Disclosure of Censored Content and Accounts. Publication instructions received from the government. Fines and prohibitions for violations. On 1 August 2023, the Australian Parliament’s Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media released a new report to counter the “real, pervasive and growing threat” of foreign interference through social media. proposed these and other measures.
The report, issued by the Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media, raised particular concerns about Chinese social media platforms WeChat and TikTok, which have large user bases in Australia. Concerns about the companies’ lack of transparency were raised, with WeChat refusing to attend the hearing on the basis that it had no employees in Australia. Representatives from TikTok appeared before the committee, but dodged basic questions such as where its headquarters was located and how often its Chinese employees accessed Australians’ data.
The impact that social media platforms operated under the control of the Chinese government could have on Australian democracy was highlighted by then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s official response to doctored images of Australian soldiers posted on Twitter by the Chinese government in 2020. This became clear after the response was deleted by WeChat censors.
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly raised concerns about Chinese social media companies’ overseas operations, including in Australia.
All social media companies in China, whether private or public, are under the control of the Chinese Communist Party. This creates opportunities and mechanisms for state censorship, surveillance, and propaganda that affect not only users based in China, but also users around the world. Under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, all citizens and businesses are required to assist in intelligence collection and must share data with the Chinese government upon request.
The Communist Party has a track record of forcing domestic and foreign companies to follow its party line, and punishing those that don’t fully comply. In 2018, China’s media regulator shut down joke app Neihan Duanzi, owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, for “vulgar” content. The company’s founder, Zhang Yiming, issued a modest public apology for departing from “socialist core values” and promised to “emphasize and broadcast the voice” of the Communist Party.
The party also bears responsibility for the enforced disappearances and detentions of business executives by Chinese authorities under opaque circumstances. In November 2020, Jack Ma, the founder of technology company Alibaba and one of China’s best-known figures, disappeared for three months after publicly criticizing China’s financial regulators.
Arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances put business leaders at grave risk and send a clear message to them and others that the cost of opposing, or appearing to oppose, the party can be very high. Send it to people.
In Australia, there have been calls for a complete ban on TikTok and WeChat, but a parliamentary committee understandably did not support this. In the case of TikTok, banning an app used by millions of Australians to express themselves is an extreme step that does not meet international human rights standards. And for WeChat, given that the Chinese government has effectively banned all major international social media and messaging apps in the country, the ban is likely to limit the number of connections between the Chinese diaspora and their China-based family and friends. This can seriously disrupt communication.
If the Australian government implements the commission’s transparency recommendations, social media companies will face increased public scrutiny for their involvement in Chinese government censorship and surveillance. The best outcome would be that public pressure on them would force them to reject the Communist Party’s demands.
Exposing and blocking Chinese government disinformation and interference is only part of the solution. As the Committee rightly pointed out, the Australian Government should issue educational materials containing risk recommendations to help the public make informed decisions about their social media use. Additionally, the government should support independent and professional foreign language journalism and expand sources of uncensored news for the Chinese diaspora community.
If the government pursues the commission’s recommendations vigorously, Australia could set a new high standard for other countries facing similar problems of interference from the Chinese Communist Party through social media.