China’s Communist Party to Deploy Big Data System to Catch Corrupt Officials
China deploys big data surveillance system to monitor Communist Party members’ online activity and detect corruption, bribery, and nepotism.
The Chinese Communist Party is developing a computer system that will use big data to monitor the online activities of party members and detect evidence of corruption, according to Nikkei. The move signals an intensification of President Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-graft campaign, with party officials set to face heightened scrutiny of their digital footprints for signs of bribery and nepotism.
The planned surveillance system would analyse online behaviour to identify wrongdoing among party members, Nikkei reported. The initiative comes after Xi, who also serves as secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party, called for comprehensive and strict party governance at the fifth plenary session of the party’s Central Committee in October.
The fifth plenum, held in October, served as the political backdrop against which the new surveillance measures are being framed, according to the report. Xi’s remarks at the session underscored the leadership’s continued emphasis on internal party discipline as a governing priority.
The big data system represents an expansion of the tools available to party disciplinary authorities, moving beyond conventional investigative methods to incorporate automated monitoring of members’ digital activity. Officials, companies and individuals whose conduct raises flags in the system could face investigation for offences including bribery and nepotism, Nikkei said.
