Edward Snowden Uses Xi Jinping’s China To Highlight Censorship Peril: Twitterati Asks ‘Isn’t It Similar To Your Friend In The Kremlin?’
Self-proclaimed CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who was recently granted citizenship by Russia, took to Twitter on Saturday to warn of a far graver threat than censorship.
“What disturbs me more is not the censorship itself, but how it shapes the ideology of people,” Snowden tweeted. His comments came as he quote-tweeted an AFP story that discussed government surveillance by the communist regime in China, led by President Xi Jinping.
Although China’s communist leaders have been authoritarian, the situation worsened after Xi took over in 2021, as he reined in the freewheeling social undercurrents of the turn-of-the-century using a combination of “technology, law and ideology” to squeeze dissenters, the AFP report said.
“What disturbs me more is not the censorship itself, but how it shapes the ideology of people.
With dissenting information being eliminated, every website becomes a cult, where the government and leaders have to be worshipped.”
A global concern.https://t.co/UXO77WRHiT
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 15, 2022
Snowden’s comments did not make sense to a Twitter user.
“Isn’t it similar to your friend in the Kremlin. He is somewhat of a cult-like figure and the censorship is also the same. How come China bothers you but Russia doesn’t?” the user said.
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