Early on, the narrative around the internet was that it would be unfettered and borderless, a global commons. That didn’t last long. Chinese President Xi Jinping has led the way in asserting what’s become known as cybersovereignty. That means government control over how the internet is run and used, as well as what happens with the troves of user data generated – an immensely valuable resource in the digital economy. Other authoritarian regimes have followed suit. The U.S. and other democracies also have taken steps to secure control over local data, including going after Chinese-owned apps such as TikTok, even as they defend an open internet as promoting free speech and innovation. Perhaps a divide was inevitable as it became clear the internet isn’t just a pipeline for exchanging information but also a powerful tool for economic and political purposes.
The model embraced in China combines strict data controls with sweeping content curbs. Services from Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and other U.S. companies are kept out (which also cleared the way for pliant, domestic tech giants such as Weibo, Baidu and WeChat to emerge). A 2017 law requires that personal data generated in-country be stored in-country — and be accessible on demand to state officials. U.S. officials justified their attack on TikTok by saying the data it collected on American users could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, making it a national security threat. Meanwhile, the CLOUD Act empowers U.S. authorities to order American technology companies to hand over data stored anywhere in the world. Such moves have countries in Europe and elsewhere worried about threats to their sovereignty and their ability to protect sensitive or commercially valuable information. (More than 100 countries have some sort of data sovereignty laws in place, according to David Gilmore, chief executive officer of DataFleets Ltd., an enterprise software firm.) Russia’s “sovereign internet” law allows authorities to track and selectively block information flows nationwide, and even disconnect from the outside world in a crisis. Cybersovereignty has also been portrayed as a form of techno-nationalism, with India, for example, banning dozens of Chinese-made apps in June as border tensions flared between the two neighbors.
