Editing Great Firewall (section)

==Goals, impact and resistance==

=== Goal of the Firewall ===
Article 15 of a 20 September 2000 document from the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China|Chinese State Council]], posted by the Xinhua News Agency, lists 9 categories of information which should be [[Censorship in China|censored]], blocked, or filtered from access to the citizens using the internet within China:

# Opposing the basic principles as they are confirmed in the Constitution.
# Jeopardizing the security of the nation, divulging state secrets, subverting state power, or jeopardizing the integrity of the nation's unity
# Harming the honor or the interests of the nation
# Inciting hatred against peoples, racism against peoples, or disrupting the solidarity of peoples
# Disrupting national policies on religion, propagating evil cults and feudal superstitions
# Spreading rumors, disturbing social order or disrupting social stability
# Spreading obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, murder, terror, or abetting the commission of a crime
# Insulting or defaming third parties, infringing on the legal rights and interests of third parties
# Containing any other content prohibited by law or administrative rules<ref>{{Cite web|date=September 25, 2000|title=Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services|url=https://www.cecc.gov/resources/legal-provisions/measures-for-the-administration-of-internet-information-services-cecc|access-date=April 21, 2021|website=Congressional-Executive Commission on China|archive-date=8 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808050045/https://www.cecc.gov/resources/legal-provisions/measures-for-the-administration-of-internet-information-services-cecc|url-status=live}}</ref>

To filter this content, the Chinese government not only uses its own blocking methods, but also heavily relies on internet companies, such as ISPs, social media operators such as Weibo,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Griffiths|first=James|date=March 20, 2019|title=Weibo's Free-Speech Failure|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/what-went-wrong-chinas-weibo-social-network/584728/|access-date=April 21, 2021|archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001213308/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/what-went-wrong-chinas-weibo-social-network/584728/|url-status=live}}</ref> and others to actively censor their users.<ref>“[https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PEN-America_Forbidden-Feeds-report-6.6.18.pdf FORBIDDEN FEEDS: Government Controls on Social Media in China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118234716/https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PEN-America_Forbidden-Feeds-report-6.6.18.pdf |date=18 November 2021 }}," ''PEN America''. (March 13, 2018) p. 33.</ref> This results in private companies censoring their own platform for filtered content, forcing Chinese internet users to use websites not hosted in China to access this information. Much of this information is related to sensitive topics.<ref name=":02">“[https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PEN-America_Forbidden-Feeds-report-6.6.18.pdf FORBIDDEN FEEDS: Government Controls on Social Media in China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118234716/https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PEN-America_Forbidden-Feeds-report-6.6.18.pdf |date=18 November 2021 }}," ''PEN America''. (March 13, 2018) p. 24.</ref> The Great Firewall's goal is perceived by the Chinese Communist Party as helping to protect the Chinese population by preventing users from accessing these foreign websites which, in their opinion, host content which would be 'spiritual pollution', as well as information about these sensitive topics.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Abbott|first=Jason|date=April 30, 2019|title=Of Grass Mud Horses and Rice Bunnies: Chinese Internet Users Challenge Beijing's Censorship and Internet Controls|url=https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.12442|journal=Asian Politics & Policy|volume=11|pages=162–168|doi=10.1111/aspp.12442|s2cid=159308868|access-date=21 April 2021|archive-date=8 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808050052/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aspp.12442|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> These topics include:

* Names of [[paramount leader]]s, such as [[Xi Jinping]] and [[Deng Xiaoping]]
* [[Protest and dissent in China|Political movements and protests]]
* [[Falun Gong]] and other spiritual groups
* The [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests|Tiananmen Square Massacre]]
* The [[Xinjiang internment camps]]
* Discussions of [[Tibetan independence movement|Tibetan Independence]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Xiao|first=Qiang|date=April 30, 2009|title=Baidu's internal monitoring and censorship document leaked|work=China Digital Times|url=https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/baidus-internal-monitoring-and-censorship-document-leaked/|access-date=April 20, 2021|archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419185003/https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/baidus-internal-monitoring-and-censorship-document-leaked/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Shu|first=Catherine|date=June 3, 2019|title=A Look at the many ways China suppresses online discourse about the Tiananmen Square protests|work=Tech Crunch|url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/03/a-look-at-the-many-ways-china-suppresses-online-discourse-about-the-tiananmen-square-protests/|access-date=April 20, 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421202820/https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/03/a-look-at-the-many-ways-china-suppresses-online-discourse-about-the-tiananmen-square-protests/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>“[https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PEN-America_Forbidden-Feeds-report-6.6.18.pdf FORBIDDEN FEEDS: Government Controls on Social Media in China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118234716/https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PEN-America_Forbidden-Feeds-report-6.6.18.pdf |date=18 November 2021 }}," PEN America. (March 13, 2018) p. 41-42.</ref>

A 2020 study found that the Great Firewall blocks approximately 311,000 domains.<ref name=":Zhang">{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Angela Huyue |title=High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2024 |isbn=9780197682258 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197682258.001.0001}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

=== Impact on people in China ===
The [[Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China|Cybersecurity Law]] behind the firewall is targeted at helping increase internet user privacy, increase protections on personal data, and making companies more responsible for monitoring bad actors, in hopes to make the Internet a safer place for Chinese citizens.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wang|first=Hairong|date=January 17, 2013|title="Legal Firewall" Beijing Review|work=Beijing Review|url=http://www.bjreview.com/print/txt/2013-01/14/content_512143.htm|access-date=April 21, 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421202821/http://www.bjreview.com/print/txt/2013-01/14/content_512143.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite this, there have been growing criticisms that the actions of the Chinese government have only hurt Chinese free speech, due to increased censorship, and lack of non-sanctioned sources of information, such as Wikipedia and many English news sources.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Pan|first1=Jennifer|last2=Roberts|first2=Margaret|date=January 2020|title=Censorship's Effect on Incidental Exposure to Information: Evidence from Wikipedia|journal=SAGE Open|volume=10|doi=10.1177/2158244019894068|doi-access=free}}</ref> This has resulted in reports of some cases of legal persecution of those charged with spreading this information.<ref name=":1" />

The Chinese government itself does legally support free speech; article 35 of the [[Constitution of China]] states that "citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy [[freedom of speech]], of the [[Freedom of press|press]], of [[Freedom of assembly|assembly]], of association, of procession, and of demonstration."<ref>[http://en.people.cn/constitution/constitution.html "CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA". People's Daily. December] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609090748/http://en.people.cn/constitution/constitution.html |date=2020-06-09 }} (4, 1982) Archived from the original on August 12, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2021.</ref> In recent decades, many criticisms of the Chinese government found that some of these laws are often abused. A study by [[PEN America]] claimed that "Some of the government's most rights-abusive laws are aimed at criminalizing free speech that — in the eyes of the government — encourages subversion, separatism, or rejection of the State’s authority."<ref name=":02" />

Censorship of sensitive topics in China has also been easier for the government because of the firewall and its filtering. Because the monitoring of social media and chat apps in China presents a possibility of punishment for a user, the discussion of these topics is now limited to the thought of the Chinese Communist Party, or one's home and private spaces, reducing the chance for information about these topics to spread, reducing any threat of protest against the CCP.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Wang|first=Yaqiu|date=September 1, 2020|title=In China, the 'Great Firewall' is Changing a Generation|work=Politico|url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/01/china-great-firewall-generation-405385|access-date=April 20, 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421202819/https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/01/china-great-firewall-generation-405385|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Freedom of Expression in China: A Privilege, Not a Right|url=https://www.cecc.gov/freedom-of-expression-in-china-a-privilege-not-a-right|access-date=April 20, 2021|website=Congressional-Executive Commission on China|date=30 August 2012 |archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419120225/https://www.cecc.gov/freedom-of-expression-in-china-a-privilege-not-a-right|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Yaqiu Wang]], a prominent human rights researcher, there was a time in China where the internet provided a method for Chinese citizens to learn about the sensitive topics the government had censored in the news, through access to international news reports and media coverage. She claims that, in the past 10 years, it has been increasingly difficult to access second opinions on events, meaning that students rarely have the opportunity to learn diverging viewpoints — only the "correct" thought of the CCP.<ref name=":2" />

=== Economic impacts ===
The Great Firewall has also allowed China to develop its own major internet services, such as [[Tencent]], [[Alibaba Group|Alibaba]], [[Baidu]],<ref name="washingtonpost.com2">{{cite news|last1=Denyer|first1=Simon|date=23 May 2016|title=China's scary lesson to the world: Censoring the Internet works|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinas-scary-lesson-to-the-world-censoring-the-internet-works/2016/05/23/413afe78-fff3-11e5-8bb1-f124a43f84dc_story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206113628/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinas-scary-lesson-to-the-world-censoring-the-internet-works/2016/05/23/413afe78-fff3-11e5-8bb1-f124a43f84dc_story.html|archive-date=6 December 2018|access-date=5 September 2017|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref name="WSJ20152">{{cite news|last1=Chen|first1=Te-Ping|date=28 January 2015|title=China Owns 'Great Firewall,' Credits Censorship With Tech Success|work=WSJ|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/01/28/china-owns-great-firewall-credits-censorship-with-tech-success/|url-status=live|access-date=2 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171121094528/https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/01/28/china-owns-great-firewall-credits-censorship-with-tech-success/|archive-date=21 November 2017}}</ref> [[Renren]], [[Youku]], and [[Weibo]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Shi |first=Song |title=China and the Internet: Using New Media for Development and Social Change |date=2023 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |isbn=9781978834736 |location=New Brunswick, NJ}}</ref>{{Rp|page=8}} China has its own version of many foreign web properties, for example: [[Bilibili]] and [[Tencent Video]] (YouTube), [[Weibo]] (Twitter), [[Moments (social networking)|Moments]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoskins |first1=Peter |author2=Fan Wang |title=WeChat: Why does Elon Musk want X to emulate China's everything-app? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66333633 |website=BBC News |accessdate=2023-07-30 |date=2023-07-29 |archive-date=12 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112081132/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66333633 |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Qzone]] (Facebook), [[WeChat]] (WhatsApp), [[Ctrip]] (Orbitz and others), and [[Zhihu]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Millward|first1=Steven|date=12 January 2017|title=China's answer to Quora now worth a billion bucks|work=Tech in Asia|url=https://www.techinasia.com/zhihu-quora-of-china-funding|url-status=live|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904154318/https://www.techinasia.com/zhihu-quora-of-china-funding|archive-date=4 September 2017}}</ref> ([[Quora]]). With nearly one quarter of the global internet population (700 million users), the internet behind the GFW can be considered a "parallel universe" to the Internet that exists outside.<ref name="WaPo2017"/>

=== Resistance ===
While the Great Firewall has had an impact on Chinese citizens' ability to use the internet to find information about sensitive topics about the Chinese Communist Party, it has not completely stopped them from doing so. The firewall itself has caused much frustration amongst both individuals and internationally operating companies in China, many of whom have turned to VPNs, speaking in codes,<ref>Lyden, Jacki; Xiao, Qiang (September 7, 2013). [https://www.npr.org/transcripts/220106496 “In China, Avoiding The ‘Great Firewall’ Internet Censors”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407050205/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/220106496 |date=7 April 2023 }} NPR Podcasts Transcripts. Retrieved April 20, 2021.</ref> and other methods to retain their access to the international internet.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Li|first=Yan|date=April 6, 2016|title=Chinese Voice Frustration Over 'Great Firewall'; Many Internet users criticize intensified blocking of foreign websites|work=The Wall Street Journal Online|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-voice-frustration-over-great-firewall-1459973164|access-date=April 20, 2021|archive-date=20 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420110757/https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-voice-frustration-over-great-firewall-1459973164|url-status=live}}</ref>