[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H4634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CENSORSHIP BY THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

  (Mr. Davidson of Ohio was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. DAVIDSON. Madam Speaker, last month, a small plane crashed into 
one of the tallest buildings in Beijing, China, during Friday rush 
hour. The pilot was killed, and 13 people were injured. This happened 
in the center of a city of more than 20 million people. Thousands of 
people nearby saw the plane strike the building. People on the street 
heard the impact and recorded the aftermath.
  In the United States, an event like this would receive wall-to-wall 
coverage, and videos would be spread across social media within 
minutes. However, in Beijing, the government made it nearly impossible 
for anyone who was not there to even know that it happened.
  Posts about the crash vanished from Chinese social media, and 
searches for the building returned only older results. Police prevented 
people from taking pictures and ordered witnesses to delete footage. 
Even though China's national broadcaster sits across the street from 
the crash site, state media failed to inform the Chinese public about 
what happened.
  Because China's censorship apparatus links police surveillance with 
telecommunications networks, search engines, social media platforms, 
and state-controlled media, it allows the authorities to identify and 
suppress information that could embarrass the Chinese Communist Party 
or undermine their preferred narratives with frightening efficiency.
  China has used these methods before. During the 2022 lockdown 
protests, videos disappeared from Huawei phones without warning, 
deleting picture and videos from their phones and even preventing 
citizens from preserving or sharing what was happening.
  George Orwell warned about this sort of coercive power. Now this 
dystopian system is even more efficient and powerful with modern 
technologies, smartphones, search engines, surveillance cameras, and 
government controlled platforms. China has shown how effectively this 
machinery can erase the truth, and other governments are now creating 
such systems that can be used in the same way.
  The European Union is building the legal and regulatory framework to 
control online speech not just in the European Union but across the 
West, trying to pressure platforms even in the United States. Through 
the Digital Services Act, regulators can pressure these platforms to 
remove or suppress content that conflicts with their official 
narratives on elections, public policy, or other political issues.
  Companies that resist can face penalties tied to their global 
revenue, giving governments enormous leverage over what people are 
allowed to see online. The United Kingdom has incorporated digital ID 
and is already jailing thousands of its citizens each year for 
disfavored speech.
  In the United States, how could such a thing happen?
  We have the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment protecting speech, 
but it was already well underway. When Elon Musk bought Twitter, the 
Biden administration was working to build a Disinformation Governance 
Board to coordinate their rapidly expanding censorship operations. 
Orwell referred to this kind of apparatus as the ministry of truth.
  Unfortunately, Musk's ownership of Twitter only exposed the truth 
that even a change of administration has not halted the surveillance 
state here in America. Under the same guise of protecting kids used by 
the U.K., the USA just passed a digital ID bill under the guise of 
banning Central Bank Digital Currency. The United States effectively 
set a go-live date for CBDC in 2030. Under the old ruse of security and 
public safety, Palantir and Flock have an all-seeing-eye network 
expanding around the country.
  These are just some of the tools used in China, and, unfortunately, 
some of the same companies are using these same tools here in the 
United States and across Europe.
  As James Madison astutely noted in Federalist No. 51: ``If men were 
angels, no government would be necessary.'' Well, if men were angels, 
then the PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 
would have never been abused. The abuse was not only foreseeable, 
because even good men are prone to abuse power, but it happened. If it 
were still happening, then how would you know, Madam Speaker? These 
tools are very effective. The old maxim: Power corrupts, but absolute 
power corrupts absolutely rings true.
  Around the world, technology is being turned against the citizens of 
each country by those in power. A comprehensive system of surveillance, 
coercion, and control is being built. If we cannot see it, then it may 
already be too late.
  Freedom surrendered is rarely reclaimed, and with every vote and 
every dollar, it is now time for this Congress to insist that good 
governments defend freedom.

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