Internet censorship in China

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In most parts of the world, the Internet is usually associated with freedom of speech and expression. However, it also can be utilized as a method of direct propaganda and strict censorship. 

In this article, you will learn how the Internet censorship system works in China.

In recent years, the Chinese leadership has devoted more and more resources to controlling content online. First of all, there are topics on the Chinese internet that became taboo from the very beginning. There are not so many of them: everything related to separatism, questions about the independence of Tibet and Xinjiang, protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, everything related to the Falun Gong movement, and, of course, any criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and central authorities. However, it is not forbidden to point out any problems on a local level.

At the same time, it is not so important for the Chinese authorities to tightly close access to foreign media. If someone really wants to read the New York Times, Facebook or Twitter, they can. The policy is different: to make the bulk of the population to consume content from local resources controlled by the Communist Party. Therefore, almost all local analogues of existing world services were created: there is an analogue of Twitter (Weibo), there is an analogue of Facebook (Wechat), of YouTube (Youku), and so on, even an analogue of the Quora question-answer service (Zhihu) and the search engine for scientific works Google Scholar (Baidu Wenku). All these resources are obviously under the tight control of the Communist Party. 

All bloggers are also strictly controlled. In the early 2010s, there was no compulsory state registration for Chinese bloggers if they are not well-known personalities and do not represent any structures or legal entities. But already in the mid-2010s, all bloggers were obliged to register using real names and identity documents. In addition, in 2013, there was a responsibility for the publication of compromising information, the so-called law on rumors and speculation. Any criticism of the central authorities, of course, fell into this category. Under this law comes criminal liability when a message is republished more than 500 times or when the number of views is more than 5000. You also should keep in mind that 500 reposts on the scale of the Chinese Internet is nothing. This law covers almost any post on Chinese social networks with information that is not necessarily unreliable, but disliked by the authorities.

This is exactly what happened to the famous Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, who tried to warn colleagues that a new infection, very similar to the SARS virus, appeared to be a new COVID19, was spreading in the country. He started to have problems exactly with the law on rumors and speculation. He was summoned to the relevant authorities where he was forced to give explanations and then publicly admit that he was guilty of publishing false information. As we already know the information turned out to be reliable and Li Wenliang himself died from the coronavirus infection that he was trying to warn everyone about.

Already in the beginning of 2021, the State Chancellery for Internet Information Affairs published new rules according to which Internet users, including bloggers, are not allowed to independently publish information about politics, the military sphere, the economy and social sphere  without appropriate accreditation as a media. This is another step towards tightening censorship. In fact, apart from pictures of cats and food, there are less and less topics in the Chinese blogosphere that you can discuss relatively freely.

That is why streaming services are gaining popularity in China now – precisely because communication takes place live and content moderation is difficult. However, artificial intelligence technologies now make it possible to recognize live speech and extract keywords from it. If the algorithm marks the stream as suspicious, then the moderator receives a signal and starts checking this stream manually. If he notices any forbidden or politically unreliable topics, then the broadcast is forcibly stopped, and the user who started it is restricted from accessing the platform.

As technology is constantly evolving, uncensored conversation becomes more and more difficult. When Clubhouse appeared on the internet, the first week in China, it was wildly popular. It seemed as a new form of free communication. However, the Chinese authorities quickly banned it.

For the international community, Beijing’s cyber-policy is a sign of the challenge that a more powerful China presents to the liberal world order, which prioritises values such as freedom of speech. It also reflects the paradox inherent in China’s efforts to promote itself as a champion of globalisation, while simultaneously advocating a model of internet sovereignty and closing its cyber-world to information and investment from abroad.

Sources:

  1. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jun/29/the-great-firewall-of-china-xi-jinpings-internet-shutdown
  2. https://daxueconsulting.com/internet-censorship-in-china/
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/technology/china-coronavirus-censorship.html

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