From digital revolution to total surveillance. How AI is changing the rules of the game in China

For two decades, Chinese internet users have found ways to circumvent censorship as authorities have gradually turned the digital space into a tool of control. According to an analysis published by Bloomberg, the accelerated development of artificial intelligence could tilt the balance even more in favor of the state.

To understand the priorities and fears of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, argues Hong Kong-born writer Liu Yilin, it is enough to look at what Beijing is ordering to be removed from the online environment. In her new book, she analyzes the censorship directives as a mirror of the Chinese Communist Party's concerns, more revealing than official documents.

The author traces the evolution of modern China through the lens of wangmin – “citizens of the Internet” – for whom the online environment has become not only an entertainment space, but a parallel civic arena.

From promise to restriction

In the early years of China's Internet expansion, the opportunities seemed limitless. A policeman from a remote region has managed to build one of the largest LGBTQ dating apps in the world from an online start. Activists behind the digital magazine Feminist Voices used the Weibo platform to mobilize viral campaigns that influenced public debates and local decisions. Independent artists have found global audiences, and tech workers have organized on GitHub to protest the “996” work schedule—9am to 9pm, six days a week.

But, gradually, the room for maneuver narrowed. Companies have been hit with tighter regulations, online publications have been deleted, and public discourse has been reoriented to promote so-called “positive energy.” Some critical voices left the country and others adapted to the new limits.

A global phenomenon

China is not the only country where initial Internet enthusiasm has waned. In the Arab world, the social networks that facilitated mobilization during the Arab Spring have since come under tighter scrutiny. In the United States, power has concentrated in the hands of a few large platforms, and online public debate has become increasingly polarized.

What makes China special, however, is the breadth and sophistication of its filtering and surveillance system, often known as the “Great Firewall.”

Digital nationalism and the new generation

According to Liu, the new generation of nationalist users is shaped not by memories of famine or the Cultural Revolution, but by the period of rapid economic growth and symbolic events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics. For many of them, China's rise is a defining fact.

At the same time, the international debate over platforms like TikTok shows that fears about digital influence are no longer one-way. In the US, discussions have shifted from the app's Chinese origins to broader questions about information manipulation and algorithmic control.

Creativity under pressure

Contrary to the idea that the internet can be completely controlled, Liu argues that users are constantly finding ways to adapt. Language is changing, hashtags are being camouflaged, and activism is becoming more decentralized. Even under restrictive conditions, subtle forms of opposition continue to exist.

The author warns, however, that artificial intelligence could amplify the state's power to monitor and shape public discourse. In his view, the central risk is not just censorship, but the consolidation of an even greater centralization of power.

Her message to Western policymakers is to avoid treating China as a uniform bloc and to recognize the diversity of its society.

The question of the future

Movements in the Chinese online space are often fragile and short-lived. However, they retain what Liu describes as an “underground fire”—a persistent form of resistance that survives in jokes, codes, and digital communities.

Ultimately, the bottom line is not that authoritarian censorship inevitably wins, but that the relationship between technology and society remains open. Human creativity continues to adapt.

The question that remains, Bloomberg notes, is whether the next stage — dominated by artificial intelligence — will strengthen control or provide new tools for expression and organization.