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In recent years, state intervention in digital communication has increased. However, in order for governments to gain and maintain control over digital data flows, they must secure access to the network infrastructure at the ISP level. Eda Keremoglu et al. have analysed how the network topology of the internet is changing in different political environments. They show that in autocratic countries, state (and not private) providers have a significantly higher degree of control over transit networks. Their findings indicate that the network infrastructure in autocracies is organised in such a way that it is more susceptible to the surveillance and manipulation of Internet data flows by state providers at home and abroad. You can find the scientific article here. You can find a detailed interview in German on Deutschlandfunk radio here.