Blinken tells democracy summit that technology must sustain democratic values

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has underscored the need to ensure that technologies sustain democratic values. He said at the third Summit for Democracy in South Korea on Monday that authoritarian regimes deploy technologies to undermine democracy and human rights. U.S. President Joe Biden first proposed a democracy summit during his 2020 campaign and has repeatedly called for the U.S. and allies to show the world that democracies serve societies better than autocracies. His administration announced at the summit that six additional countries are joining a consortium on countering the misuse of commercial spyware, including Germany and Japan. Concerns about countries using spyware to target activists, diplomats and journalists is a growing worry for the White House.