Hitting two birds with one stone: China develops fake news factories to fill the information vacuum and curb – DNA India

The Great Wall of China is one of the seven wonders of the world. The wall that was built to keep out Mongol invaders is so massive that arguably it could be seen from space. But in China, there exists another less talked about wall, one that is far more effective in keeping out things that the Communist Party of China (CCP) does not want the Chinese people exposed to - Chinas Great Firewall (GFW). The GFW refers to a series of legislative and technological barriers that allow the CCP and the Chinese government to control the flow of information and regulate the domestic internet. China has over 800 million internet users and each one of them is subject to the worlds most sophisticated censorship system - The Great Firewall.

The GFW blocks access to multiple foreign social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and also does not allow access to the widely used online messaging platform WhatsApp. It also allows the CCP to block access to foreign media sources, further allowing it to keep the Chinese people in the dark and enables it to control how much and what exactly the Chinese people hear of the outside world.

The GFW is a major component but is only one of the components used by the CCP to monopolize information. A massive chunk of CCPs information control mechanism consists of disinformation, fake news, and censorship. These practices are rampant in almost all sources of information - from social media to television and even print. The internet and the advancements in technologies have given people access to news and information from all around the world, and when people can have accurate information about what's happening in the world, they can attain a better understanding of international events that impact them.

Wei Xing, the former editor-in-chief of Sixth Tone in his article Mike Pompeos Dad was a Hunanese Bandit' has explained how China has built its fake news machinery to fill the information vacuum between China and news from the rest of the world. In the article, he has stated that When citizens have accurate information about their country, it's only then that they can adopt a rational, open-minded worldview.

It might seem an admirable concept and granting free access to accurate information to citizens is something all nations should strive for. However,the case of CCP and the Chinese Government is different.

The CCP has ruled China for decades and holds a monopoly on power in China and wants to preserve its monopoly of power at any cost and thus views open access to information for the Chinese citizens as a threat to that power. Because if the people had free access to information from unbiased and international sources, the Chinese people would not be swayed by the Chinese government's propaganda. By controlling almost all sources of information, the CCP ensures that the Chinese people are not able to tell the difference between fake news, propaganda, and the truth.

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Hitting two birds with one stone: China develops fake news factories to fill the information vacuum and curb - DNA India