China has been named by Freedom House as one of the world’s worst abusers of internet freedom for the fourth consecutive year as the conditions for internet users in the country continue to deteriorate. Freedom House is a United States-basednon-government organisation that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Their Freedom in the World 2019 report states that in China the media, religious groups, universities, businesses, civil society associations and state bureaucracy are all under strict surveillance and under tightened control by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Amid the escalating trade war with the United States and slowing domestic growth in China, economic news there was more systematically and permanently censored.
Between June 1, 2018 – May 31, 2019 there has been growing censorship of entertainment content and apolitical platforms such as dating, videosharing, livestreaming and block chain applications to prevent their use for civic mobilisation or dissemination of political commentary – especially ahead of events that China deems “sensitive”. For instance, the mobile dating apps Momo, which has 113 million users, and Tantan, which has 90 million users,both suspended their social news feed functions for a month in May 2019 on orders from the government which is quoted in technode as announcing they were “tightening government scrutiny”.
Self-censorship among ordinary users and journalists escalated during this period in response to increased risk of account closures, real world reprisals and legal penalties for online commentary. WeChat users are self-censoring to pre-empt the closure of their accounts or other penalties. Research on the types of content removals on WeChat in 2018 found that the majority of deletions were initiated by the account holders themselves as opposed to WeChat administrators.Self-censorship is pervasive among persecuted minorities, especially the Muslim ethnic group the Uighursfrom East Turkestan [Ch: Xinjiang] in north western China who, like Tibetans, live under Chinese rule and whose WeChat activities are closely monitored. Many are reported as blocking their own family members living abroad to avoid being detained for their foreign contacts.
Users of Twitter, which is blocked in China, and virtual private networks which allow access to blocked overseas sites, as well as the moderators of human rights websites, were targeted with legal and extralegal reprisals for their online activity. Numerous individuals were harassed, detained, or both, for their use of Twitter. People who operated websites providing information about civil society and human rights issues faced harsh pre-trial detentions and long prison sentences. The founder of the website Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, Liu Feiyue, stood trial in August 2018 on charges of incitement to subvert state power after 20 months in pre-trial detention.
New digital surveillance technologies that were first tested in East Turkestan spread across China;one example is a handheld data-extraction device that police use to copy and analyse personal information from citizens’ mobile phones. East Turkestan’s Muslim minority population increasingly faced harsh penalties and detention for mundane online activities including communicating with relatives who live abroad, thus confirming that state surveillance of internet activities infringe on users’ right to privacy. Growing reports of users being punished for their apparently private conversations, particularly on WeChat, demonstrate that the authorities have unfettered access to user communications and data. In April 2018, a leaked directive from an internet policing department in Zhejiang Province revealed instructions to investigate an individual who had criticised Xi Jinping in a WeChat group with only eight members. Though the individual had used a pseudonym, the instructions identified his real name, address and phone number.
Print
Email