Inside China’s Propaganda and Surveillance Machine
▼ Summary
– A leaked document reveals that Chinese company Geedge Networks sells digital censorship tools to at least four countries, enabling monitoring and hacking of internet traffic.
– The leak shows that China’s censorship and surveillance technology development resembles Western practices, involving academic collaboration and adapting to client needs.
– Another leak from GoLaxy, a Chinese AI firm, exposes its work in social media analysis and propaganda generation for Chinese government and military entities.
– Both Geedge and GoLaxy maintain close ties with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and market services to provincial government agencies in China.
– GoLaxy operates like a commercial startup, with researchers from academic institutions pursuing government contracts through sales targets and client outreach.
A significant leak of internal documents from a relatively obscure Chinese firm has revealed the global marketing and export of sophisticated digital censorship tools. Geedge Networks provides what is essentially a commercial version of China’s Great Firewall to at least four nations: Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Myanmar. The leaked materials provide unprecedented insight into the company’s ability to monitor, intercept, and even manipulate internet traffic. Analysts reviewing the files have labeled the operation “digital authoritarianism as a service.”
What stands out, however, is how the development and maintenance of these systems mirror practices common among Western surveillance technology firms. Rather than being a monolithic state-run entity, China’s censorship infrastructure involves collaboration with academic institutions, adaptation to client specifications, and even the reuse of competitor hardware. For instance, leaked records indicate that in Pakistan, Geedge initially worked alongside equipment from Canadian firm Sandvine before eventually replacing it entirely.
This pattern was further emphasized by a separate leak involving another Chinese company, GoLaxy, which came to light earlier this week. Researchers at Vanderbilt University published a 399-page internal document from the firm, which uses artificial intelligence to analyze social media and produce propaganda content. The files, which include pitch decks, business objectives, and meeting summaries, appear to have been leaked by a former employee. The final pages contain allegations of unfair labor practices, including inadequate pay and excessive working hours. These documents had been publicly accessible online for months before being brought to the attention of academic researchers.
GoLaxy’s operations differ from Geedge’s in several respects. Its primary function involves gathering open-source social media data, mapping connections among political and media figures, and disseminating targeted narratives through artificially generated online profiles. The company claims to be China’s leading “intelligence big data analysis” brand, serving three major clients: the Chinese Communist Party, the national government, and the military. Its technology demonstrations frequently address sensitive geopolitical topics such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and U.S. elections. Unlike Geedge, GoLaxy appears to focus exclusively on domestic government customers.
Still, the two companies share important similarities in their operational models. Both maintain strong ties to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a premier government-aligned research institution. Each also markets its services to provincial-level government bodies, which have both the need for localized monitoring and budgets to fund such tools.
GoLaxy did not respond to a recent request for comment. In earlier statements to other media outlets, the company denied targeting U.S. officials with data collection and dismissed related reporting as misinformation. Vanderbilt researchers noted that the firm removed several webpages following initial news coverage.
The parallels between these companies and Western tech firms are striking. In many countries, academics often commercialize their research by launching startups or consulting ventures. GoLaxy appears to follow a similar path, many of its lead researchers also hold positions at CAS.
However, affiliation with a prestigious institution does not guarantee government funding. Just as a U.S. professor cannot assume federal contracts for a private venture, CAS researchers must compete for government deals like any other commercial entity. One leaked document reveals that GoLaxy set a sales target of 42 million RMB (approximately $5.9 million) for its team in 2020. A later spreadsheet from 2021 lists current clients, including military branches, state security agencies, and provincial police departments, alongside prospective customers still being pursued.
(Source: Wired)
