China’s new Web ID tightens government’s grip on online activity

Officially aimed at information security and fraud prevention, the system in practice prioritizes state oversight over individual privacy, argue Altynay Junusova and Wendy Chang.

A popular Chinese influencer known as FeiCai (“Useless Guy”) had his social-media account blocked in recent months after promoting “lying flat,” a trend among young Chinese to embrace a simpler life over intense societal and economic pressures. He was one of several online voices targeted for content deemed socially destabilizing. This type of campaign is commonplace under China’s strict internet censorship, aided by widespread real-name registration rules – and only a taste of what authorities could do if Beijing keeps pursuing its ambition to exert even more direct control over how people use the internet. 

China’s new National Internet Identity policy (国家网络身份认证) is voluntary for now, and officially targets information security and fraud prevention. But the system consolidates user data and gives various government agencies, including the police, increased power to track users’ activity across platforms, remove their anonymity, and restrict them if they make statements deemed unacceptable. It does so by shifting verification from private companies like Tencent, which owns the platform WeChat, and Xingyin, which owns Xiaohongshu (Red Note), to the centralized control of the and other agencies.

Available as an app, the Internet ID or Web ID (English translations vary) requires personal information, a legal identity document and facial recognition to sign up. It provides each user with a “web number” and “web certificate” (网号+网证) that allow them to access multiple sites without separate registrations. In practice, this means a user’s identity travels with them across social media, government sites and commercial platforms, allowing every online action to be traced back to them. This gives authorities unprecedented insight into digital behavior – and the opportunity to control users like FeiCai across all their online accounts.

Web ID was presented by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and CAC in 2024 and rolled out nationwide in July 2025, following testing and regulatory planning. By August 2024, it was already running on a trial basis on more than 80 apps and platforms, including WeChat, Xiaohongshu, e-commerce site Taobao, Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), China Railway, and various government services. CAC has since directed all State Council agencies – the national-level bodies in charge of everything from healthcare to postal services – to also use the system. Web ID could quickly become a part of everyday life – and a de facto standard.

Web ID builds on the “Great Firewall,” China’s nationwide system for keeping information deemed sensitive outside the domestic internet and censoring what circulates inside it – an apparatus Beijing has honed since the early 2000s. Users in China, including foreigners, already provide real identities to access sites, and an army of censors removes politically or culturally “inappropriate” content. Tech firms are also legally required to share data with the government upon request. Recently, the CAC introduced rules to further tighten oversight of personal data processing by large online platforms. Web ID now consolidates all online activity under a single, traceable ID, further prioritizing national security over individual privacy.

Supporters argue that the system protects personal data, describing it as a “bulletproof vest” under state oversight. But critics note that the same infrastructure allows authorities to suppress unwanted journalism and opposition, once again conflating public safety with political control. The new system risks leaving citizens “completely laid bare,” exposing their political views and personal habits, according to an article in the French newspaper Le Monde. Even VPNs will offer less protection to journalists, activists or lawyers as Web ID becomes more integrated, making anonymous access all but impossible.

Web ID will also strengthen China’s goal of using data as a strategic resource, especially for AI development. Centralized data could help train more powerful AI models and speed up AI adoption across industries. But data centralization also creates a single point of failure for cybersecurity – the kind that that led to the 2022 Shanghai police data breach, which exposed the information of over a billion people in 2022. Some 6 million users have signed up for the Web ID pilot program since 2024, and a database that could quickly encompass much – and perhaps one day all – of the population would require a significant buildout of cyber resources. 

Digital identity tools, like “seamless” passkeys, are increasingly used in Europe, often without users being aware. They are managed by private companies and comply with the EU’s strict data-protection rules. By contrast, China’s Web ID links every online action to a person’s real identity and puts this information in government hands. And there are many ways the use of a system that prioritizes state oversight over individual privacy could spread: foreign car makers operating in China could be forced to use Web ID to link vehicles to digital services, and Beijing could push Belt-and-Road partner countries to adopt it.