Google’s Schmidt: ‘New model for a dictator is to infiltrate and try to manipulate’

AUSTIN, Texas — Dictators no longer need to shut down communications amid uprisings; with the Internet, they can steer the conversation in their favor, Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, suggested Friday during a SXSW panel.

“The new model for a dictator is to infiltrate and try to manipulate,” Schmidt told the audience.

Schmidt appeared with Google’s Jared Cohen in a session moderated by Wired’s Steven Levy,