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Duowei News: China Uses Social Media to Monitor Activities of its Own Citizens

An article that Duowei published shared the information on how WeChat spies on the activities of residents in China. The article said that the totalitarian government is always there to monitor activities of its citizens and the large sum of information collected on social media has made it easier for the government to exercise control. It also stated that Chinese authorities not only monitor public postings but also screen sensitive words on private messages and in chat rooms. In addition to WeChat and Weibo, the Chinese authorities are also capable of collecting chat conversations, using Chinese Skype versions called “Tom Skype,” as well as other types of applications. Meanwhile China is constructing a social credit system to monitor and analyze the activities and behaviors of Chinese citizen from economic, political, social, and living situations. The system is expected to be completed by 2020.  The article pointed out, “The difference between how the information collected from social media is used in Western democratic countries versus China is that there are legal regulations to protect the citizens’ private information in the West while Chinese authorities can access citizens’ private information based on the national security law and the new Internet security regulations.”

Source: Duowei, April 1, 2017
http://www.dw.com/zh/你好老大哥中国是如何通过app监控民众的/a-38249393?&zhongwen=simp