China’s Great Digital Wall is moving from being just a barrier to content from outside the country to becoming a barrier to foreigners as well. The EU must react.
In the late 1990s, as Silicon Valley began to collapse from the dot-com bubble, many Chinese coastal cities saw their world-famous tech giants come into being. But instead of becoming global competitors of the likes of Apple, Google and Co., Chinese technology platforms looked inward to strengthen their “walled gardens,” closed ecosystems in which the provider has control over content and content standards. participation with the aim of creating a monopoly. Now it looks like they are going to fragment the global internet by making the Chinese less anonymous and more exclusive.
International users of Chinese web platforms are finding these internet services less and less accessible. Contrary to the global convention of linking user accounts to email addresses, Chinese platforms ask users to register with their mobile phone numbers. This practice allows platforms to filter access by nationality, and is partly a consequence of internet usage in China being driven by mobile devices. Often, would-be users can only register with certain phone number prefixes, and sometimes only Chinese numbers.
Limit access to Chinese online services by phone codes:
1. Chinese prefixes only; 2. Up to 100 countries; 3. Between 100 and 200 countries; 4. More than 200 countries. Source: MERICS
International users also have a harder time accessing some Chinese websites. Websites around the world use so-called geo-blocking to restrict access to subscribers in certain regions: BBC content, for example, is only available in the UK. But there are more and more evidence that Chinese websites, both commercial and government, have started to geo-block foreigners’ access to strategic and political resources online, possibly not only by detecting the IP addresses of the device, but also its system of encryption.
Internet access for foreigners in China is increasingly difficult
To give an example, in November 2022 a group of American lawyers complained that access to the website of the People’s Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China was blocked from the United States, Australia and other countries. And regular foreign users of Chinese web and apps in general have recently become familiar with phrases such as “at present, only mobile phone numbers from mainland China are supported for login”, “403 Forbidden – reason: GeoBL.”either “Our website is not available for use outside of mainland China” that appear on the screens of their devices.
When foreign users are welcomed, they must go through complex registration processes and are often asked to provide their real names and information relating to their identity or that of others. On WeChat, for example, new users must nominate at least two existing users to verify their request. Chinese regulators appear to have expanded his campaign of “mandatory registration of the real name, but voluntary registration of the username” to users around the world, with the aim of objective of ensuring the accountability of all users in its “clean and healthy cyberspace”.
Chinese internet platforms are helping the digital Great Wall stop being a barrier to content from outside the country and also become a barrier that prevents the entry of strangers. Beijing’s control and surveillance system for managing the internet within China is as old as your tech companies, but the interests of both do not necessarily always coincide. The world’s most advanced censorship apparatus forces them to act as censors and gatekeepers, thereby transforming the walled gardens of the Chinese internet into a fortified playground for outsiders.
This is a problem for millions of Chinese emigrants, as well as for thousands of professional, academic and social networks around the world. Joining or staying on Chinese apps or even accessing websites exposes them to state surveillance, violations of their privacy, and fines or bans for acts deemed politically unwanted. Visitors to an online forum for networks of critical migrants have already been attacked. The New York Times reported that some Chinese platforms display the IP addresses of foreign users. “Chinese who publish from abroad […] are now easy targets for influencers nationalists, whose followers harass them or denounce their accounts.”
The EU must stop focusing only on curbing US technology
EU law does not offer any real protection. The recent Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts (DSA and DMA) are meant to tackle the monopolistic tendencies of US tech giants, not the virtual walled garden being built in China. It is clear that Brussels has to react. Chinese platforms accessible from Europe should only be able to require identification if a certain service requires it. Chinese companies’ real name registration rules violate the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) if it is not necessary to provide their services and therefore should be reviewed.
Ironically, as China pushes for fragmentation outside its digital Great Wall, it mistrusts fragmentation within. The calls superapps traditional multifunctionals have established strong locking mechanisms such as paid functions or closed communication channels. Beijing has taken steps to ensure greater interoperability, such as facilitating cross-platform messaging. But a new form of technical fragmentation is coming in the form of exclusive programs for different platforms, the so-called mini-programs and quick appsavailable only in special app stores.
Fragmentation on both sides of the digital Great Wall is in conflict with Beijing’s vision of a global “community of common future in cyberspace”. Although China deters foreign users and suffers from technical fragmentation at home, the State Council recently stressed that the country wants to promote openness and cooperation and create open, fair and non-discriminatory ecosystems. The future of the internet and China’s role in shaping it remain uncertain. It will be crucial to find a balance between your need for control and your interest in opening up.
Article originally published in English on the Web of MERICS.
