Inside Tibet, people live in a vigorously designed, managed and curated information bubble that the Chinese government made to subjugate Tibet and its people. China’s Internet censorship system, colloquially known as the “Great Firewall,” has suppressed freedom of expression and strictly monitored the information that could be accessed by its citizens.

The Great Firewall was established in 1998, when the Ministry of Public Security launched the Golden Shield Project, a giant mechanism of censorship and surveillance aimed at restricting content, identifying and locating individuals, and providing immediate access to personal records. In 2013, administration of the Great Firewall shifted to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Regulation over Internet access has grown more comprehensive, specific and extensive with the State Council giving the CAC overall responsibility for Internet supervision.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rule has been characterized by the acceleration of artificial intelligence, repression of society and ideological control. His tenure in China has seen a combination of communication crackdown, ramped-up propaganda and rapid expansion of surveillance with the introduction of continuous efforts to bring new laws and changes in the CAC.

According to Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2023 report, Tibet is the least free territory on Earth. Tibet has a global freedom score of one out of a possible 100. This is the third straight year that Tibet has been at the bottom of the rankings. The world is blocked from knowing anything about Tibet, aside from what is available on official propaganda.

Restricting VPNs and censoring information is not the way forward for a country trying to seek global limelight and portray itself as a rising world leader. Rather, the latest restrictions would further isolate China from the rest of the world, limiting its ability to learn about the world and share its opinions. The Chinese government should realize that without free and open access, the Internet can become a medium for government propaganda to hide information, and in some cases can fuel disinformation about any number of topics. There is a more possible way online ideas may also turn into offline activism.