"Just like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter"
The main difference being that, if they don't do better, somebody's going to jail.
That is something we can't do in The West.
China's Netcasting Services Association has issued a list of 100 topics local netizens must not include in short videos posted online. The list, officially the "Online Short Video Content Review Standard Rules (2021)", includes predictable prohibitions on mocking China's leadership, or suggesting that history did not unfurl …
"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
--Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
flouting the rules can reduce access to jobs, education, and even access to high-speed internet.
Apparently in China, it is "cancel culture on steroids".
I wonder what they'd do to you for a WINNIE THE POOH costume...
I ran the list through google translate, saw some specific mention of the use of hats and clothing that had faces of Chinese communist party leaders on them, and the practice of folding or otherwise distorting the hats and clothing to produce (assume humorous) facial expressions. That actually sounds kinda funny!
It is a lot harder to put the genie back in the bottle than it is to keep it in the bottle in the first place.
I do believe the Chinese are learning that; too much of the population has tasted life beyond the borders, either directly or indirectly, much as we've experienced life beyond our own borders.
Well, 'cept for the Yanks. They seem to think their borders demark the end of the known world, 'cause that is the only way the "Leaders of the Free World" can be qualified to deserve that phrase... not to mention the "World" series that never leaves the continent, and so on and so forth. But watch their media, and it is no surprise - where the BBC, CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia), et. al. provide global news segments that are usually as long as the national news segment, the American news channels don't really do that save for CNN. Their news is all about themselves, so most of their population has no idea what is going on with those "danged foreigners."