China Presses Its Internet Censorship Efforts Across the Globe
Beijing had long been content to block foreign internet companies and police the homegrown alternatives
that sprouted up to take their place, but it is now directly pressuring individuals or requesting that companies cooperate with its online censorship efforts.
Mr. Mei called for a crackdown on tweets that “defame the party, Chinese leaders, and related national strategies.”
Sometimes, Chinese people also push foreign companies to censor themselves in the country, nurtured by sentiments on China’s propaganda channels.
Mr. Zhang’s case is one of the first-known examples of Chinese authorities using conversations from a non-Chinese chat app as evidence — and it sends a warning to those on the American platform, which is encrypted,
that they could also be held accountable for what’s said there.
“The fact that China is punishing people for critical content published outside China
to audiences not based in China is of course a concern,” said Mr. Rosenzweig
“I personally am not sure what the solution is for these companies,” said Mr. Rosenzweig.
As Mr. Xi asserts himself and the primacy of Chinese geopolitical power, China has also
become more comfortable projecting Mr. Xi’s vision of a tightly controlled internet.
Now, it is increasingly going beyond its own online realms to police what people and companies are saying about it all over the world.
For years, China has exerted digital control with a system of internet filters known
as the Great Firewall, which allows authorities to limit what people see online.
