CITIZEN LAB RESEARCH REPORT NO.151 15 In the following sections, we describe the experiences of those targeted with digital transnational repression in more detail. Participants described important mental, social, and physical impacts, such as feeling paranoid and anxious, being more cautious and self-isolating, having their professional and student life negatively affected, feeling responsible for the safety of others, and limiting communications with friends and family in Canada and the country of origin. They also drew links between their digital and physical security, and they highlighted the lack of resources that were available to them to respond to digital transnational repression. These findings build on prior research that underscores the serious psychosocial impacts of digital transnational repression and how it leads to self-censorship and the erosion of community networks. While we did not conduct a technical examination of the digital threats described by participants, participants linked these digital activities to their country of origin and presumed that they were related to their work in political or social activism. The Impact of Digital Transnational Repression on Psychosocial Health Participants corroborated existing research that digital transnational repression impacts their psychosocial health, including their mental health. For example, a Saudi activist explained that being digitally targeted was a form of “psychological and emotional war” and described themselves as experiencing “endless fear and anxiety” about being digitally targeted. Similar observations were made by other study participants. A Tibetan human rights activist had their Instagram account used as a platform to harass and bully them and received phishing emails and violent threats through direct messages on Facebook and Instagram. They explained that they experienced physical burnout and that balancing their regular life with an influx of digital threats was “mentally [...] excruciating,” and they became prone to mental illness and found the experience traumatic. Female participants reported receiving online rape threats as well as other misogynist threats, and they were left with a deep sense of digital and physical insecurity. Yemeni participants—one of whom worked in journalism (identified as Ahmad later in this report) and another in human rights advocacy—suffered repeated successful and failed intrusion attempts on their social media and email accounts and online smear campaigns. They observed that the potential of digital threats made them feel “paranoid all the time” and “emotionally numb.” A Syrian political activist explained that the digital targeting—which included repeated page takedowns by Facebook and the hacking of their social media and email accounts—negatively impacted their physical and mental health, and they developed “severe anxiety.”