Chinese internet censorship is frequently portrayed as a top-down, monolithic control structure that enables the government to precisely target undesired content. The Chinese government, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), virtually controlled all of the traditional mass media before the Internet was invented, including magazines, newspapers, the radio, and television. Unsurprisingly, even before the Internet was made widely accessible, the government wanted to regulate new media (Quan). The government has issued many regulations to regulate the Internet over the years. China’s State Council published the Interim provisions governing the management of computer information networks on February 1, 1996. It forbids the creation or transmission of four types of information: material that could compromise national security, reveal state secrets, undermine social order, or encourage sexually explicit content. The State Council published the Measures for controlling internet information services on September 20, 2000, greatly expanding the range of illegal content. Internet service providers were prohibited from creating, reproducing, releasing, or disseminating information that comprises any of the items listed in Article 15 of the provisions, for example. Information that violates the fundamental values outlined in the Constitution; Information that jeopardizes national security; Information that exposes state secrets; Information that undermines government authority; Information that is harmful to the dignity and interest of the state; Content that spreads rumors; Information that disturbs social order; Information that threatens social stability; or Other information that is prohibited by law or administrative rules. These clauses are so ubiquitous that many Chinese appear to have “accepted” them (Quan). The validity or legality of such provisions was rarely contested. Ambiguous rules can prevent particular individuals from disseminating “sensitive” material that might fall under a restricted category.
Current Laws and Regulations that Govern the Internet in China
The Cyber Security Law (CSL), passed during the current administration, is the most significant piece of legislation regulating how China manages the Internet. The CSL regulates all internet activities in China and holds online service providers responsible for confirming users’ genuine identities (Xu and Yu). Additionally, the CSL mandates that all network operators keep an eye out for information in user-generated content that is illegal to publish or transmit according to legal or administrative guidelines. In China, users must supply essential personal information to utilize social media or other online services. Registering fake details or using another person’s name for assistance is prohibited. Transactions involving SIM cards are governed: Forms must be completed before giving a card to another person (Xu and Yu). A licensing system governs news and information services. Establishing a blacklist by the authorities will result in a three-year information dissemination restriction for specified groups and people. One million yuan is the highest fine for publishing information deemed incorrect and upsetting social order. Additionally, services that remove social media posts in exchange for money will no longer be allowed, and inappropriate trading of internet accounts will be prohibited. Computer companies’ algorithms to promote products to users are subject to rules. The regulations outlined by China’s Cyberspace Administration state that algorithms must not support information that “endangers national security, disrupts economic and social order, or infringes on the legal rights and interests of others.” The rules also stipulated that consumers must have the choice to disable recommendations and must not be subjected to price discrimination based on past actions (Xu and Yu). Furthermore, generating phony user profiles using algorithms is not a good idea. According to the Internet regulating body, the rules are an effort to safeguard Chinese consumers’ personal information and privacy.
Technological Advancements and Censorship
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses the Great Firewall of China (GFW), which is made up of several technologies and legal provisions, to filter and regulate the content accessible to users in the nation. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) uses a mix of technological and regulatory measures known as the GFW to control access to the Internet within its borders. The GFW filters internet traffic through URL filtering, DNS poisoning, direct VPN blocking, Man-in-the-middle attacks, and active probing. A network of proxies that track and filter online traffic makes up URL blocking. The proxies search for data on servers using a set of characters called Uniform Resource Identifiers, employed by web technologies (URIs). These proxies also search the content of a web page for target phrases that should be blocked. The entire page gets blocked the moment a term matches. For this strategy to be effective, the database must be updated often with pertinent keywords. The Great Firewall of China employs many “fake” DNS servers, which respond with incorrect IP addresses when you attempt to access specific websites. The basis of this DNS hijacking technique is the use of targeted keywords. The firewall automatically inserts a bogus DNS answer when a DNS request matches a forbidden keyword, prohibiting visitors from visiting the website. The Great Firewall examines data using techniques like deep packet inspection to determine if someone is utilizing a VPN. It can choose the origin of each packet of data supplied to the server and any active applications by analyzing the individual packets of data. It’s important to note that VPNs aren’t forbidden in China. All VPN companies are required to share user information and adhere to local censorship laws, which violates the main benefit of using VPN: anonymity. The Chinese government “impersonates” and manipulates root certificates issued by Chinese authorities rather than ones given by legitimate providers through man-in-the-middle (MITM) assaults. Websites frequently use SSL certificates to send data while encrypting it. Due to MITM attacks, the Chinese government can issue self-signed certificates, effectively capturing all interactions and data with a specific website. Chinese authorities employ the method of “active probing” to find services that enable users to get beyond the firewall. It operates by examining any connection requests made to an outbound server, such as one not in China. The GFW Project examines the request’s nature, and if it discovers that the IP address is part of a network of forbidden servers, it immediately terminates the request and restricts the IP.
The Impact of Censorship on the Society
China’s internet censorship affects both the creation and consumption of online content. The censorship of news coverage of many contentious situations prevents numerous Chinese citizens from learning about the acts of their government and severely curtails press freedom. People are shielded from reality by censorship, which causes them to believe false information (Zhang et al.). Nobody would be aware of what might occur if the government merely censored information it did not want society to know. Censorship has a negative impact on creativity in Chinese culture as well. Pushing the limits while continually scanning your back is difficult. It’s a shame because there is so much to be learned about China and modern Chinese history on the intellectual, aesthetic, and cultural levels. Additionally, China’s internet censorship infringes on the right to free speech and isolates its people from the world around them (Zhang et al.). The Chinese constitution declares that citizens have the right to free speech and express their opinions. Still, it also grants the government the power to censor anything that can endanger the nation. As a result, especially in the network, if one wants to say something that the government doesn’t agree with, no one can hear them. This confirms that in China, one is only permitted to speak freely about subjects the administration deems appropriate. China’s internet restriction affects world trade in that it imperils the prerequisites for a just international economic system. Existing international trade laws and institutions are insufficient to change China’s behavior or lessen the effects of its censorship on the rest of the world. Commercial censorship can have a wide range of influences, including the closure of important exporting sales channels, restrictions on or outright bans on foreign enterprises offering internet services in China, and extraterritorial control of foreign Internet sites and services.
Global Response and Criticisms
Diverse viewpoints and sentiments worldwide have been expressed over the censorship enforced on Chinese residents. Coordinated and bilaterally targeted penalties were imposed by Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union against Chinese government people and businesses involved in major human rights abuses, including international crimes, in Xinjiang. Several senior Hong Kong officials were also subject to sanctions from the US for enacting the National Security Law (Human Rights Watch). At the United Nations General Assembly in October 2021, 43 states voiced their “regret” that the government had denied them significant access to Xinjiang and promised their offices would review the state of human rights there. Parliaments in Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Canada, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom passed resolutions denouncing the Chinese government for killing Uyghurs. Members of the European Parliament opposed the EU’s proposed comprehensive investment deal with China. They placed the subject on hold while still at risk of Beijing’s retaliatory actions by citing human rights concerns (Human Rights Watch). In September, they also agreed on a proposal for a new, bolder, and more effective EU strategy on China, with human and civil rights at its core. Members of the EU continue to make vehement statements at the UN criticizing China for human rights abuses. Due to worries about forced labor, multinational corporations were under increased pressure to cease operations in Xinjiang. In their activities in China, foreign technology corporations kept facilitating censorship.
The Future of Censorship in China
Censorship is essential for ensuring that opinion conformity serves the nation’s aims rather than working against them. As China’s computer networks become more secluded, it is building its system of Internet regulation within its borders that supersedes international conventions. This is part of China’s efforts to change the traditional way the Internet is managed. The emergence of President Xi’s cult of personality, which has been likened to a similar craze surrounding Mao, signals a fragility in his power grip or a consolidation of authority; however, it is also plausible that the answer is a combination of both. Furthermore, China might be less hesitant to demonstrate its offensive cyber capabilities as it grows more self-assured as a global leader. Chinese policymakers may regard the Great Cannon, an attack mechanism co-located with the GFW, as a more desirable alternative if they want to retaliate against businesses or countries that refuse to comply. A substantial gulf between China and its equivalents is made worse by the ongoing restrictions that isolate Chinese online users from the world around them. The consequence of total control for China is that the more actively Chinese censorship is used, the more it exposes its anxieties to the outside world and runs the risk of inflaming the ire of its netizens. It is a price, nevertheless, that it is willing to pay more and more. Therefore, since China’s censorship model has been effectively imported into other authoritarian governments to stifle dissent and carry out surveillance, foreigners will need to pay close attention to developments in Chinese censorship models. Comprehending the themes that are significant to the CCP through empirical investigation will become increasingly vital to understanding its national and international goals—seeing both the picture it intends to convey and the impression it seeks to conceal.
The Uyghur People
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all persons have fundamental freedoms and human rights, which governments are obligated to uphold. Since April 2017, the PRC has intensified its long-standing repressive policies in Xinjiang by imprisoning more than a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz, as well as members of religious minority groups, to systematically exterminate their cultural and ethnic identity, as well as their religious beliefs, and to manage their population growth (Zelcer-Lavid). Based on the experiences of the people who have fled, countless publicly available stories of torture, rape, forced drug consumption, sexual assault, and other horrifying atrocities committed in these detention centers have been documented. Outside the camps, the CCP uses coercive tactics to suppress minorities, including extensive surveillance, the unauthorized mass collection of biometric data from unaware citizens, state-sponsored forced labor, and the stipulation that CCP authorities spend more time in Uyghur homes to suppress religious practice. Members of minority groups are forced to relocate to camps and industries and forced to renounce their ethnic heritage, religious beliefs, and religious traditions. Additionally, children are compelled to leave their homes and put in state-run indoctrination facilities (Zelcer-Lavid). Women and girls are routinely subjected to forced marriages and other abuse, including unwelcome birth control implants, forced abortion, and forced sterilization. These camps’ coercive nature and the CCP’s relentless campaign against such men are encouraged by leaked government records.
