The Chinese government claims cyber sovereignty, or control, over all its digital assets,
including servers, user data, technological infrastructure, and IT companies operating
there both domestically and internationally.
As a result, the Chinese government has access to resources like Apple’s China-based
iCloud data. China’s 2017 Cybersecurity Law mandates businesses that provide
essential information infrastructure in China (broadly defined) to keep their data on
Chinese government-run servers. About crimes against China’s national security
committed outside of Hong Kong, especially those involving data protection, the 2020
Hong Kong National Security Law extends that oversight outside of China.
Finally, China’s Data Security Law of 2021 gives the Chinese government the authority
to inspect foreign companies doing business in China that collect user data for national
security purposes. The measures mentioned above are merely the beginning of China’s
efforts to expand data control outside of its boundaries.
Using networked platforms to impose control over Chinese businesses operating in the
US and US businesses operating in China, the Chinese government expands its
sovereignty in the US. For reasons of convenience, financial gain, or enjoyment,
businesses and consumers voluntarily engage in this trade in goods and services.
Consider TikTok as an example: Although the company has made considerable efforts
to build a firewall between its U.S. and Chinese companies, its parent company Byte
Dance continues to be the target of data security audits by the Chinese government.
ByteDance does not have the luxury of leaving the Chinese market as it has a strong
presence there thanks to its Chinese social media platform Douyin. But ByteDance also
is not able to split off its TikTok business since the Chinese government has categorized
TikTok’s algorithm as a national security asset. The most well-known example is
TikTok, but businesses in a variety of industries see comparable dynamics.
The most significant aspect of China’s network sovereignty is how it builds on the ways
in which the American tech industry currently uses user data for commercial gain.
Social media sites serve as an example of the exploitative U.S. data governance model
and how it might strengthen China’s control over the world’s digital infrastructure.
Many users are aware that their behaviors on social media are being watched. Indeed,
Chinese platforms like WeChat and TikTok have come under media scrutiny due to
surveillance or restriction of users who post politically sensitive content concerning
Hong Kong or Xinjiang.
However, the type of surveillance that is more frequently disregarded is what these
platforms can do with all the data they gather, which includes monitoring not just
specific users but also the operation of entire social networks and communities. These
details are crucial for creating and disseminating false content on those same networks.
They can work as the foundation for upcoming products that more successfully entice
people thanks to their alluring algorithm.
The quick changes in China’s COVID-19 policy have caused a rapid evolution in
biodata surveillance. When it comes to creating networked systems to track residents’
movements during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government has taken the
lead internationally.
Chinese technology companies like Xiaomi collect user biodata outside of China
through consumer items that track anything from heart rate to activity level. Because of
the open system of laboratory standardization in the United States, Chinese laboratories
are also accredited to process tests from that country. Most Americans are unaware that
HIPAA does not protect their health information abroad. The Chinese National
GeneBank DataBase can thus be supplied with biodata from the United States.
America is facing a challenge. Silicon Valley was created on the backs of exploitative
data ecosystems that profit from users’ daily lives while giving them only the barest
impressions of consent.
This is described as “surveillance capitalism”. Long serving as a source of American
power on a worldwide scale, U.S. tech companies boost the country’s economy, draw
the greatest tech talent from around the world, and expand American influence. The
Chinese government’s initiatives to collect user information in the US expand on these
unethical methods. However, as China works to increase its cyber sovereignty, the
system’s features start acting strangely.
American and Chinese-based tech companies have grown to be too large for American
government regulation. The Federal Trade Commission has had difficulty regulating
Big Tech. Political party disagreements have slowed down efforts to safeguard user
data security through laws like the American Data Privacy and Protection Act.
U.S. businesses vigorously opposed presidential executive orders issued by the Biden
and Trump administrations. In contrast, China forbids foreign social media platforms,
carefully regulates any data collection by foreign businesses, and has considerably more
latitude in controlling Chinese digital companies.