Rights activists are urging international social media platforms to do more to prevent Chinese authorities from accessing users’ personal information. This comes after two popular Chinese social media influencers claimed on X and YouTube that Chinese police were investigating their followers and summoned some for questioning.
Social media platforms like X and YouTube and thousands of websites — from New York Times The BBC and VOA are blocked in China by the Great Firewall. But despite tightening social controls under Xi Jinping, many Chinese still use virtual private networks to access X, YouTube and other sites for news, information and views not available in China.
Li Ying, known online as Teacher Li, was one of the social media influencers who issued the warning on Sunday. In 2022, Li gained attention as a source of news and information during a rare expression of public dissent in China against the government’s draconian zero-COVID policies. His account on
“Currently, the Public Security Bureau is investigating my 1.6 million followers and people in my comments one by one,” Mr. Li said in a post on Sunday.
He shared screenshots of private messages he had received from followers over the past few months, some of which claimed police had interrogated individuals and even resulted in one person losing his job.
VOA was unable to independently verify the veracity of these claims, but Chinese court records and reports from human rights groups have previously documented China’s increasing use of social media platforms banned in China to detain, prosecute and sentence individuals for comments they make online .
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said he was unaware of the specifics of the social media influencers involved.
“In principle, the Chinese government manages Internet-related matters in accordance with laws and regulations,” Liu said.
Influencer warns followers
News of the crackdown on followers of social influencers comes amid a series of reports about China’s hacking capabilities. Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure were “larger than we have ever seen before.”
A recent document details how private companies helped China hack foreign governments in Southeast Asia and reveal the identities of users of foreign social media accounts.
Wang Zhian, a former reporter for China’s state broadcaster CCTV who has 1 million subscribers on X and 1.2 million followers on YouTube, said his fans had reported similar issues.
In response, both Wang and Li urged their followers to take precautions, advising them to unfollow their accounts, change their usernames, avoid using Chinese-made phones and be prepared to be questioned.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Li’s followers on X had dropped to 1.4 million. VOA contacted Lee for comment but had not received a reply as of press time.
Authorities are reportedly tracking followers
Maya Wang, acting director of Human Rights Watch’s China department, said that as more Chinese people use foreign platforms to speak out, China is increasing its efforts to regulate overseas platforms.
She said recent reports of authorities hunting down followers were part of a long history of restrictions on free speech in China.
“I think the Chinese government is also increasingly concerned about the information that’s spread, disseminated or distributed on these foreign platforms because these people are so influential,” Wang said.
A recently leaked document from I-Soon, a private contractor with ties to China’s top police agency and other parts of the government, describes the tools used by Chinese police to curb dissent on overseas social media, including one specifically designed to monitor users on And the tools created. .
The hackers also created tools for police to crack email inboxes and expose X’s anonymous users, documents show. Leaks show that officials sometimes send I-Soon requests to spy on specific individuals.
Wang said social media companies have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their users.
“I’d like to direct these questions to Twitter [X] Ask – whether they are taking enhanced measures to protect the People’s Republic of China [People’s Republic of China]”User-based?” she said. “I think Twitter [X] Exactly how such information was obtained needs to be investigated, and whether some loopholes need to be plugged. “
Wang Yaqiu, research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House, said that in addition to better protecting user privacy, companies should also make more efforts to counter China’s crackdown on free speech.
“They should take steps to actually help activists protect their freedom of expression,” she said. “Large social media companies should widely disseminate information to users, such as manuals or instructions on how to protect their accounts.
“They need to be more transparent so users and the public know if government-backed hacking is going on,” she added.
VOA reached out to X (formerly Twitter) multiple times for comment but had not received any response as of press time.
Xiao Yu contributed to this report.
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