Internet censorship in China | The Great Firewall of China | SHIFT

Summary

The video explores the unique landscape of China's internet, shaped by strict censorship and the dominance of domestic tech giants like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent. These companies replace Western platforms such as Google and Facebook, offering alternatives like WeChat, Weibo, and Douyin (TikTok). Despite government control, China's internet is vibrant in areas like live-streaming and mobile payments. However, extensive surveillance and content moderation, often automated, limit political discourse. While innovation thrives, the high level of state control raises concerns about digital authoritarianism and censorship.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Over 800 million people in China use the internet, but it's vastly different from the rest of the world due to restrictions and censorship.
• 🚫 Platforms like Facebook and Google are blocked in China, with local tech giants Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent dominating the industry.
• 🔍 Baidu replaces Google for search, Alibaba leads in e-commerce, and Tencent's WeChat is more popular than Facebook, offering a range of services including mobile payments.
• 💳 WeChat Pay is widely used in China, replacing cash in everyday transactions such as grocery shopping and doctor appointments.
• 📱 Chinese apps like Douyin (TikTok) and Billy Billy are innovative leaders in video streaming and social networking, with millions of users.
• 🚨 China's government closely monitors and censors online content using AI and human moderators, blocking foreign websites and filtering content before it reaches the public.
• 🖼️ Image recognition software and algorithms are used to block sensitive content in real time, such as photos that the government deems inappropriate or politically sensitive.
• 👮 Surveillance in China, especially in regions like Xinjiang, is extensive, with personal data being collected and monitored to control dissent and track behavior.
• 📲 The Communist Party uses technology and apps like 'Xuexi Qiangguo' to promote propaganda and enforce political loyalty through gamified incentives.
• 🤐 Despite strict censorship, some online political debate and criticism are possible in China, though discussions about specific leaders or organizing collective action are heavily restricted and censored.

Q & A

What are the main tech giants in China, and what services do they replace?

The main tech giants in China are Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, also known as BAT. Baidu replaces Google, Alibaba is dominant in e-commerce, and Tencent is more popular than Facebook.

What are some alternatives to popular Western apps in China?

In China, Baidu is used instead of Google Maps, Weibo instead of Twitter, and WeChat instead of WhatsApp. Additionally, Chinese users use platforms like iQiyi and Youku for video streaming, replacing YouTube and Netflix.

How do Chinese internet users differ from European users in adopting new technologies?

Chinese internet users are considered fast adopters of new platforms and technologies. For example, WeChat, a super app used for social networking and mobile payments, has more than 1 billion monthly users.

What is the role of WeChat in China's internet ecosystem?

WeChat is central to daily life in China. It is not only a social networking platform but also the leading mobile payment service. Users can use WeChat to pay in supermarkets, restaurants, book doctor appointments, and more.

How does content moderation work in China?

In China, content moderation is referred to as content management. Domestic companies like WeChat use algorithms to preemptively delete sensitive content before it reaches the public, ensuring compliance with government regulations.

What is the Great Firewall of China, and how does it function?

The Great Firewall of China is a vast system that filters and blocks foreign websites and content deemed non-compliant with Chinese government regulations. Traffic must pass through a limited number of servers, making it easier for the government to block foreign sites like Google and Wikipedia.

How does the Chinese government use AI and human moderation to monitor live streaming?

The Chinese government uses a combination of AI and over 1,000 human content managers to monitor live streams. They look for violations like pornography, violence, or even smaller infractions like smoking or showing large tattoos.

How has political censorship on the internet changed under Xi Jinping's leadership?

Under Xi Jinping, political censorship has increased significantly. The internet in China has become much more politically quiet, though it remains commercially vibrant and culturally innovative. Sensitive content, particularly political dissent, is heavily censored.

What role does technology play in government surveillance in China?

The Chinese government uses various technological tools for surveillance, including apps that track citizens' activities and data. For instance, police in the Xinjiang region use an app that collects extensive personal data and flags individuals deemed suspicious.

Is political debate possible on the Chinese internet?

While political debate is possible to some extent, it is highly limited. Criticism of general policies is allowed, but mentioning specific leaders or organizing collective actions increases the likelihood of censorship.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 China's Unique Digital Ecosystem

In China, over 800 million people use the internet, but the experience is vastly different from other parts of the world. Platforms like Google, Facebook, and Apple are blocked, while Chinese tech giants Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent dominate the digital landscape. These companies provide services similar to their Western counterparts, such as Baidu for search, Alibaba for e-commerce, and Tencent's WeChat for social networking. However, these platforms are more than just copies, leading innovations in areas like live-streaming and mobile payments. Professor Daniela Stockman highlights how Chinese users quickly adopt new technologies, with WeChat being a central hub for daily activities, from social connections to making payments.

05:01

🔒 Preemptive Censorship in Chinese Digital Platforms

Chinese internet services face censorship even before reaching the public. Human rights activist Xiao Qiang explains how domestic platforms, like WeChat, proactively delete politically sensitive content to comply with government regulations. University of Toronto's Citizen Lab discovered that images and content considered politically sensitive, such as the image of an empty chair commemorating a human rights activist, are automatically blocked from being shared on WeChat. This preemptive censorship is driven by algorithms and image recognition software, showcasing China's sophisticated control of online discourse. Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, political content has been significantly silenced, though commercial and cultural activities remain vibrant.

10:02

📲 China's Digital Authoritarianism and Surveillance

The Chinese government not only moderates online content but also uses technology for political control. The Communist Party’s app 'Study to Make the Nation Strong' has become a tool for spreading Xi Jinping's ideologies, rewarding users for engaging with propaganda content. Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong criticizes this as digital authoritarianism. In Xinjiang, technology enables extensive state surveillance of the Uyghur Muslim minority. Data from everyday activities like energy use and movements are monitored to identify potential threats, with over 1 million Uyghurs detained. Additionally, foreigners entering China may have their devices scanned for sensitive content. Despite these measures, online dissent remains possible through platforms like Weibo, though criticism of specific leaders is more likely to be censored.

Keywords

💡Chinese Firewall

The 'Chinese Firewall' refers to China's vast system of internet censorship that controls access to foreign websites and content. It shields the Chinese population from information that the government deems harmful or politically sensitive. The firewall blocks platforms like Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia, ensuring that Chinese users primarily rely on domestic alternatives. This is central to the video as it explores how the internet behind the firewall is distinct from the global internet.

💡Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent (BAT)

Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, collectively known as 'BAT,' are the tech giants that dominate the Chinese internet. These companies replace their Western counterparts—Baidu substitutes Google, Alibaba serves as the e-commerce giant, and Tencent's platforms like WeChat rival Facebook and WhatsApp. The video emphasizes that these companies are not mere copies but are leaders in innovation, especially in areas like live-streaming and online payments.

💡WeChat

WeChat is a super app developed by Tencent and is essential for daily life in China. Beyond messaging, it integrates various services like mobile payments, social media, and even booking doctor appointments. The video highlights WeChat's role in shaping Chinese internet culture, especially its dominance over mobile payments, where cash is becoming obsolete. Its social networking model also emphasizes building social connections, known as 'guanxi.'

💡Content Moderation

Content moderation refers to the process of monitoring and controlling the information that appears online. In China, platforms like WeChat use AI and human reviewers to preemptively censor content before it reaches the public, ensuring that it aligns with government regulations. This is a critical point in the video, as it discusses how Chinese companies comply with government demands by managing content in a way that suppresses dissent and politically sensitive information.

💡Surveillance

Surveillance in China, especially in the Xinjiang region, is deeply integrated into the digital landscape. The Chinese government uses technology to monitor its citizens closely, including facial recognition, tracking of energy consumption, and monitoring of communications. The video describes how this extensive surveillance infrastructure, including apps installed on visitors' smartphones, flags individuals deemed 'suspicious,' contributing to state control and suppression of minorities like the Uyghurs.

💡Mobile Payments

Mobile payments in China are largely driven by platforms like WeChat Pay and Alipay. The video emphasizes that cash is rarely used anymore, with digital payment systems now integrated into nearly every aspect of commerce, from grocery shopping to restaurants. China's advancement in mobile payment technologies positions it as a global leader, showcasing how its internet culture has evolved beyond Western norms.

💡Live Streaming

Live streaming has become a significant cultural and economic force in China's digital landscape. Platforms such as Douyin (known globally as TikTok) and Bilibili offer users interactive experiences, including features like real-time commenting on videos. The video illustrates how live streaming in China has evolved into a major industry, with companies like Youku boasting millions of active users and stringent content moderation policies.

💡Digital Authoritarianism

Digital authoritarianism refers to the use of technology to control and suppress citizens. In China, this is exemplified by government apps like 'Study Xi, Make China Strong,' which propagates the Communist Party's views while simultaneously serving as a surveillance tool. The video highlights concerns raised by activists like Joshua Wong, who see these apps as a means of manipulating and monitoring the population under the guise of civic education.

💡Guanxi

'Guanxi' refers to the system of social connections and relationships that are highly valued in Chinese culture. WeChat, as mentioned in the video, was originally designed to facilitate guanxi by helping users build and maintain social ties. This emphasis on social networking is a distinctive aspect of China's internet compared to the more information-focused platforms in the West.

💡Xinjiang Surveillance

Xinjiang is a region in northwest China where state surveillance is most intense, particularly targeting the Uyghur Muslim minority. The video explains how the Chinese government uses technology, such as the Integrated Joint Operations Platform, to collect detailed personal data, from religious affiliations to energy consumption, in order to monitor and control this population. This region serves as a 'testing ground' for the future of digital state surveillance in China.

Highlights

Over 800 million people use the internet in China, but platforms like Facebook and Google are blocked.

China has its own tech giants: Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, which dominate the local internet industry.

Baidu replaces Google for search, Alibaba dominates e-commerce, and Tencent's WeChat is more popular than Facebook.

Chinese internet users are fast adopters of new platforms, contributing to rapid digital trends in China.

WeChat has over 1 billion monthly users and is central to daily life, including social networking, mobile payments, and even doctor appointments.

Video streaming platforms like Douyin (TikTok), Bilibili, and Tencent Video have become extremely popular, attracting millions of users.

The Chinese government enforces strict content control through AI and human moderators to censor inappropriate content such as pornography or politically sensitive material.

China's 'Great Firewall' blocks foreign websites like Google, Wikipedia, and many others, creating an isolated internet ecosystem.

Chinese platforms engage in preemptive censorship, with algorithms screening images and messages to block restricted content before it reaches the public.

WeChat’s censorship is highly automated, capable of recognizing and blocking images in real time that might be politically sensitive.

Under Xi Jinping, online political discussions in China have been heavily silenced, even as cultural and commercial online activity remains vibrant.

The Chinese Communist Party uses apps like Xuexi Qiangguo, a political education tool, to spread propaganda and monitor citizen behavior.

The surveillance system in Xinjiang monitors Muslim minorities, with advanced technologies tracking individuals' behaviors and movements.

Foreigners entering China may have their phones scanned for suspicious content, further extending the surveillance apparatus.

Despite heavy censorship, some political debate and social critique are still possible online, though discussing specific leaders is highly sensitive.

Transcripts

over 800 million people use the internet

in China but things look a lot different

there than elsewhere Facebook and Google

are blocked for example what's the

internet like behind the Chinese

firewall our topic today unship most of

the world uses products from Google

Apple Facebook and Amazon or Gotha but

not China there are three homegrown tech

giant's dominate the industry they're

called

Baidu Alibaba and ten cent also known

sbat

in China Baidu replaces Google Alibaba

is for e-commerce and $0.10 is more

popular than Facebook is here but that's

not all

Baidu is map service instead of Google

Maps way go instead of Twitter and

WeChat instead of whatsapp in China they

are separate providers for almost every

online service available in the West but

they're far more than just copies

in many fields like live-streaming and

online payment Chinese providers have

become global leaders daniela Stockman

is a professor at the Hattie school of

governance in Berlin and an expert on

China's Digital Trends

she says users play a big role in these

developments one main difference between

Chinese users and European users is that

Chinese Internet users are fast adopters

so when there is a new platform they

will immediately go and try it out

WeChat alone has more than 1 billion

users a month

WeChat Pei is the leading mobile payment

service it works in supermarkets and at

restaurants hardly anyone uses cash in

China anymore users can even book doctor

appointments WeChat is like a super app

without it getting around in China isn't

easy social media platforms like WeChat

for example emphasize less the

distribution of information but more

social networking so we check was

invented as a means to develop what's

called in China Guang see social

connections video streaming services are

especially popular in China instead of

YouTube and Netflix $0.10 video iqiyi

and yaku are popular platforms for short

videos that lasts around 15 seconds are

flooded with 800 million visitors each

month the current market leader is pie

dance with a program dou yi ng outside

of China we know it as tick tock

another innovation - video streaming is

on the platform Billy Billy user

comments are displayed live as the video

plays things are trending more and more

towards live streaming the market leader

Yong ku counts 25 million active users

every month and the company takes user

supervision very seriously with the help

of AI more than 1,000 human content

managers monitor streams for violations

they look for pornography depictions of

violence and calls to violence but

smoking on screen or showing large

tattoos could also get your account

blocked the Chinese state has started

much earlier than us-based and European

platforms to develop a vast

institutional infrastructure in order to

control and censor content in the West

this is called content moderation in

China they call it content management

but China doesn't stop at moderating

content it's created an enormous

firewall to shield its users from the

rest of the digital world this comes in

handy for many Chinese platforms because

it eliminates foreign competition but it

also makes it easier to Silas

uncomfortable opinions how does it all

work it is basically a huge vast

Ethernet connection that is connected by

a very few servers to the global

Internet

and because all traffic has to go

through these servers the Chinese

government is able to block certain

content in China foreign websites are

mostly inaccessible when the content is

seen is not conforming to Chinese

government regulations their IP

addresses are simply blocked that

applies to Google the most used search

engine in the world as well as the user

administered online encyclopedia

Wikipedia and even Deutsche fellas

websites

Chinese online services are usually

censored before they even reach the

public Xiao Qiang is familiar with this

phenomenon

he's a human rights activist and

editor-in-chief of the China digital

times the advantage of those Chinese

domestic companies are they promised the

government they have a capacity to

censor and control online contents that

so they will not they will listen to the

government and they were actually

preemptively deleting l'anima contents

before the internet police even take a

look the messaging app WeChat can use

algorithms to prevent the transfer of

photos in real time Canada's University

of Toronto citizen lab found this out

the image of an empty chair

commemorating a dead human rights

activist simply doesn't go through to

chat partners in China so if I upload a

picture to share with a friend it's

immediately compared to a database if it

raises concern there the picture is

simply not sent the whole process is

completely automated with image

recognition software while it's

technically fascinating the socio

political consequences are terrifying

chou-heung says online censorship has

massively increased under general

secretary Xi Jinping now the Chinese

Internet is much more a politically

quiet place it's still commercially very

vibrant and culturally still full of

activities and innovations but on the

last its political edge intense

surveillance has all but politically

silenced China's internet but the

government is not satisfied with just

blocking and filtering out unwanted

opinions it also keeps looking for new

ways to use technology to its advantage

the Communist Party of China has its own

app and it's been especially successful

digital politics the Communist Party of

China keeps citizens in line with a

little red

in the beginning of 2019 Sushi's jungle

which means as much as study to make the

nation strong was the most downloaded

app in China even more than we chat and

Liu Yin the propaganda tool spreads the

views of the general secretary of the

communist party Xi Jinping users must

register with a telephone number and

their real names in order to study

political articles to comment or to

solve little puzzles they rewarded

coupons and prizes

just like in mobile games Hong Kong

activist Joshua Wong is critical of the

way millions of Chinese people are

directly manipulated in this way he says

the voluntary civic education platform

is a surveillance tool this have just

implied the rise of digital operate

arianism in China and it shows how the

communist regime will lose their digital

and mobile application to promote its

propaganda and ideology the wiggers are

Muslim minority in northwest China they

are being monitored very closely the Xin

Jiang region is like a testing ground

for total state surveillance police

officers can login to what's called the

integrated joint operation platform the

program collects extensive personal data

and Flags individuals who appear

potentially dangerous the organization

Human Rights Watch analyzed the program

on its surface most of this information

looks like standard fare for police but

as we dig deeper into the app we can see

that ordinary routine legal behavior is

being treated by authorities as suspect

the data gathered and citizens is

shockingly comprehensive it includes

information ranging from religious

affiliations and driver's licenses to

employment records it even gathers data

on residential energy consumption

movement patterns are filmed by the

ever-present surveillance cameras if

something appears out of the ordinary

consequences can be devastating for

example it's helped single out and

detain approximately 1 million people

from the Uighur minority

recent studies show that the state is

not only monitoring residents but also

foreigners who enter the country by land

at the border police installed an app on

their smartphones that scans contacts

images videos and voice messages for

certain keywords there are 73,000 terms

team suspicious even the picture of a

mosque could raise eyebrows in other

Chinese regions surveillance is not as

massive here the Internet can also pose

a great opportunity dissent is possible

in theory as long as you stick to

certain rules one way to start online

discussions and spread news is Weibo

it's similar to Twitter and is China's

largest micro blogging platform when

they use wave or they're using it as a

means to come out with new stories that

then often are picked up and go viral

and they're picked up by market based

media and then funneled into the center

of public discourse one example is a

discussion over working hours that the

founders of the startup dimension have

kicked off

they developed encryption software but

on the side they engaged in the fight

against the heavy workloads in the tech

industry the so-called nine nine six

phenomenon working from 9:00 in the

morning till 9:00 in the evening six

days a week is a violation of Chinese

labor laws

they also speak with successful

businessman like Alibaba founder Jack Ma

who compares work to love despite all

this it's very important to them to not

be perceived as political activists

here's what they had to say in an

interview the first question he asked me

is are you a leftist I I said like I

reply this okay what is the factors

despite various barriers online

political debate is possible in China to

a certain extent Chinese Internet users

are incredibly politically active and

they can criticize policies specific

leaders becomes more sensitive because

as soon as you mention a specific person

by name topics become more sensitive and

if you organize collective action the

chances are that your information your

messages will be removed when we look at

the internet behind China's firewall we

get a glimpse into the future there's

live streaming and mobile payment but

there's also far-reaching surveillance

and heavy state control users and

platforms alike are quick to censor

themselves to avoid sanctions this makes

a free and open democratic discussion

practically impossible behind China's

firewall the internet culture and

economy are surprisingly dynamic vibrant

and diverse but personally the price I'd

have to pay for that would be too high

for me what do you guys think

tell us on YouTube Facebook anti w.com

that's all for today take care and see

you next time

you

[Music]