China Push Internet and Social Media Surveiiance to the limit// Promoting Steem on Twitter
I was scrolling through Twitter a couple of days ago and ran into a tweet by Ezra Levant. In case you don't know him, he's a Canadian media personality, political activist, writer, and broadcaster. He describes himself as a "Rebel Leader" in his Twitter bio and judging by the way he tweets, he will inevitably be subjected to oppression by mainstream media. It would be nice for us to bring him over here but I digress.
In one of his tweets, he uploaded a video of a Chinese citizen who was picked up by the police, chained to a chair and basically coerced to accept whatever the police says because, lets face it, if you were strapped to a chair and your life was threatened, you'd say whatever your captors say.
Poor Luhua strapped helplessly to a chair
In the video you can find here, you will see the police questioning the young man named Luhua about comments he made in private conversation on WeChat. The poor guy was strapped to a chair, looked absolutely petrified and would say anything the police wanted to hear if it would let him go home and take care of his sick father.
In this BBC podcast by Karoline Kan, she discusses the way the ban works and how people can get into trouble with the authorities by posting sensitive words and the fact that "it’s common for social media companies in China to remove content that is perceived to be threatening to social stability or the ruling Communist Party". A fancy way of saying, shitting on your fundamental human right; your freedom of speech.
A similar model but one with even harsher penalties is threatening free speech in Nigeria and as I documented here, threatens to "rid" the internet of false news and propaganda by the very same overpaid politicians that ride the wave of propaganda.
Depending on where you are, it may not be an immediate threat but it feels like it is only a matter of time before they come for you or your loved ones. So my deduction is that even the things we think we say in private are being watched, so Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with their "end to end" encryption are probably all compromised.
Promoting Steem on Twitter
In every disappointment, there's an opportunity and I think the steem community can use the recent wave of banning and censorship to our advantage by giving people in countries like this and abroad a platform to air their views without fear or prejudice.
Promoting Steem is a collective effort and people like @stephenkendal @theycallmedan @ocd @clixmoney and a host of others are constantly spreading the word about the platform. If you're on Twitter, please come join the party. All you have to do is include or follow either of #steem, #posh #steemit, and #steempeak tags to meet other Steemians there and keep the conversation flowing.
Join the "I ❤ Steem" hosted by @stephenkendal by including the phrase "I ❤ Steem" to your Twitter name
Promote your Steem content on Twitter using #posh and #steem or #steempeak tag. Sponsored by @ocdb @ocd
Use the tag #promo-steem on your steem articles and posts that have to do with promoting steem on other platforms. Sponsored by @theycallmedan
I gained 15 new followers through my interaction with Steem and other cryptocurrency nerds, moving my follower count to 1023. Links to some of my tweets are below,
https://twitter.com/belemo__/status/1202241306577293312
https://twitter.com/belemo__/status/1202221033232711680
https://twitter.com/belemo__/status/1202117752791719936
https://twitter.com/belemo__/status/1201950419783733250
You can also find me on;
Shared on Twitter
https://twitter.com/belemo__/status/1202274750111682560