Unveiling the Inner Workings: Digital Censorship and Propaganda in China

A cache of internal documents, leaked from an obscure Chinese firm, has shed light on the global marketing and export of digital censorship tools. Geedge Networks, for instance, is reported to be selling what can be construed as a commercialized version of the “Great Firewall” to at least four countries: Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Myanmar. The leaked information provides intricate details about the company’s capabilities in monitoring, intercepting, and hacking internet traffic. Researchers who perused these files characterized it as “digital authoritarianism as a service.”

However, the focus here lies on another aspect these documents reveal. While the Chinese “Great Firewall” is often perceived as a monolithic, all – powerful government – exclusive system, the development and maintenance processes bear resemblance to those of surveillance technology in the West. Geedge engages in research and development in collaboration with academic institutions, tailors its business strategies to meet diverse client needs, and even repurposes leftover infrastructure from its competitors. As the leaked files indicate, in Pakistan, Geedge secured a contract to work with and eventually replace equipment manufactured by the Canadian company Sandvine.

Coincidentally, another leak, this time from a different Chinese company, emerged this week, reinforcing a similar narrative. On Monday, researchers at Vanderbilt University made public a 399 – page document from GoLaxy, a Chinese firm that utilizes AI to analyze social media and generate propaganda materials. The leaked documents, encompassing internal pitch decks, business goals, and meeting notes, may have originated from a disgruntled former employee, as the last two pages accuse GoLaxy of mistreating workers through underpayment and imposing long working hours. This document had been accessible on the open internet for months before another researcher brought it to the attention of Brett Goldstein, a research professor in the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt.

GoLaxy’s core business diverges from that of Geedge. It collects open – source information from social media, maps the relationships among political figures and news organizations, and disseminates targeted narratives online via synthetic social media profiles. In the leaked document, GoLaxy claims to be the “number one brand in intelligence big data analysis” in China, serving three primary customers: the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government, and the Chinese military. The technology demos presented in the document predominantly focus on geopolitical issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and US elections. Unlike Geedge, GoLaxy appears to be targeting only domestic government entities as clients.

Nevertheless, there are numerous similarities between the two companies, especially in terms of their business operations. According to the Nature Index, both Geedge and GoLaxy maintain close ties with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the world’s top government – affiliated research institution. They also market their services to Chinese provincial – level government agencies, which have local issues they wish to monitor and budgets allocated for surveillance and propaganda tools.

GoLaxy did not respond promptly to a request for comment from WIRED. In a previous response to The New York Times, the company denied collecting data targeting US officials and labeled the outlet’s reporting as misinformation. Vanderbilt researchers stated that they witnessed the company removing pages from its website following the initial reporting.

Closer Than They Seem

In the West, academic scholars often venture into startup – founding or side – businesses when they identify opportunities to commercialize their cutting – edge research. GoLaxy seems to follow this pattern. Many of the company’s key researchers, as per the leaked document, still hold positions at CAS.

However, there is no certainty that CAS researchers will receive government grants, similar to how a public university professor in the US cannot rely on their startup securing federal contracts. Instead, they must approach government agencies just like any private company would target clients. One leaked document shows that GoLaxy assigned sales targets to five employees, aiming to secure 42 million RMB (approximately $5.9 million) in contracts with Chinese government agencies in 2020. Another spreadsheet from around 2021 lists the company’s current clients, including branches of the Chinese military, state security, and provincial police departments, along with other potential customers it intended to target.

Collectively, these two leaks demonstrate that the surveillance and propaganda industry in China is propelled by economic forces as much as by political ideology. “This echoes my findings in researching emotion – recognition AI and other surveillance technologies, where sales often seemed more driven by market logic than by a grand scheme to make the world more authoritarian,” remarks Shazeda Ahmed, a DataX postdoctoral scholar at UCLA.

A Striking Detail

The parallels with the West are conspicuous. A number of American surveillance and propaganda firms also originated as academic projects before evolving into startups and expanding by pursuing government contracts. The disparity lies in the fact that in China, these companies operate with significantly less transparency. Their activities only surface when a collection of documents leaks onto the internet.

One of the notable revelations in the GoLaxy leak was its comparison of its work to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that harvested Facebook data from millions of users to target ads and influence elections. The document boasted, “Internationally, besides assisting Donald Trump in winning the 2016 US presidential election, the British company Cambridge Analytica had actually participated in over 40 American political campaigns and played a crucial behind – the – scenes role in events such as Ukraine’s Orange Revolution and the Brexit movement in the UK.”

An Associated Press investigation this week has alleged that US companies have also been involved in China’s surveillance market. Over several decades, American firms sold software and hardware to Chinese police entities, some with features explicitly marketed for monitoring minority populations.

It is easy to assume that the “Great Firewall” or Chinese propaganda is the result of a top – down master plan exclusive to the Chinese Communist Party. However, these leaks suggest a more complex reality. Censorship and propaganda initiatives require marketing, financing, and maintenance. They are shaped by the logic of corporate quarterly financial targets and competitive bidding, just as much as by ideology—except that the customers are governments, and the products have the potential to control or shape entire societies.

This is an edition of Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis’ “Made in China” newsletter. Read previous newsletters [here].