Police is not enough, the CCP says, every loyal citizen should become an informer.
by Zhou Kexin
Chinese public security has several specialized units and agencies hunting dissidents who express their thoughts on the web, but it seems the CCP believes this is not enough. All citizens should become spies and report on web content that does not correspond to the “two upholds,” i.e., the twin commandments of upholding the Central Committee of the CCP and upholding the leadership of Xi Jinping.
On April 17, the powerful Central Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) organized a national conference on “network reporting.” The chief executive officers of Xinhuanet, Weibo, Tencent, and Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) were also summoned to attend. The meeting was presided by CAC director Zhuang Rongwen, who is also deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department of the CCP.
The CAC insisted that Chinese citizens have been asked to practice “network reporting” by Xi Jinping himself. Each netizen should “work hard on political-related reporting, improve the ability to politically examine, judge, and conduct online reporting work, and focus on maintaining ideological security on the Internet.”
All should “work hard on sending reports, and take the work of reporting seriously.” In other words, all netizens who want to avoid being accused of disloyalty should spy and report those who post on the web content not in harmony with the “two upholds.”
Actually, they should do more than reporting, and actively “work hard on online rumor refutation.” Each netizen should become a cyberwarrior fighting on the web to uphold Xi Jinping and the Central Committee and reject and denounce dissent.
The CAC has created an office dedicated exclusively to collect and investigate reports by informers. If not enough of them come, the main speakers at the conference explained, there will be consequences. Every loyal citizen should become a spy for the CCP.
