ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE IN POST-ARAB SPRING TUNISIA: NATIONAL SECURITY OR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION?

This article explores the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital surveillance technologies in post-Arab Spring Tunisia, critically assessing whether these tools serve as legitimate instruments of state security or pose threats to fundamental human rights. While the 2011 revolution promised democratic transformation and stronger civil liberties, Tunisia’s evolving security architecture reveals a return to centralized control, now reinforced by algorithmic tools and biometric systems. The study examines the legal, political, and ethical implications of this trend, situating Tunisia as a key case within broader debates on digital governance in transitional societies. The first section contextualizes Tunisia’s political shift from post-revolutionary openness to renewed authoritarian tendencies, marked by the deployment of AI-enhanced surveillance in the name of counterterrorism and public order. The second section analyzes the legal and political frameworks governing digital surveillance, highlighting critical gaps in data protection legislation,the opacity of security justifications, and the weak institutional oversight mechanisms that enable unchecked surveillance practices. The third section engages with key ethical and legal debates, focusing on violations of the right to privacy, algorithmic discrimination, and the suppression of free expression and protest. It draws on illustrative case studies, including the post-2015 security expansion and the use of Predator spyware against civil society actors. The final section proposes a rights-based model for AI governance in Tunisia, emphasizing transparency, accountability, algorithmic justice, and the institutional empowerment of civil society. The article concludes that Tunisia’s AI-driven surveillance regime lacks sufficient safeguards to ensure compliance with international human rights standards. Without legal reforms, public oversight, and participatory governance, the state’s pursuit of digital security risks entrenching a new form of techno-authoritarianism. Tunisia’s experience thus offers both a cautionary tale and an urgent call for ethical digital governance in post-revolutionary contexts.