow its repressive rules.
Newsletter Aug 20, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #134 In Russia, Binance gave officials the identity and transaction history of a user who donated more than $700 in cryptocurrency to Ukrainian causes. The Kremlin later used this information to charge him with financing terrorism.
Newsletter Aug 13, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #133 In Russia, Putin’s dictatorship officially designated the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) as an “undesirable” organization.
Newsletter Aug 14, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #13 Across this week’s news, authoritarian regimes continue deploying AI-powered surveillance to better identify and track critics.
