May 11, 2022

Chinese social media users fear IP address surveillance

topic:	Digital Rights
located:	China
editor:	Stella Tsang

Being a notable Twitter user, Tesla-founder Elon Musk is naturally less active on Chinese social media Weibo, in which he has nearly 2 million followers. And when Weibo started to display users’ locations based on their internet protocol (IP) address at the end of April, some were amused to note that according to the platform, Elon Musk is shown to be in Beijing, while Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is in China’s Henan Province.

One possible explanation is that their Weibo accounts are run on their behalf by social media managers based in China. However, that is not the most controversial issue of the new function. According to Weibo, the function was introduced to tackle the spread of fake news and invidious rumours, and it cannot be turned off by users. Later, various platforms like Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China, followed suit.

The move has received some warm welcomes, but some feel concerned for its invasion of privacy, as it might facilitate a predator's tracking of a victim's location, which could facilitate cyberbullying or other crimes. It has also led to a witch-hunt by some users, who are furious to find out the IP address of some “patriotic users” (such as Di Bar [帝吧], a group famous for attacking whomever they belief has insulted China) is not located in mainland China, but in Taiwan. The user’s IP address was later changed to Hong Kong, then Japan, before it finally landed in Zhejiang Province.

Some mocked users like Di Bar as “offshore patriotism,” and all of these might be because IP location could be changed with a virtual private network (VPN), a typical approach to circumvent China’s Great Firewall. Given that China has built one of the most sophisticated online censorship systems, Weibo's latest function could possibly be another tool for monitoring.

In fact, the timing of its implementation is worth noticing. Back in October 2021, a draft regulation issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China stated that platforms should display users’ IP addresses so as to ensure a “healthy and orderly discussion atmosphere.” State media has linked the implementation of this regulation with the rampant online rumours following the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, some critics believe it might be related to the online criticism of the month-long lockdown in Shanghai from the recent coronavirus outbreak, and the upcoming 20th Party Congress this year, where major leadership changes will be announced. 

As the date approaches, it is worth observing whether the government will increase its online surveillance.

Photo by Chris Yang 

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