The Future Is Already Here in China

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i think what we're just getting into, which is the government in china seeing the effects of all these internet platforms and saying no to them, is fascinating. We were talking with franc hagen, a the facebook whistle blower recently n a previous episode,. One of her points was that it changed in two thousand 18 to a facebook algorithm forced political parties to go much more negative and attack even though they didn't want to. And it sort of showed thatik zakberg has this digital hand that is more powerful then government. So i'd love to hear at your reactions, your thoughts about these two different models in world views.

Who do you think the Chinese government considers its biggest rival? The United States, right? Actually, the Chinese government considers its biggest rival to be its own technology companies.

It's China's tech companies who threaten its capacity to build a competitive China. That's why the Chinese government is cracking down on social media — for example, by limiting the number of hours youth can play video games, and banning cell phone use in schools. China's restrictions on social media use may be autocratic, but may also protect users more than what we see coming from the US government.

It’s a complicated picture.

This week on Your Undivided Attention, we're having a surprising conversation about technology in China. Here to give us a fresh take are two guests: investor, analyst, and co-host of the Tech Buzz China podcast Rui Ma, and China internet expert and author of Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built, Duncan Clark.