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.
Newsletter Aug 10, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #12 This week we look at how police in Delhi shockingly used AI-powered facial recognition to scan India’s largest youth protest in decades, matching faces against a police database in real time.
Newsletter Aug 6, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #132 In Syria, the transitional government replaced the Assad-era pound, which lost more than 99% of its value since 2011. The new pound removes two zeros from the old currency, but the process has created new barriers for Syrians holding old banknotes outside the formal economy, especially those who are unbanked, far from Damascus, or reliant on cash.
Newsletter Jul 30, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #131 In India, Narendra Modi’s hybrid authoritarian regime attempted to restrict access to code for Bitchat, an open-source app that allows users to send messages over Bluetooth without an internet connection, after suspending internet access during student protests in Delhi.
Newsletter Jul 23, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #130 In Russia, lawmakers approved new amendments expanding financial surveillance under the country’s “foreign agents” law.
Newsletter Jul 16, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #129 In Burma, officials froze the bank accounts of more than 100 companies, including firms involved in car imports, fuel, agriculture, gemstones, and import-export businesses.
Newsletter Jul 9, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #128 Last week, Kenyan police detained hundreds as families of those killed in the 2024 Finance Bill protests marched to Parliament.
Newsletter Jul 2, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #127 In Gaza, Palestinians report that they are unable to access their own money after the Bank of Palestine froze accounts without warning.
Newsletter Jul 1, 2026 HRF’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #11 Today, we cover a report revealing potential advances in North Korea’s AI capabilities that enable dangerous surveillance use cases despite an apparent lack of ability to acquire advanced AI chips.
