Trade-Offs in Authoritarian Participatory Digital Surveillance: Evidence From China’s Sharp Eyes Project

How do authoritarian regimes overcome the limits of digital surveillance? They complement camera systems with citizen monitoring and reporting, creating participatory surveillance in which residents interpret what cameras capture and supply local knowledge technology alone cannot provide. I study this hybrid form of control in China’s Sharp Eyes Project, which gives selected residents access to camera feeds and encourages reports of suspected misconduct. I use a staggered difference-in-differences analysis of administrative and survey data from Chinese cities. The program increases citizen reporting by 11%, reduces crimes susceptible to community monitoring, and lowers trust in neighbors. Reports expand the state’s informational reach, but the system makes residents uncertain about how neighbors may interpret and report their behavior. The study places political participation at the center of digital surveillance and shows how authoritarian regimes turn relations among citizens into a source of state power while weakening the foundations of collective action.