When China’s prodigious tech influencer, Naomi Wu, found herself silenced, it wasn’t just the machinery of a surveillance state at play. Instead, it was a confluence of state repression and the sometimes capricious attention of a Western audience that, as she asserts, often views Chinese activists more as ideological tokens than as genuine human beings.
Given how much the CCP controls China, you’re always a bit suspicious that any cool content from there is actually state-sponsored (TikTok seems to have a lot of channels like that). That was the first impression I got from the first video I saw of sexycyborg and I’m sure that a lot people dismissed her for similar reasons. But if you learn about her story, it all seems legit and she’s a very inspiring hacker.
If the CCP wants you gone, they can have you gone, just like that. The only thing that keeps them from putting people like Naomi away permanently is international pressure. I’m worried for her, because I don’t think that will hold for much longer.
A brave woman doing her very best in very difficult circumstances
