Your example here is perfect to show how no "society" is immune to the "system" and to what all the "system" does to people via the tools that they have available.
As technology advances so too does the abuse of the tools they have.
There is a band from former East Germany called Rammstein who literally summed it up via a song (done in their own artistic style) about this topic of "abuse" for the goal of total and utter control. The theme of the song is literally based on the story of East Germany and the communist/socialist regime there.
So what we see happening today is nothing new, it is an overly tested and proven method that brings about dreadful results every time.