The Net Delusion Book Summary

In 'The Net Delusion', Evgeny Morozov challenges the optimistic belief that the internet is an unequivocal force for democracy. He explores how authoritarian regimes can manipulate digital tools to suppress dissent and control information. With compelling examples, Morozov reveals the dark side of the web, prompting readers to reconsider the effectiveness of online activism. As he navigates the complex relationship between technology and politics, he raises crucial questions about freedom and responsibility in the digital age. Will the internet be our savior or a tool of oppression?

By Evgeny Morozov

Published: 2012

"The internet is not a cure-all; it is an amplifier of both our greatest hopes and our darkest impulses."

Book Review of The Net Delusion

Updated with a new Afterword “The revolution will be Twittered!” declared journalist Andrew Sullivan after protests erupted in Iran. But as journalist and social commentator Evgeny Morozov argues in The Net Delusion, the Internet is a tool that both revolutionaries and authoritarian governments can use. For all of the talk in the West about the power of the Internet to democratize societies, regimes in Iran and China are as stable and repressive as ever. Social media sites have been used there to entrench dictators and threaten dissidents, making it harder—not easier—to promote democracy. Marshalling a compelling set of case studies, The Net Delusion shows why the cyber-utopian stance that the Internet is inherently liberating is wrong, and how ambitious and seemingly noble initiatives like the promotion of “Internet freedom” are misguided and, on occasion, harmful.

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The internet is not a cure-all; it is an amplifier of both our greatest hopes and our darkest impulses.

The Net Delusion

By Evgeny Morozov