US tech firms sold surveillance systems used by China to suppress dissent and minorities
An Associated Press investigation found that American tech companies, particularly IBM, designed and built China's surveillance state over the past 25 years in partnership with Chinese police, enabling widespread human rights abuses including suppression of dissent and detention of minorities in Xinjiang. The investigation reviewed tens of thousands of documents including classified records and internal emails, and found some American firms actively marketed surveillance systems to Chinese authorities despite knowing of their use for oppression.
What happened
Over the past quarter century, American tech companies, particularly IBM, designed and built China's surveillance state in partnership with Chinese police and state-owned defense contractors, an Associated Press investigation found.
AP journalists reviewed tens of thousands of documents including classified government records, internal emails from surveillance companies, and marketing materials from policing trade expos, with some materials obtained from whistleblowers.
American tech companies not only knew of how their technology would be used but some directly marketed their systems to Chinese police as tools for controlling citizens, according to the investigation.
Reported impact
Across China, tens of thousands of people tagged as troublemakers are trapped in a digital cage, barred from leaving their province by the world's largest digital surveillance apparatus.
The Yang family, farmers in Jiangsu province seeking to petition the government over land seizure, have been subjected to intensive surveillance including cameras in their home, monitored communications, and repeated detention attempts when attempting to travel to Beijing. Yang's wife and younger daughter now face trial for disrupting state work, a crime carrying up to a decade in prison.
Index analysis
US tech companies sold billions of dollars of technology to Chinese police, government and surveillance companies despite warnings of its use to suppress dissent and target minorities, particularly in the far western region of Xinjiang during a government crackdown.
Landasoft, a Chinese surveillance company and former IBM partner, sold software used to flag and detain people in Xinjiang.
Governance controls
IBM and other companies responding to the investigation stated they fully complied with all laws, sanctions and U.S. export controls governing business in China, past and present.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.