Editor's note: Da Lu, a special commentator for CGTN, is the director of the Country Studies Center, Institute of Human Rights, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, and an associate professor at the center. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

In recent years, Western media and political circles have relentlessly crafted a "digital authoritarianism" narrative in an attempt to pigeonhole China with this label. In reality, as a country committed to the rule of law, China's governance of cyberspace, like that of any other nation, is founded upon and implemented through its legal framework. The so-called absolute freedom of speech championed by the West has never been truly realized, even in Western countries themselves; this is, in essence, yet another manifestation of their entrenched double standards.

China's freedom of speech has clear constitutional protection and lawful boundaries

China's protection of freedom of speech is not an empty promise but a constitutional commitment. Article 35 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China explicitly stipulates: "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech." This constitutes the fundamental legal basis for the broad freedom of speech exercised by Chinese citizens.

Freedom in any rule-of-law country is never absolute or unconstrained. The legislative purpose of the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China, as amended in 2025, is precisely to "ensure cybersecurity; safeguard cyberspace sovereignty and national security as well as the public interest; protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations; and promote the healthy development of economic and social informatization."

The Cybersecurity Law clearly defines the lawful and unlawful boundaries of online conduct. Its regulatory targets are never normal expressions of opinion, but rather illegal and harmful information such as rumor-mongering, cyberbullying, terrorist propaganda, incitement to hatred and invasion of personal privacy. This principle of defining freedom through law and safeguarding order through the rule of law is a common feature of modern state governance.

The West itself imposes harsh, non-transparent controls on online speech

The "absolute freedom of speech" does not exist in Western reality. The practices of Western countries demonstrate precisely that every sovereign state will draw red lines in cyberspace based on national security and public interest.

Germany's Network Enforcement Act imposes fines of up to 50 million euros (around 57 million) on social media platforms for manifestly unlawful hate speech and disinformation, requiring that clearly illegal content be removed within 24 hours; for less obviously unlawful content, the platform has seven days to investigate. The law applies to social media networks with 2 million or more registered users in Germany.

The United States effectively empowers platforms to delete and moderate content at will through Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which broadly immunizes them from liability for both hosting third-party content and removing objectionable material. Meanwhile, US government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency are reported to have long been deeply involved in social media's content moderation.

At the EU level, the Digital Services Act has been in full force since February 17, 2024, establishing binding obligations on very large online platforms to address illegal content, including hate speech and disinformation, and requiring transparency in content moderation.

Compared with China's open, law-based governance, Western platforms mostly conduct behind-the-scenes deletions and algorithmic throttling through internal "community guidelines" that use opaque standards, non-transparent procedures and few effective judicial remedies for users. This mode of allowing private corporations to control public discourse without adequate checks is the real threat to freedom of speech.

China's cyberspace is an open channel for public opinion and oversight of public power

In China, the internet is the most vibrant platform for citizens to participate in social governance. Online political consultation, government affairs disclosure and leadership message boards operate with high efficiency, with tens of thousands of public appeals receiving government responses.

On Zhejiang's "Zheliban" app, parents can complete all newborn registration procedures with a single "fingertip" application, with documents mailed to their doorstep, benefiting approximately one million families. Such cases fully demonstrate that internet governance does not suppress public opinion but instead safeguards citizens' lawful right to participate in public affairs.

By contrast, while some Western countries profess to champion democracy and human rights, freedom of speech and creative expression are increasingly constrained within their own borders. Western mainstream media present negative narrative frameworks in their China-related reporting, selectively magnifying isolated incidents while ignoring overall development. They even ban documentaries that present a nuanced picture of China – such as French director Jean-Michel Carré's "Inside Tibet," a documentary about Xizang Autonomous Region, co-produced by a Franco-German public broadcaster and subsequently banned from broadcast by the very same channel. This precisely exposes the hypocrisy of their "freedom of speech" rhetoric, wielded as a tool of political manipulation.

The so-called digital authoritarian narrative is a politically motivated smear that ignores both the realities of China's law-based governance and the West's own regulatory practices. China's approach seeks to safeguard the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech while maintaining a healthy online ecosystem, public interests and national security.

Double standards steeped in such hypocrisy cannot deceive an increasingly discerning international community, nor can they hinder China's legitimate and lawful efforts to advance cyberspace governance. China's continued progress in building a secure, orderly and vibrant digital space, together with the tangible results it has delivered to society, constitute the most powerful rebuttal to such falsehood.

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