In the online era, it’s easy to fall into the belief that all information is at our fingertips and that each and that social media has given us access to an online platform on which we are free to say anything. However, the as the internet and its usership grows, so do these freedoms of access and speech become more and more regulated and arguably restrained.
When thinking about internet censorship, for many the first thing that comes to mind is China’s notoriously strict control over what sites can be accessed by Chinese citizens. Nicknamed ‘The Great Firewall of China’ (Bloomberg News, 2018) by internet users, there are extensive censorship rules in place to prevent people which have gained huge international attention. Journalists have been arrested (The Guardian, 2020), online accounts have been hacked by the Chinese government (The Atlantic, 2016) and other extreme measures have been taken in order to control the way the internet is used. What is interesting about this extreme example of censorship, is that it seemingly goes against China’s constitutional right to free speech and press (Library of Congress, 2020). The internet is a platform that should theoretically amplify these rights, as it can be argued it does in other countries, and yet instead it is being used to suppress it. While the majority of the world’s journalism shifts towards the web, China’s tight control over online press effectively mutes the voices of their journalists under the reasoning that media posting online may reveal “state secrets” (Council on Foreign Relations,2017) to an international audience. In effect, one of the biggest benefits of online journalism- a global audience- has been turned into a limitation.
While China is clearly the most well-known example of extreme internet censorship, it would by no means be correct to suggest that other countries have free use of the web. Even in the US and UK, net freedoms have been reportedly declining over the last decade as more and more legislations are put in place to allow more control over what can and cannot be viewed or posted on the internet. A recent example of this is how in 2020, in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests, multiple people were criminally charged for online activity in relation to their participation in the protests. In fact, reports show that in the last year, more countries have suffered worsened online censorship than improved (Freedom House, 2020). The pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Election are all factors that may have triggered a tightening of rules from governments and online platforms recently, as countries struggle to control the way information about these topics is spread.
References:
- Davidson, H. (2020) Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China crackdown, The Guardian [online] [Accessed 13/01/2021] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/wuhan-citizen-journalist-jailed-for-four-years-in-chinas-christmas-crackdown
- Freedom House (2020) Report: Global Internet Freedom Declines in Shadow of Pandemic [online] [Accessed on 13/01/2021] https://freedomhouse.org/article/report-global-internet-freedom-declines-shadow-pandemic.
- Library of Congress (2020) Limits on Freedom of Expression: China [online] [Accessed 13/01/2021] https://www.loc.gov/law/help/freedom-expression/china.php#:~:text=Although%20the%20Chinese%20Constitution%20declares,by%20specific%20laws%20and%20regulations.
- Ramli, D., Chen, L.Y. (2018)The Great Firewall of China, Bloomberg News [online] [Accessed 13/01/2021]https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/great-firewall-of-china
- Davidson, H. (2020) Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China crackdown, The Guardian [online] [Accessed 13/01/2021] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/wuhan-citizen-journalist-jailed-for-four-years-in-chinas-christmas-crackdown
- Waddell, K. (2016) Why Google Quit China — and Why It’s Heading Back, The Atlantic [online] [Accessed on 13/01/2021] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/why-google-quit-china-and-why-its-heading-back/424482/
