" The concept you may be thinking of is the "chilling effect." It refers to the phenomenon where individuals are less likely to engage in certain behaviors, such as expressing themselves or accessing certain information, due to the fear of surveillance or other forms of monitoring. The term "chilling effect" is often used in the context of government surveillance or censorship, but it can also apply to other types of monitoring and control, such as corporate surveillance or online harassment. The reference to the iceberg in the infographic may have been used to illustrate the idea that only a small portion of the chilling effect is visible on the surface, while the majority of its impact remains hidden beneath the surface. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect
Another related term is "the panopticon", a prison designed so that you always felt like you were being watched.
Hacker News is better than chatGPT, it gives you what you're looking for without asking the right question (properly).
See https://xyproblem.info/ for details about how I messed up with my request.
https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/chilling-effect-overv...
;-)
(it’s also a great metal album)
Just happens to be this week’s 99% Invisible podcast is all about panopticon history!