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The Chinese authorities are persecuting Internet activists.
In China, there is a tightening of Internet censorship measures. The country's authorities began to persecute not only activists and bloggers, but also ordinary users of foreign social networks.
Late last year, a Chinese student named Duan installed a VPN to bypass the Great Firewall of China and signed up for Discord. On this platform, he found a community of thousands of members discussing various political ideas and holding virtual elections. Users could freely discuss the topics of democracy, anarchism, and communism.
Duan's interest in this community arose after watching a video by popular vlogger Yang Minghao, known as MHYYYYY. Ian talked about the Discord chat and expressed his desire to see how far this community can go "without outside interference".
However, already in July, Duan and several other members of the Discord group were summoned for questioning by the police. Duan was detained for a day after being asked about his ties to Yang, VPN use, and comments on Discord. After his release, Duan and Yang's other subscribers expressed concern about the fate of the vlogger, who had stopped getting in touch since the end of July.
The incident is just one example of increased censorship in China, where even ordinary followers of unpopular accounts can come under scrutiny from the authorities. Maya Wang, deputy director for China at Human Rights Watch, noted the unprecedented nature of such interrogations of influencers' subscribers.
China's Ministry of Public Security and the local public security bureau that handled Duan's case did not comment. However, it is clear that Duan and his associates have violated one of the basic rules of the Chinese Internet: not to form communities, especially political ones, even in private chat rooms.
Penalties for online comments are common in China, where the internet is tightly controlled. In addition to the digital firewall that blocks access to foreign sites like Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp, people who post about topics deemed sensitive or critical of the government often face account suspensions or more serious consequences.
Last year, for example, a man named Ning Bing was sentenced to more than two years in prison for posting "inappropriate remarks" and "false information" on the X and Pincong platforms. Even supporters of nationalist views are not immune. In recent weeks, influential pro-government commentator Hu Xijin appears to have been blocked on social media after comments about China's political course that were not in line with Beijing's official position.
Duan admitted that the police call was expected, but the intensity of the interrogation surprised him. "It turns out that even complaints in a group chat on foreign software are prohibited", he said.
In February, Li Ying, who runs a popular account on the X platform, posted an "urgent notice" that his followers in China were being summoned to "drink tea" at the police — a euphemism for interrogations. He urged his readers to unfollow him and hide personal information in profiles.
Lee, who lives in Italy and runs an account called "Teacher Li is not your teacher", shares uncensored news about protests and repression in China that are never covered in the official Chinese media. According to him, the police began to summon for questioning all users registered with Chinese phone numbers, demanding to unsubscribe from his account. Pressure was even exerted on relatives of Chinese living abroad.
Similar cases were recorded by other popular Chinese bloggers, including journalist Wang Zhian, who lives in Japan. Experts attribute the intensification of repression to the transition of dissidents' activity to the online space.
In December last year, Li Tong, a spokesman for the cybersecurity bureau of China's Ministry of Public Security, declared 2024 "the year of a special campaign to combat internet rumors". Local authorities actively supported this initiative: in July, Guangdong province reported that more than a thousand cases related to "Internet rumors" and "Internet trolls" were being considered.
Human rights activist William Farris noted that such campaigns are an "annual or semi-annual tradition". Similar campaigns have been announced every year since 2013. In several court rulings against people punished for their online activity, the authorities also paid attention to who these people follow. In 2019, a man named Jian Kun was sentenced to eight months in prison for posts in X, with the court noting that he subscribed to "certain anti-Chinese forces" on the platform.
Discussions of repression on the Discord platform are widely discussed on the Internet, in forums blocked by the Chinese firewall. One Reddit user wrote: "I sincerely hope that all those who have lost touch will be able to return to normal life. We will meet again, in a place where there is no darkness!"
* Names have been changed.
Source
In China, there is a tightening of Internet censorship measures. The country's authorities began to persecute not only activists and bloggers, but also ordinary users of foreign social networks.
Late last year, a Chinese student named Duan installed a VPN to bypass the Great Firewall of China and signed up for Discord. On this platform, he found a community of thousands of members discussing various political ideas and holding virtual elections. Users could freely discuss the topics of democracy, anarchism, and communism.
Duan's interest in this community arose after watching a video by popular vlogger Yang Minghao, known as MHYYYYY. Ian talked about the Discord chat and expressed his desire to see how far this community can go "without outside interference".
However, already in July, Duan and several other members of the Discord group were summoned for questioning by the police. Duan was detained for a day after being asked about his ties to Yang, VPN use, and comments on Discord. After his release, Duan and Yang's other subscribers expressed concern about the fate of the vlogger, who had stopped getting in touch since the end of July.
The incident is just one example of increased censorship in China, where even ordinary followers of unpopular accounts can come under scrutiny from the authorities. Maya Wang, deputy director for China at Human Rights Watch, noted the unprecedented nature of such interrogations of influencers' subscribers.
China's Ministry of Public Security and the local public security bureau that handled Duan's case did not comment. However, it is clear that Duan and his associates have violated one of the basic rules of the Chinese Internet: not to form communities, especially political ones, even in private chat rooms.
Penalties for online comments are common in China, where the internet is tightly controlled. In addition to the digital firewall that blocks access to foreign sites like Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp, people who post about topics deemed sensitive or critical of the government often face account suspensions or more serious consequences.
Last year, for example, a man named Ning Bing was sentenced to more than two years in prison for posting "inappropriate remarks" and "false information" on the X and Pincong platforms. Even supporters of nationalist views are not immune. In recent weeks, influential pro-government commentator Hu Xijin appears to have been blocked on social media after comments about China's political course that were not in line with Beijing's official position.
Duan admitted that the police call was expected, but the intensity of the interrogation surprised him. "It turns out that even complaints in a group chat on foreign software are prohibited", he said.
In February, Li Ying, who runs a popular account on the X platform, posted an "urgent notice" that his followers in China were being summoned to "drink tea" at the police — a euphemism for interrogations. He urged his readers to unfollow him and hide personal information in profiles.
Lee, who lives in Italy and runs an account called "Teacher Li is not your teacher", shares uncensored news about protests and repression in China that are never covered in the official Chinese media. According to him, the police began to summon for questioning all users registered with Chinese phone numbers, demanding to unsubscribe from his account. Pressure was even exerted on relatives of Chinese living abroad.
Similar cases were recorded by other popular Chinese bloggers, including journalist Wang Zhian, who lives in Japan. Experts attribute the intensification of repression to the transition of dissidents' activity to the online space.
In December last year, Li Tong, a spokesman for the cybersecurity bureau of China's Ministry of Public Security, declared 2024 "the year of a special campaign to combat internet rumors". Local authorities actively supported this initiative: in July, Guangdong province reported that more than a thousand cases related to "Internet rumors" and "Internet trolls" were being considered.
Human rights activist William Farris noted that such campaigns are an "annual or semi-annual tradition". Similar campaigns have been announced every year since 2013. In several court rulings against people punished for their online activity, the authorities also paid attention to who these people follow. In 2019, a man named Jian Kun was sentenced to eight months in prison for posts in X, with the court noting that he subscribed to "certain anti-Chinese forces" on the platform.
Discussions of repression on the Discord platform are widely discussed on the Internet, in forums blocked by the Chinese firewall. One Reddit user wrote: "I sincerely hope that all those who have lost touch will be able to return to normal life. We will meet again, in a place where there is no darkness!"
* Names have been changed.
Source
