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In China, control over the Internet space is increasing, because the authorities have begun to check users' pages on social networks. Now not only bloggers, but also their subscribers will be under the supervision of the Chinese authorities. Law enforcement agencies began checking accounts on social media, including Weibo, Wechat and Baidu BBS.
Followers
of popular liberal bloggers in China are being questioned by police as authorities expand their online surveillance network. The Guardian writes about this in early September 2024.
In late 2023, a Chinese university student named Duan used a virtual private network to break through China's internet censorship firewall and download the social media platform Discord. Overnight, he got into a community in which thousands of users with different views discussed political ideas and organized mock elections. People could join the chat room to discuss ideas such as democracy, anarchism, and communism.
All students and members of a discussion group on the Discord platform, which is blocked in China, were summoned for questioning by the Chinese police. Duan claims that he was detained for 24 hours and interrogated about his relationship with the group administrator, VPN use, and comments he made on Discord. Duan says the call from the police was not a complete surprise to him, but he says the intensity of the interrogation took him by surprise. After 24 hours, he was released without charge, but Duan and other subscribers to the group remain concerned about the fate of the group's administrator, who never appeared online.
The incident is just one sign of the growing severity of China's censorship regime, in which even ordinary subscribers to objectionable communities can get into trouble.
China's Ministry of Public Security and the local bureau of investigation handling Duan's case were unable to provide comment to The Guardian. Duane and his fellow idealists online violated one of the Chinese internet's founding principles: Don't build a community, especially one related to politics, even in private.
Punishment for online comments is common in China, where the internet is heavily regulated. In addition to the digital firewall that blocks most internet users from accessing foreign sites such as Google, Facebook and WhatsApp, people who post material on topics that are considered sensitive or critical of the government are often blocked from the sites.
In 2023, a man, Ning Bing, was sentenced to more than two years in prison for posting "inappropriate remarks" and "false information" on the Chinese-language platform X and Pincong.
Even ardent Chinese nationalists do not stand aside. In recent weeks, Hu Xijin, an influential pro-government commentator, has been banned from using social media after he made remarks about China's political trajectory that did not coincide with Xijin's.
In February 2024, Li Ying, who runs a popular Chinese-language account on platform X, posted an urgent notice that his followers in China were being summoned to "drink tea" with the police, which is a scamfeminism for interrogations. Ying urged people to unfollow him and make sure their X accounts don't reveal their personal information. The blogger, who lives in Italy, runs an account called "Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher," where she posts unfiltered news about protests and repression in China that would never have been published in Chinese domestic media.
Two other popular Chinese bloggers, including Wang Zhian, a Chinese journalist living in Japan, also said their followers had been interrogated by police this year. According to Zhian, this is partly due to increased repression — the police have moved from persecuting activists and people operating "on the street" to persecuting those who are online, because much of the activism and dissent is now more deeply hidden.
Strengthening control on the Internet
According to the Ministry of Public Security of China, since 2021, cyber police have begun to open accounts on social media Weibo, Wechat and Baidu BBS. Law enforcement agencies have actively begun to patrol the Internet and receive reports on network users.
These online police officers will monitor the internet around the clock. The authorities assure that in this way they will clean the network from harmful information and incorrect statements. However, according to Reuters, the cyber police will not only be engaged in detecting fraud, gambling and sales of illegal substances (drugs, weapons), but also collecting information about provocateurs, as the Chinese Communist Party calls dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
In a statement, the Ministry of Public Security said, "Cleaning up the internet will create a harmonious, cultural, understandable and vibrant internet." However, most Chinese netizens see the innovation as another measure of the Communist Party to tighten control on the network and strengthen Internet censorship.
Chinese authorities have been known to block access to popular social sites such as Facebook and YouTube. They have long monitored the internet in the background, censoring certain discussions and content, and even arresting those who are too critical of the regime, according to Quartz.
"Internet police are coming out of the background and are starting to conduct regular open inspections and law enforcement actions... to increase the overall sense of security among the Internet community, and satisfy the public," the website of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China says.
Many Chinese users were upset by the appearance of Internet police, according to the Passion Times. Some expressed doubts: how would these cyber policemen control the correctness of statements without "civil speech" laws? One netizen joked that China's internet is becoming a "local network" and that new government policies are forcing users to go back to newspapers and books. Some have even said that the authorities want to establish full-scale mind control, as in North Korea.
Followers
of popular liberal bloggers in China are being questioned by police as authorities expand their online surveillance network. The Guardian writes about this in early September 2024.
In late 2023, a Chinese university student named Duan used a virtual private network to break through China's internet censorship firewall and download the social media platform Discord. Overnight, he got into a community in which thousands of users with different views discussed political ideas and organized mock elections. People could join the chat room to discuss ideas such as democracy, anarchism, and communism.
All students and members of a discussion group on the Discord platform, which is blocked in China, were summoned for questioning by the Chinese police. Duan claims that he was detained for 24 hours and interrogated about his relationship with the group administrator, VPN use, and comments he made on Discord. Duan says the call from the police was not a complete surprise to him, but he says the intensity of the interrogation took him by surprise. After 24 hours, he was released without charge, but Duan and other subscribers to the group remain concerned about the fate of the group's administrator, who never appeared online.
The incident is just one sign of the growing severity of China's censorship regime, in which even ordinary subscribers to objectionable communities can get into trouble.
China's Ministry of Public Security and the local bureau of investigation handling Duan's case were unable to provide comment to The Guardian. Duane and his fellow idealists online violated one of the Chinese internet's founding principles: Don't build a community, especially one related to politics, even in private.
Punishment for online comments is common in China, where the internet is heavily regulated. In addition to the digital firewall that blocks most internet users from accessing foreign sites such as Google, Facebook and WhatsApp, people who post material on topics that are considered sensitive or critical of the government are often blocked from the sites.
In 2023, a man, Ning Bing, was sentenced to more than two years in prison for posting "inappropriate remarks" and "false information" on the Chinese-language platform X and Pincong.
Even ardent Chinese nationalists do not stand aside. In recent weeks, Hu Xijin, an influential pro-government commentator, has been banned from using social media after he made remarks about China's political trajectory that did not coincide with Xijin's.
In February 2024, Li Ying, who runs a popular Chinese-language account on platform X, posted an urgent notice that his followers in China were being summoned to "drink tea" with the police, which is a scamfeminism for interrogations. Ying urged people to unfollow him and make sure their X accounts don't reveal their personal information. The blogger, who lives in Italy, runs an account called "Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher," where she posts unfiltered news about protests and repression in China that would never have been published in Chinese domestic media.
Two other popular Chinese bloggers, including Wang Zhian, a Chinese journalist living in Japan, also said their followers had been interrogated by police this year. According to Zhian, this is partly due to increased repression — the police have moved from persecuting activists and people operating "on the street" to persecuting those who are online, because much of the activism and dissent is now more deeply hidden.
Strengthening control on the Internet
According to the Ministry of Public Security of China, since 2021, cyber police have begun to open accounts on social media Weibo, Wechat and Baidu BBS. Law enforcement agencies have actively begun to patrol the Internet and receive reports on network users.
These online police officers will monitor the internet around the clock. The authorities assure that in this way they will clean the network from harmful information and incorrect statements. However, according to Reuters, the cyber police will not only be engaged in detecting fraud, gambling and sales of illegal substances (drugs, weapons), but also collecting information about provocateurs, as the Chinese Communist Party calls dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
In a statement, the Ministry of Public Security said, "Cleaning up the internet will create a harmonious, cultural, understandable and vibrant internet." However, most Chinese netizens see the innovation as another measure of the Communist Party to tighten control on the network and strengthen Internet censorship.
Chinese authorities have been known to block access to popular social sites such as Facebook and YouTube. They have long monitored the internet in the background, censoring certain discussions and content, and even arresting those who are too critical of the regime, according to Quartz.
"Internet police are coming out of the background and are starting to conduct regular open inspections and law enforcement actions... to increase the overall sense of security among the Internet community, and satisfy the public," the website of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China says.
Many Chinese users were upset by the appearance of Internet police, according to the Passion Times. Some expressed doubts: how would these cyber policemen control the correctness of statements without "civil speech" laws? One netizen joked that China's internet is becoming a "local network" and that new government policies are forcing users to go back to newspapers and books. Some have even said that the authorities want to establish full-scale mind control, as in North Korea.
