Internet users from China have not been able to use Internet services for years, without which the rest of the world cannot imagine its life for a long time.
A filtering and blocking system called the “Great Chinese Firewall” has protected them from Google, Facebook, YouTube and many other foreign sites.
Chinese developers tried to fill the national network with their own similar products, but their compatriots were ready to get into the “external” Internet by any means, despite the prohibitions and even the threat of imprisonment. In the fall of 2020, they had a chance to do this without breaking the law: the Tuber browser became available in China absolutely legally, allowing them to look behind the virtual “wall”.
However, the joy of the newfound freedom was short-lived: at first the program stopped working, and soon completely disappeared from the app store. What Tuber gave to millions of users, why it disappeared and who needed it.
During 2020, the Chinese government constantly discussed the concept of a “new infrastructure” involving extensive use of digital technologies in the economy, but there was no talk of any changes in Internet censorship. An additional mystery was the recent launch of the Weixing browser: advertising publications claimed that it could be used to access YouTube, Steam, Twitter, Instagram and other sites. It was reported that it will help Chinese users “open their eyes” to the world.
It seems that all these releases are attempts by the Chinese authorities to change the tactics of dealing with the Internet. In a country where, despite the legal prohibition of circumvention of locks, many use special programs and still access the global network, apparently, they decided to create comfortable conditions for circumventing virtual borders. However, the idea of controlling citizens and the content they consume has clearly not been abandoned.