Authoritarian Compliance

A January 2026 Citizen Lab report found Cellebrite equipment was used in at least seven cases to extract data from phones seized from activists and a journalist detained during pro-Palestinian protests in Jordan between late 2023 and mid-2025. None of the individuals consented to the searches. All four devices forensically analyzed showed Cellebrite product use in 2024-2025.

In January 2026, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit accusing Cisco of supplying technology used by China to identify, detain, and persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Leaked 2008 marketing materials allegedly showed Cisco touted its products' ability to identify 90%+ of Falun Gong online content. Plaintiffs allege arrest, detention, torture including beatings with steel rods, electric shocks, and forced labor camps.

In November 2025, Apple confirmed it removed popular gay dating apps Blued and Finka from its Chinese iOS Store following an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China. This continued Apple's pattern of complying with authoritarian censorship demands, following 2024 removals of WhatsApp and Instagram from China.

Qatar Investment Authority backed Anthropic's $13B Series F at $183B valuation. Company framed Gulf capital as 'narrowly scoped, purely financial' investment with no governance rights. UAE's MGX notably absent from final round despite being in advanced talks. Contradicts October 2024 essay warning of 'AI-powered authoritarianism.'

A joint Guardian/+972 Magazine/Local Call investigation revealed Microsoft provided customized Azure cloud infrastructure to Israel's Unit 8200 intelligence unit for storing recordings of millions of daily Palestinian phone calls. By July 2025, the surveillance system held 11,500 terabytes of military data stored on Azure servers in the Netherlands and Ireland. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with Unit 8200's commander in late 2021 to discuss the collaboration. Sources within Unit 8200 said the data was used to research and identify bombing targets in Gaza and to blackmail Palestinians in the West Bank.

AMD reported an $800 million charge tied to halted shipments of AI chips to China. The company's MI308 accelerator, designed with export compliance in mind, was blocked by U.S. export restrictions. AMD had to write down inventory and cut China from its revenue forecast. Gross margin sank to 43% from 54%.

Leaked Slack memo from Amodei to staff stated company seeking UAE and Qatar investments, reversing previous stance against authoritarian funding. Wrote: 'I really wish we weren't in this position, but we are' and 'Unfortunately, I think "No bad person should ever benefit from our success" is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on.' Cited competitors' moves and $100B+ available capital.

At the Founders Forum Global conference in Oxford in June 2025, ARM CEO Rene Haas said US export controls on China 'threaten to slow overall technological advances' and are 'bad for consumers and companies.' He aligned with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in opposing the controls, stating 'If you narrow access to technology and you force other ecosystems to grow up, it's not good. It makes the pie smaller.' ARM derives approximately 20-25% of revenue from China.

In May 2025, Nvidia agreed to supply at least 18,000 GB300 Grace Blackwell processors to HUMAIN, a company created by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to make Saudi Arabia a global AI leader. Over five years, the number could reach several hundred thousand chips, with data centers of up to 500 megawatts capacity. An additional deal with Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) will deploy up to 5,000 Blackwell GPUs. In November 2025, the US Commerce Department approved transfer of 35,000 additional Nvidia chips to HUMAIN. The deal was facilitated by the Trump administration easing Biden-era export controls.

During President Trump's May 2025 visit to Saudi Arabia, Oracle announced a $14 billion investment over 10 years—nearly 10x its previous $1.5 billion commitment. CEO Safra Catz explicitly credited 'the decisive actions and strong leadership of President Trump' for enabling the partnership. Catz served on Trump's 2016 transition team and currently serves on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Founders Fund, co-founded by Palantir chairman Peter Thiel, has been a major investor in Palantir Technologies since its founding in 2003. Palantir built the ImmigrationOS platform for ICE, receiving a $30 million contract in 2025. The Electronic Frontier Foundation reported in January 2026 that ICE uses a Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid and other government data to identify and track people for arrest. The American Immigration Council documented how the system enables mass surveillance of immigrant communities. Founders Fund's continued investment in and promotion of Palantir directly supports the expansion of government surveillance infrastructure.

In April 2025, Google Cloud announced a partnership with the UAE Cyber Security Council to establish a cybersecurity center of excellence in Abu Dhabi. The agreement was announced with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE's National Security Advisor, and Ruth Porat, Alphabet's President and CIO. Google committed to 'significant investments in advanced cloud capabilities' in the UAE. Critics noted the partnership despite UAE's alleged involvement in supplying weapons and technology to Sudan's conflict.

World Uyghur Congress filed complaints in French courts (April 7 and September 8, 2025) against Huawei France, Hikvision, and Dahua for complicity in crimes against humanity against Uyghurs. Charges include genocide, human trafficking, aggravated servitude, and concealment. Allegations state Huawei participated in developing innovative police laboratories in East Turkistan, testing systems for detecting Uyghurs in crowds. Supported by Don't Fund Russian Army NGO.

In April 2025, U.S. investment firm Integrity Partners acquired sanctioned Israeli spyware maker Candiru for $30 million. The deal transferred all employees to a new entity not subject to U.S. sanctions, demonstrating a critical enforcement gap: an American company investing in an Entity List company undermines U.S. government spyware constraints.

In 2025, Alibaba was confirmed as Apple's AI partner for China. Users have an additional Alibaba layer over Apple Intelligence that manipulates output to ensure all information is censored according to Chinese government requirements. This partnership enables systematic content filtering and government compliance in AI responses.

Palantir's Investigative Case Management (ICM) system, also known as ImmigrationOS, is used by ICE for immigration enforcement operations. The contract has been expanded under the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda. Civil rights groups have criticized Palantir for enabling family separations and deportations.

Jensen Huang did not attend Trump's January 20, 2025 inauguration, unlike most major tech CEOs. He was instead in Beijing for Nvidia's annual meeting, telling reporters 'We have many partners in China, we have been working here for about 25 years... we will continue to cooperate.' Nvidia still donated $1M to the inauguration fund.

In 2025, AWS and e& launched the UAE Sovereign Launchpad, a cloud platform designed for government and regulated industries. The platform is endorsed by the UAE Cybersecurity Council and aligned with UAE's National Cloud Security Policy. AWS has invested $5 billion in UAE since 2022 and signed a $1 billion+ agreement with e& in October 2024 focusing on public sector services.

On January 6, 2025, the US Department of Defense added Tencent to its list of 'Chinese Military Companies' alongside other tech firms. The designation, while not imposing direct sanctions, signals US government concerns about Tencent's alleged ties to China's military and can affect investor sentiment and business relationships with US entities.

Anthropic is the only frontier AI company to restrict selling AI services to PRC-controlled companies, forgoing significant short-term revenue. At Davos 2026, Amodei likened U.S. allowing Nvidia to sell advanced chips to China as 'selling nuclear weapons to North Korea.'