China’s new centralized digital ID system could become de facto compulsory, deepening the CCP’s ability to reshape public thought by controlling information flows.

By Katrina Northrop | Contributor: Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei, Taiwan | The Washington Post 

July 16: China has long mastered what was once considered impossible: Completely controlling the internet within its borders. On Tuesday, Beijing will take another step toward centralizing its power over the web, introducing a government-run digital ID system that will enable it to even more closely censor and surveil the country’s 1 billion internet users.

In Brief by Probe International

China is launching a centralized digital ID system, requiring users to submit biometric data (including facial scans) to obtain online access, ostensibly to enhance data privacy by shielding personal information from companies while granting the government exclusive oversight—including the ability to unmask real identities behind online accounts across all platforms.

Critics warn this move consolidates Beijing’s surveillance power, enabling personalized censorship, “digital exile” (locking individuals out of essential services), and heightened risks of data breaches, despite Beijing framing the change as a “protective shield.”

The system, though voluntary, may become de facto mandatory, reflecting the CCP’s strategy to control information flows and reshape public thought by erasing any illusion of online anonymity, building on its existing real-name registration framework. 

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