China’s New Internet ID Prompts Fears of Total Digital Surveillance and Control
Udumbara
Starting July 15, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will launch a sweeping new Internet ID system, raising concerns that the initiative could usher in a new era of surveillance and control over the digital lives of more than a billion people.
The new program, introduced by six major government departments including the CCP’s Ministry of Public Security and China’s top internet regulator, will require users to register with their real names and obtain a state-issued “internet number” and “internet certificate.” These digital IDs will be used to access any online platform that requires real-name authentication, potentially including everything from social media to health records, education portals, and government services.
While the Chinese regime insists that participation is voluntary, critics warn that the system is designed for gradual enforcement as the regime seeks to centralize control and surveillance of internet users in China.
“This is clearly a staged rollout of a comprehensive surveillance apparatus,” Cao Lei, an independent Chinese internet data analyst, told The Epoch Times.
The CCP’s state-run media announced the new system in May and promoted the Internet ID as a means to “safeguard personal information” and streamline government regulation and verification. To apply for an Internet ID, users must submit official ID documents such as a Chinese Resident Identity Card, a passport, or a Mainland Residence Permit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents. Facial recognition and mobile phone verification are also required in the process. Even minors are encouraged to register, with their guardians providing identification on their behalf.
In Name of Safety
The Chinese regime claims that the new system is meant to fight online scams and cybercrime, but Chinese legal scholars and internet users have expressed criticism.Zhang Hong, a sociologist at China’s top Tsinghua University, noted that earlier real-name policies, such as mandatory ID for phone number registrations, can only be theoretically used to combat scams and cybercrimes, but in reality, they have not led to a significant drop in crime. “People’s bank accounts are still being stolen,” he told The Epoch Times.
Expansion of Censorship
For many Chinese citizens, the growing list of digital ID requirements is creating an atmosphere of fear in a regime that already implements stringent surveillance and censorship.Chen Xiaoping, a resident of Dongguan, China, described the situation to The Epoch Times. “The comprehensive implementation of real-name ID verification further tightens the space for free speech online, making people afraid to speak out [due to] fear of being flagged.”
Since the internet’s arrival in China in the early 1990s, the CCP has viewed open access to information as a threat to its political control. Concerned that the Chinese people could be exposed to ideas outside the state’s narrative, the regime began building a censorship apparatus that has only grown more restrictive over time.
Censorship of foreign websites has extended to social media platforms and search engines. The Chinese regime created its own parallel search engines, video streaming platforms, and online chats since banning Google, YouTube, Facebook, and others.
The CCP had already implemented mandatory ID verification for phone numbers and major social media platforms despite its stringent censorship mechanisms that delete and block any online content that is even slightly critical of the regime. Nevertheless, such ID verification mechanisms were run by each individual website or APP platform. Now, the new Internet ID shifts the responsibility to the regime under the CCP’s centralized management system.
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Online Surveillance
Weibo, China’s major microblog platform, started requiring ID verification for new accounts in 2011. Such requirements soon extended to online chat groups and other social media platforms.WeChat, China’s major online chat platform similar to WhatsApp, has been integrated into China’s payment system, becoming the most widely accepted payment method all across the country, and nearly everyone in China with a phone is registered on WeChat with ID verification because without it, daily payments and transactions become unnecessarily inconvenient. This allows the regime to identify nearly all social media users.
With the July 15 rollout, China appears poised to move beyond fragmented real-name policies toward a singular, state-controlled digital identity system, one that critics say leaves little room for privacy, dissent, or anonymity online.
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