This is big: Looks like China's cyberspace regulator, the CAC, is changing course on data security to make it easier for foreign businesses to get their data out of the country. Rumor has it that Li Qiang, China's business-friendly premier, is behind the move. A thread. 1/23 First, this is the source document I'm talking about today. A quick note that this document is a draft open for public comment - it has not been finalized: 2/23cac.gov.cn/2023-09/28/c_1…

Bloomberg's coverage of China's latest rules re:internet restrictions for minors: "Among other things, 'non-adult' children won’t be allowed to access the internet from mobile devices from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am." Er, not quite what the doc says. 1/21 bloomberg.com/news/articles/… First things first, the source: Bloomberg is talking about this draft policy, released by China's internet watchdog (CAC) on Aug 2: . If you're not a Chinese speaker, fire up Google translate and read it - it's not too hard to parse. 2/21cac.gov.cn/2023-08/02/c_1…

Hold on to your hats: it looks like China's sci-tech innovation system is in for a major reorganization next week. A thread. 1/x Recap: China's government usually gets restructured once every 5 yrs. That means agencies get moved around and merged, new bodies get created, etc. Last time this happened was 2018, and it was a big deal. 2/x thediplomat.com/2018/03/chinas…

Dear everyone who thought the Chinese government would never get rid of Covid health code apps because they are too delicious a citizen control mechanism: The Chinese government is starting to get rid of health code apps. 1/x According to an official announcement, on December 13 at exactly midnight, it looks like the national health code Tongxin Xincheng Card travel tracking app 通信行程卡 will go offline. 2/x mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7F_RwN1Hmx9R…

Here we go. A bunch of Chinese gov agencies just jointly released a draft of a new "Social Credit System Construction Act" for public comment. The doc is huge. 1/x mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Up64GnBaiD5g… The short version: This is the most complete accounting of the social credit system yet. The draft law outlines the government's responsibility to push forward the development of the social credit system and effectively entrench it into the fabric of Chinese governance. 2/x

A few thoughts on tech from Xi's 20th Party Congress speech, which just wrapped up after a merciful 2 hours: 1/x 1. A reference to "personal information" was included in the section of the speech that covers national security. That tells me tensions between data protection and open data flows will continue to intensify. 2/x

In case you haven't heard yet, Elon Musk penned an article for the official magazine of China's cyberspace regulator, the CAC. If you don't know why this is the most hilarious thing on the internet today, some context... beijingchannel.substack.com/p/elon-musks-a… 1/x Backstory: Lots of government agencies in China publish their own periodicals. Mostly, they're full of government puff pieces. But sometimes, there's clues in there about upcoming regulations or crackdowns. 2/x

So... that happened. Last Wednesday, Beijing’s Municipal government released a four-year action plan on developing the “digital human industry” — yes, that means 3D avatars typically powered partially by AI and partially by performers. 1/x jxj.beijing.gov.cn/zwgk/zcwj/bjsz… And yes, China has a digital human, um, "industry" — albeit a very nascent one. There are more than 288,000 digital human-related enterprises in China, 90% of which were established within the last 5 years. 64% were established in the last 12 months. 2/x

If you're not following this, you should be: word on the social media street is that China's police force (MPS - Shanghai) database was hacked, with the personal information and case records of 1 billion citizens, and the records are for sale on Telegram - 23TB of data. 1/7

https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1543700689611792386

It's hard to parse truth from rumor mill, but can confirm file exists. If the source is indeed MPS, that would be, erm... bad, for a number of reasons. Most obviously, it would be among biggest and worst breaches in history. Alleged screenshots: 2/7

https://twitter.com/TuomasLinLi/status/1543589371676266497

1/ China's new policy restricting minors from participating in livestreaming are super interesting. What stood out: The rules forbid apps from using some of the UI / interface reward mechanisms that entice young users to tip influencers. A thread. cac.gov.cn/2022-05/07/c_1… 2/ First, some background: While US internet rules tend to focus on protecting kids from cyberbullying and sexual predators, China's rules historically focus more heavily on preventing internet addiction in kids.

1/ Is China's tech crackdown fever finally breaking? Today, China's top econ czar told regulators to back the hell off tech companies... kinda. A thread with the deets and some thoughts. news.cn/politics/leade… 2/ This morning, China’s economic tsar, Vice Premier Liu He, called a meeting of the country’s top financial policy-making body – the Financial Stability and Development Committee (FSDC). Top of the agenda: Stabilizing capital markets.

1/ A lot to unpack here. Agree: China is trying to thread the needle between personal privacy and national security data protection, while not killing off innovation - a tightrope that is very, very hard to walk.

https://twitter.com/AngelaZhangHK/status/1493020259179429890

2/ Also agree that over-restricting businesses from accessing, collecting, and transferring data will hurt bottom lines in the short term. But: What we are seeing now is the very beginning of Beijing's multi-decade plan aimed at activating the power of data for economic growth.

1/ Look at this doozy one of our @triviumchina researchers just turned up - a new Shanghai advertising policy says that influencers are responsible for false claims they make about the products they promote. Background and thoughts below. scjgj.sh.gov.cn/207/20220207/2… 2/ The logic is based in traditional advertising rules:
In China’s Advertising Law, “spokespeople” bear some responsibility for the validity of the claims they make about a product. According to the new rules, influencers are “spokespeople" - not just regular salespeople.

The hits just keep on coming. On Friday, China's cyberspace watchdog (CAC) released draft rules governing "deep synthesis tech" - deepfakes and other machine-generated or -edited text, voice, video, and 3D spaces. Paraphrasing the key points below. 1/18
cac.gov.cn/2022-01/28/c_1… This doc puts rules around how deepfake apps, question-response bots, text-to-speech generators, voice / facial / gesture manipulation, etc can be used. Will impact the creators of core tech, and platforms where such content can spread - including metaverse platforms. 2/18

On Monday, Shanghai's trade unions submitted a proposal to China's top policy advisory body, suggesting that platform workers should be given a voice in how dispatching algorithms are deployed by internet companies. Thoughts and quotes below. 1/11
acftu.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0118/c… The proposal specifically addresses algorithms that determine delivery schedules for gig workers — like restaurant delivery, freight drivers, couriers, and ride-hailing drivers. 2/11

Yesterday, CPPCC bigwig and econ policy advisor Liu Shijin published an essay outlining the next evolution of China's digital economy — it's a pretty enlightening read. Good bits below. 1/12 finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2022-01-1… Backstory: Lately, Chinese policymakers have been vocally critical of the ways in which the digital economy cannibalizes the real economy. Examples: e-commerce decimates offline retail, or tech startups hog all the capital while traditional SMEs struggle to get funding. 2/12

Well, here they are. Yesterday, China's cyberspace watchdog, the CAC, finalized China's groundbreaking new rules on recommendation algorithms. They take effect in early March. Thoughts on the final version below. 1/11 cac.gov.cn/2022-01/04/c_1… If you're new to this conversation, here's what I posted on the draft version a few months ago. 2/11 👇

https://twitter.com/kendraschaefer/status/1431134515242496002

On LinkedIn's exit from China: Last month, Xiao Yaqing, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, had a video call with Brad Smith, president of MS US, to discuss "in-depth views on ... Microsoft's development and cooperation in China." 1/13 miit.gov.cn/xwdt/gxdt/ldhd… Naturally, we don't know what was said during that meeting. Did Xiao insinuate they should get out of social? Totally unrelated? Who knows. What we do know is that LinkedIn is facing increasing regulatory pressure on multiple fronts. 2/13

My goodness. China's cyberspace watchdog, the CAC, just published a long (and unprecedented) set of draft regulations for recommendation algorithms. The short version: they will be tightly controlled. Key points below. 1/ cac.gov.cn/2021-08/27/c_1… Most interesting to me: Users must be provided with a convenient way to see and delete the keywords that the algorithm is using to profile them. 2/

Here it is! The final text of China's Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL). A quick off-the-cuff translation below of what was changed or added to the final draft. 1/ npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/202… 1. If personal information is used in automated decision-making [example: marketing / ad algorithms, personalized product recs] , the decision-making must be transparent, and can't be used to impose different transaction terms on different individuals. 2/

What does "decoupling" even mean? Is there consensus around a set of metrics that would define it? Maybe I'm not talking to the right people, but no one in my industry has been able to tell me with any conviction what decoupling is, much less whether or not "it" is even possible. Does 'decoupling' mean less trade? How much less? In what sectors exactly? Does it mean less investment? What do you mean "investment"? Does it mean keeping each other's technology out of each other's networks? What technology? What networks?