Beijing using the coronavirus pandemic to expand internet surveillance apparatus

Beijing is using the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as a justification to expand and intensify its already gargantuan internet surveillance systems , according to a report by Freedom House. In its annual Freedom of the Net report, which details the state of digital surveillance in over 60 countries, the nonprofit ranked China last with a score of 10 out of 100 . This is the sixth consecutive year in which the country was crowned as the ࢀœworst abuser of internet freedomࢀ in the world. ࢀœThis pandemic is normalizing the sort of digital authoritarianism that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has…