Recent legislation has been passed in the mainland, like new laws that keep the government intolerant of internet service providers’ expanding autonomy, raising privacy concerns. On the other hand, the amended Secrets of the State Statute (i.e., Tencent, ByteDance, and Weibo) compels companies to follow users’ movements in case they propose any sensitive information.
“Social network providers” must install sophisticated monitoring mechanisms to set the rules for voluntary removal of subscribers’ posts, operation and preservation records, and annual reporting to government authorities.
This regulation modification is the first within ten 10-year periods and fits into Xi Jinping`s nationality security doctrine and the government`s measures to tighten control over the exceptionally highly developed technology industry.
However, although Chinese internet businesses still have to be obliged to comply with stringent regulations, the new rules force companies to control the content in real-time, and tight cooperation with the authorities on the part of companies is also ensured, as Ryan Mitchell, a law professor from Hong Kong, reported it.
The amended rules also widen the scope of confidential information to “state committees'” secrets. For instance, technology secrets remain deliberately hidden from the parties, who are left only guessing about the decision-making process of some state agencies.
This expanding concept, which is quite daunting for the people whose job is to keep the journalism going, brings forward certain issues for them, for example, foreign correspondents.
Concerns were expressed about the fuzziness of what may be considered” a state secret.” The European Union China Chamber of Commerce president, Jens Eskelund, gave a heads-up about the clear definitions and limitations of this sphere.
Furthermore, the other side of the confrontation, Taiwan, by turn, voiced hesitation over new rules which were supposed to be intended only to improve flight safety but carry a risk of endangering visitors from the island. At the same time, Baker McKenzie FenXun law firm believed that the effect on multinational corporations conducting business in China should remain unchanged.
While this transformation takes place, TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have been at the center of the storm resulting from the increasing number of Western countries closely scrutinizing TikTok.
However, the quoted passage seems to obscure the fact that the newly released regulations were not primarily enforced on the overseas operations of firms owned by the Chinese government.
