By 2020, experts estimate China will have installed almost 300 million surveillance cameras and will spend upward of $30 billion in the coming years on a wide variety of surveillance technologies often augmented by artificial intelligence such as facial recognition; DNA profiling; iris scanning; voice recognition; and the monitoring of internet and phone usage.

According to China, these advancements reduce crime and strengthen public order. Large digital billboards in some cities show the faces and names of jaywalkers and people who have unpaid debts. These ever expanding surveillance systems also serve as an effective means to monitor political dissent and loyalty to the Communist Party.

Alternatively, these methods are used to profile minorities through technology that automates racial and ethnic profiling. In the majority Muslim province of Xinjiang, certain facial recognition systems have been developed to exclusively look for and identify ethnically Uighur individuals. It’s estimated that one million Uighurs have been designated and held in ‘re-education camps.’

Beyond China, government-backed Chinese companies are selling billions of dollars of surveillance systems to nations across the globe from Venezuela to Germany to Kenya to Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates. While technology was once seen as a tool to expand democracy and equality, many now fear it may become the strongest weapon in the authoritarian’s arsenal.