A Global Digital Divide? Analysts Say It All Began in 2003
Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:07 pmWhen China launched a fresh campaign late last month to crack down on the social media accounts of independent news providers, it was just the latest push in Beijing’s ongoing efforts to police online speech.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said the nationwide campaign would try to “facilitate the healthy and orderly development of self-[published] media.”
The campaign is targeting commercial websites and social media accounts that “illegally write news items and repost news articles from untrusted sources,” according to the administration.
FILE - A picture illustration shows a WeChat app icon in Beijing, Dec. 5, 2013.
Since then, authorities have removed many WeChat accounts and online independent articles that discuss news, current affairs and social issues.
Analysts say the latest crackdown on the internet gives the government total control over online speech, resulting in some of the strictest internet controls in the world.
Chinese activists and journalists say the roots of the current approach can be traced to 2003.
Dividing point
Cheng Yizhong, founder and former editor-in-chief of Southern Metropolis Daily, said 2003 was an important year for China because it marked the start of the country’s orchestrated internet controls, which dramatically reshaped what Chinese citizens can see and read online.
FILE - Cheng Yizhong delivers a speech in Beijing, Nov. 8, 2003.
Cheng was arrested and detained for four months in 2003 because of his extensive reporting on the death of Sun Zhigang, a young migrant worker from Hubei province who was beaten to death in police custody in Guangdong Province after being detained for not having a valid residence card. When Cheng was released from jail, the online world in China had changed.
“Before I was detained in April [in 2003], I could access all foreign websites; I remember posting articles online and gathering support for Sun Zhigang. But when I came out in August, everything was blocked.”
He told VOA, “What does that mean? It means in half a year, China has erected a firewall to block all information abroad. It’s a big change.”
He added that the Sun Zhigang incident made the Chinese Communist Party appreciate the power of the internet and caused its members to realize “it must be controlled.”
FILE - Chinese President Hu Jintao waves to well-wishers after arriving in Macau, Dec. 19, 2004.
By 2004, then-Chinese President Hu Jintao was openly saying that China should study Cuba and North Korea to learn more about how to shape the public’s political opinions.
In an instruction to media outlets all over the country, Hu stressed that “although North Korea’s economy is experiencing temporary difficulties, politically it is always correct.”
Teng Biao, a prominent Chinese human rights activist and lawyer, told VOA he’s not surprised at this new round of tightening.
“The essence of China’s internet control is the control of speech and information. If self-media are talking about things other than what the official news channels say, then it will erode the foundation of the Communist Party control,” he said.
“2003 was known as the year of human rights movement in China and the internet was such a big part of it,” Teng said.
FILE - A paramilitary policeman stands guard in front of a screen displaying propaganda slogans on a deserted Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Nov. 15, 2012.
Increasing censorship
Analysts say the control over speech has increased since Xi Jinping came to power.
“The control of media is always here,” said veteran journalist Cheng Yizhong, “but now it’s more strict, more systematic, more widespread.”
He added that he’s pessimistic for the outlook of independent commentators, writers and scholars who self-publish in China. “They have no future,” the journalist said.
“Now, all departments have the right to conduct censorship; most of the time, a post needs to go through the internet police. Major posts have to go through secondary censors. It’s impossible to relax the control even a little bit,” said Liu Lipeng, a former internet censor who worked in a government censorship office for more than 10 years.