Scale of China-Russia censorship collaboration revealed

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 05 Apr 2023 by Alex Teddy

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On April 5 Radio Free Europe published a report showing the extent to which the two countries have been sharing strategies to control dissent and the internet as part of their partnership. Meetings took place from 2017 on. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and Russian communications regulator (Roskomnadzor) represented their respective governments. DDoSecrets is a group that publishes leaked and hacked files. The files include notes, audio recordings and correspondence. The two states want to be able to decrypt encrypted messages. They are looking at ways to stop VPNs and Tor. China is ahead in these areas. The Chinese sought Russia's counsel on how to deal with the media and to repress public dissent. The Chinese asked the Russians to block some media sites that published stories that were uncongenial to Beijing. Russia was happy to do so. Russia and China have been cooperating on this endeavor since at least 2013. Russia envies of the Great Firewall of China. The Russians have been to China to study what the Chinese call ''the Golden Shield Project'' which is about censorship of the internet and a full spectrum system of surveillance. In 2017 Xi and Putin signed an agreement for cooperation on controlling the internet. Russia eventually used Chinese AI to help them thwart forbidden content. In 2016 the Safe Internet League (SIL) organized a conference in Russia with a Chinese delegation. SIL says it is about stopping child porn and material promoting suicide and drug abuse. All this is true but it is also about stopping anything that reflects discredit on the Russian Government and Orthodox Christianity. Some officers in Russian intelligence became concern...