When does censorship aid the public and when does it control them
There is a fine line between claiming censorship in the name of protecting the people and censorship to maintain government ideals. While there are harmful things that come out of the internet, without clear rules anything can be taken down as the government sees fit.
Young people in China "have serious questions about future prospects of their lives" and "must confront the fact that their livelihood is very likely going to be worse than their parents' generation," Simon Sihang Luo, an assistant professor of social sciences at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, tells the BBC. (Ewe & Chia, 2025)
Censorship is not new to the Chinese internet. Anything that suggests criticism of the Party, its leaders, or touches on controversial topics that have political implications, quickly disappears.
What is unusual about this campaign against pessimism is that it seems to target a range of online behaviour that could create or add to a sense of negativity.
This month, the Cyberspace Administration said it would mete out "strict punishments" against social media apps Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou and Weibo for failing to rein in "negative" content, such as "sensationalising celebrities' personal updates" and other "trivial information".
"The expression of pessimist sentiments doesn't necessarily mean a fundamental rejection of participating in the labour market and society at large," says Dr Luo.
But being deprived of "relief after venting these sentiments", he says, "might make it even worse for their collective mental status"
And recent research shows that there indeed is growing pessimism about future prospects in China. Experts say the Party is well-aware of it, which is why it is trying to crack down on the evidence. But will that work?
"If anything, contemporary Chinese history has repeatedly demonstrated that top-down ideological campaigns can hardly eradicate the social roots of problems," says Dr Luo.
On the surface, the new policies seem to have the quality of the mental health of the Chinese people at it's core. However, through the examples given in the article, we see that sometimes in the name of protection, it can go to far. Some see these new policies as a way for the Chinese government to control online discourse, limit dissent, and maintain social stability by suppressing pessimism or negativity.
After reading this article I'm left thinking about what designers can do to minimize controlling users and rather trying to enhance their lives. There are always going to be harmful designs in the world but after reading this article we need to be very careful of how project a design so that no loopholes can come out of it.
References
Ewe. K & Chia.O, (September 25, 2025). China launches campaign to keep killjoys off the internet. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39r7p47wzgo
ADEK BERRY/ AFP, (January 15, 2025). Getty Images. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/photo-illustration-shows-a-woman-holding-her-smartphone-news-photo/2193437148?adppopup=true
