• ComradeSharkfucker@lemmy.ml
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    14 days ago

    National security through the control of information. The internet has been used in the past by imperialists to foment discontent and even stage color revolutions. Just look at the entire social media site ZunZuneo created by the CIA to attempt a color revolution in cuba.

    I assume it’s the same reason china has their firewall

    • Inui [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      13 days ago

      It’s also a good strategy to push for domestic innovation, as long as your country has plans and resources to follow through.

      Like, banning Chinese electric cars in the US only hurts citizens because the US doesn’t even have the ability to manufacture competitive products. They have no realistic plans to change this.

      Banning US social media in China worked because they are educating their own software developers who then created similar alternatives.

      The latter is harder to do if your citizens or parts of your societal infrastructure rely on an existing technology from a country like the USA. Look at the proliferation of WhatsApp across many Western European countries, but also places like Nepal. Business owners, from large chains to individual trekking guides, rely on it for communication and similar apps for payments. A domestic product for Nepalese people would have to have millions of marketing dollars to break through that existing barrier.