What are the defining features of a transnational conflict?

It crosses state borders, involves at least one non-state actor, is usually asymmetric, and is entangled with domestic conflicts.

• Cross-border: the conflict spans the territory of at least two states and ignores state borders.
• Non-state actors: at least one party is not a state. Examples are sub-state armed groups (terror groups, militias, organised crime), civil-society actors (transnational NGOs) and economic actors (transnational corporations such as Big Tech).
• Asymmetry: the parties differ widely in resources, political influence, organisational capacity and information.
• Entanglement: it is often interwoven with conflicts inside a state, e.g. a civil war supported by outside non-state actors.

This matters for Big Tech because its services are used in such conflicts. Meta was formally accused by the UN of contributing to the genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar. Ukraine used social media to crowdfund the war and build an "IT army". Each time, a company has to decide whether to take a side or try to stay neutral.

Go deeper:

• Wikipedia: Rohingya genocide — includes the UN findings on Facebook's role in Myanmar.
• Manor (2023): The road not taken, why digital diplomacy must broaden its horizons — the source for the Ukraine crowdfunding and IT-army questions.