To most active internet users, online threats are posed in the form of malware or virus infections, but to citizens under totalitarian governments, the lack of internet freedom, constant surveillance and censorship prove to be far more daunting.

            China, for example, bans much more than private domains. The government aims to have absolute control over online content within the country, while also seizing private data of every citizen.  This cyber dystopia was once only the stuff of fiction in George Orwell’s 1984.  Today, unfortunately, this is our shared reality.  Besides China, countries such as Vietnam and Saudi Arabia have limited their citizens on the Internet, restricting what can be seen and what news is aired. 

            But these countries committing these modern sins are only part of the problem, numerous U.S. tech companies are aiding its pursuit behind the curtains.  China would never be able to censor it’s people the way it does if it wasn’t for Google.  Netflix bends at the demand of Saudi Arabia when an episode offends the regime.  Many U.S companies have found themselves encouraging, even helping¸ totalitarian governments and dictatorships control the cyber lives of their people.  These companies are willing to do anything it takes for the promise of money.

            What was once seen as a way to connect the developed world, the Internet has now been restricted in some countries, setting internet freedom back by decades.  So, what exactly is taking place in China and Saudi Arabia?  Who’s responsible?

Netflix: All Aboard the Censorship

            Let’s start with Netflix, the leading streaming service in the world.  While it’s true that Netflix has not directly encouraged censorship, Netflix’s recent actions concerning the show Patriot Act and Saudi Arabia spoke volumes about what comes first for them before a free internet: business.

            Netflix unleashed this bombshell on January 1^st , 2019, when they announced that they would be removing an episode of Hasan Minhaj’s show Patriot Act from the platform.  The reason Netflix claims to have done this is because they “received a valid legal demand from the government- and to comply with local law”.  The reasoning definitely seems fair at the surface, but what could the episode have contained to be removed from the country?

            The answer is political satire.  In the episode, Minhaj cracks jokes about the coverup of the Khashoggi murder, taking particular aim at Saudi’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.  The regime of Saudi Arabia didn’t appreciate the spotlight, opting to make Netflix remove the episode.

            This issue doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it sends a message.  Saudi Arabia now knows that Netflix will bend to their will when it comes to content and censorship.  After all, Netflix wants to do business there.  Saudi Arabia isn’t exactly known for it’s free speech, and I’m sure there’s many things the regime would love to censor.

            Fortunately, the incident isn’t completely unsalvageable.  As of this article, Saudi Arabian citizens can watch the banned episode on Minhaj’s YouTube channel.  Though in case of the crown prince discovering the site’s existence, I’d recommend a VPN.  If you use a VPN for Netflix, Saudi’s censorship won’t affect you, at least not as much. 

Apple: Nothing but Compliant

            Apple has been complying to the Chinese government for a while, in the forms of both censorship and illegal data collection.  It’s ironic that Apple would participate in these activities since part of their branding is built on being secure and pro-consumer. 

            Maybe this is true in America, but it’s definitely not the case in China.  The trustworthiness of Apple was brought into question on July 18, 2018, where Apple’s Chinese iCloud partner Guizhou-Cloud Big Data agreed to a deal with the state-owned China Telecom.  This deal required GCBD to move all user data to China Telecom’s servers.  This doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that GCBD is also maintained by state-run businesses, and that this move gives the government unlimited access to their user’s data. 

            Apple swears that all iCloud data is encrypted and only Apple employees can access the data, but for how long will this be true?  What’s to stop the Chinese government from finding a backdoor for the data, or have they already? 

            Fortunately, iCloud users in China do have the option to delete their account and create a new one, selecting a different server in a different country.  Unfortunately, the data probably won’t be deleted with the account.  Telecom has all that data locked up tight.

            The topic of Apple and lack of free internet use is not a one-and-done topic. After all, Apple complied with foreign governments before Netflix made it cool.

            If you don’t know already, gambling is banned in China.  So, when Apple hosts an App Store filled with gambling apps, the state makes a ruckus.  This is exactly what happened only a month after the data scandal.

            On August 20^th, 2018, Apple announced that they would be performing a sweep of all gambling apps on the Chinese app store.  This action was taken in an attempt to cooperate with Chinese regulators.  Business must obey the law after all.

            Gambling isn’t the only thing Apple has helped clean up from China though.  Shortly before the gambling incident, Apple purged all major VPN apps from the Chinese app store.  Apple responded to criticism saying that the VPNs violated Chinese law.  This may be true, but was Apple right for helping China put a major chokehold on free internet use?  Without a VPN, citizens are doomed to the restrictions that China put on their search engine and under the Great Firewall.

            In recent news, it has been reported that Western news apps and human rights magazine have also been forced off the shelves. They include New York Times, Voice of Tibet, Radio Free Asia, and Bitter Winter (a magazine about religious liberty and human rights). Apple has been anything but forthcoming about its censorship to protect its interest in sensitive markets, even at the expense of human rights and free access to unbiased news.

Google: The New Great Firewall

            With the help of Google, China is creating a new search engine that censors everything the government deems sensitive.  That would be encompass subjects of political activism, human rights, religion, and Taiwan’s independence, to name but a few.  This search engine is known as Project Dragonfly.

            The state has even been practicing with Bing, the search engine powered by Microsoft.  While Microsoft did not build a pre-censored search engine, they have been censoring search results in China for years.  Searching for a sensitive topic like the Dalai Lama brings up no relevant results.  This trend is consistent across other topics like the Tiananmen Massacre or Falun Gong.  With Bing, the Chinese people are not allowed to read up on content that deviates too far from state propaganda. 

Conclusion

            When governments require corporate compliance to enter its domestic market, businesses are bound to comply. This stands true not only for colossal giants, but smaller companies as well.  Examples include Evernote, who pulled an Apple and handed all their data to Tencent, one of the largest tech companies in China.  AirBnB was not different, upon tapping into the China market, they stored user’s data locally because of regulator pressure.

While the Internet was built to connect and liberate, it has been used extensively as a tool to isolate and control. And as more countries test out their own form of cyber-isolation, the world will become more separated.  And while we must hold the governments accountable, we must also hold their aid accountable.  Corporations are uniting to separate and censor the Internet, and it’s abhorrent. 

            Free internet should be a right.  Limiting the access to unbiased news and empowering tools is unacceptable.  Even with this in mind, countries and corporations will stop at nothing to convert this right into a privilege.