China has published a draft of its new Cybercrime Prevention and Control Law. Tools that help people bypass internet censorship would be explicitly defined as illegal.
For years, authorities have said that using VPNs or other anti-censorship tools was against the rules. But enforcement usually relied on vague laws or unrelated charges. This draft changes that. It directly targets the act of bypassing internet restrictions itself.
At the same time, China’s censorship system (GFW), is presented as legitimate infrastructure meant to protect cybersecurity and maintain order online.
The draft also introduces something more unsettling. It offers financial rewards for reporting people who bypass restrictions, with payouts of up to 500,000 yuan.
Just recently, we covered how Russia began issuing fines for VPN promotion. China now appears to be taking things further by putting the ban into clear legal language. First it’s advertising. Then it’s usage. Eventually, it becomes normal that accessing the open internet is treated as illegal activity.
If this law passes, bypassing censorship will no longer sit in a gray area. It will be clearly defined as a crime.