IT-backed authoritarianism links state-led mass surveillance with Big Data and a new form of credit scoring to influence the behavior of citizens, companies and other institutions (nudge). It embeds political goals within algorithms. Its aim is to enhance the control capacity and authority of a non-democratic regime In contrast to traditional governance practices in authoritarian countries, IT-backed authoritarianism lowers the necessity to resort to coercion to exert power. The IT-based approach helps to establish a more subtle, automatic and invisible type of state control.