The Decibel Leak reveals China is exporting internet censorship technology
13 snips
Sep 11, 2025 James Griffiths, Asia correspondent for The Globe and author of The Great Firewall of China, dives into the mechanisms behind China’s extensive online censorship. He discusses a recent leak revealing how this technology is exported to other authoritarian regimes. Griffiths explains the role of VPNs in circumventing censorship and how countries like Myanmar and Nepal are affected by these practices. The conversation highlights the global implications of China's growing influence on internet governance and the challenges to civil liberties.
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How The Great Firewall Operates
- The Great Firewall is a multi-layered censorship and surveillance system that blocks sites and inspects traffic with deep packet inspection.
- It also targets tools that help users evade censorship, like VPNs, to control both access and expression online.
Control Over Organizing Is The Core Goal
- China's primary motivation is to prevent people using the internet to organize and form solidarity, not merely to hide information.
- Talk about organizing is censored most heavily, regardless of topic, because it threatens state control.
Massive Leak Gave Researchers Access
- James Griffiths joined a consortium given access to about 100,000 internal files from GIEGE Networks and a related lab to research the tools and contracts.
- Researchers spent nearly a year combing documents and reverse-engineering source code to reveal operations and overseas clients.
