China
China ranks 177th out of 180 countries by the 2020 World Press Freedom Index (WPFI). Within the last five years, its position has declined from 176 to 177. Such a low rating is caused by the increasing control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the country. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), China is the number one jailer of journalists worldwide. More than 109 of them were detained there in 2020.
RSF is an international non-profit, non-governmental organisation (NGO). It holds a leading position among other NGOs in the defense and promotion of freedom of information. Every year RSF publishes the WPFI. The Index shows a degree of freedom available to journalists worldwide. Its ranking is based upon the responses received from the experts and data on abuses and assaults on journalists.
As was reported by RSF, China orchestrates a disinformation campaign to shut down the ones who criticize its censorship. It involves surveillance, intimidation, and harassment against foreign correspondents. Chinese officials deny it and accuse RSF of making up “fake news” and being “prejudiced” against their country.
But it’s not only RSF, Freedom House also stated that China’s repressive authoritarian regime has grown stronger in recent years. The country’s Global Freedom Score and Internet Freedom Score are both 10 out of 100.
Freedom House is a non-profit NGO that conducts research on democracy, human rights and political freedom. According to it, Chinese authorities used artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition technologies to monitor citizens’ lives and control the spread of information. The restrictions have reached new extremes to suppress society and its freedoms.
One of those extremes was the implementation of the Cybersecurity Law, which resulted in more sophisticated internet censorship. As reported by Freedom House, the Chinese social media tool WeChat scanned and deleted images that displayed banned content. Large-scale deletions of posts and accounts took place.
Chinese authorities continued with criminal prosecutions of bloggers and human rights activists, examinations and bans of foreign NGOs. The CCP has left no space for independent academic research or discussion that is viewed as inappropriate.
According to Freedom House, despite all the heavy restrictions on media freedom, Chinese journalists, activists, and internet users are still looking for new ways to expose the government’s misconduct, share their incisive political commentary, and access information that has been censored. People in China use virtual private networks (VPNs) to reach the uncensored global network. It puts them at risk of getting fined or imprisoned.
Their stories serve as proof of how oppressive the Chinese social model is and how destructive it can be to any independent and healthy functioning society. According to RSF, President Xi Jinping and CCP have decided to go further and export their social model to other countries as a “new world media order.” If China acts in accordance with this decision, it will pose a huge threat to international freedom of information.
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