In the Name of Cyberspace Security: The Internet Governance in Mainland China

Yu-Li Wang¹

¹Department of Mass Communication, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract

China had 854 million netizens, and its Internet penetration had reached 61.2% in June 2019. Also, the number of mobile Internet users had reached 847 million, and the proportion of Internet users accessing the Internet through mobile phones in China had amounted to 99.1%. Over 90% of netizens did not go to college or universities. China had a large number of netizens but also built up a Great Firewall in the name of cybersecurity. This study aims to explore some of the important phenomenon under Chinese Internet governance through secondary data analysis and participatory observation under Xi's administration. Since the cut back of the freedom of speech realm, the Party implemented the real-name system and a series of regulations in the name of Cyberspace Security, but actually filtering the opponent opinions. The study also found that “Five Cents Army” had evolved into the “Little Pink” who spoke on behalf of nationalism on the social media. In the age of social media and “post-truth” period, misinformation and disinformation were deliberately disseminated on the Net. Some news was disguised with one dimensional fact which were favourable for the Party, such as the election result of district council in Hong Kong. This research also provided several insightful findings for future studies which were first, the information flow, perceptions and cognitions of young generations in China; secondly, the emerging spiral of silence in the public sphere discourses.

Keywords

• Cybersecurity, Freedom of speech, Information flow, Internet governance

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Cite this Article as Follows

Yu-Li Wang. In the Name of Cyberspace Security: The Internet Governance in Mainland China. International Conference on Cyber Security and Connected Technologies (2020): 02. Print.