Despite privacy limitations, the Chinese digital ecosystem has fostered innovations that have certainly outperformed its Western counterparts. The development of Mini-programs has allowed local companies to create agile and flexible services that can be seamlessly integrated into users’ daily lives. In addition, these Mini-programs have reduced the need to download and manage multiple applications, something that is beginning to be replicated by platforms in other countries, one example being Facebook, which has been trying for years to integrate mini-applications within the same environment, but has not had much success.
The future of the Internet in China seems to esinc email list be heading towards greater international visibility, since the country already has a local tool that solves the digital life of users. With the growing dependence on platforms such as WeChat, it is likely that the strategy of ignoring or closing access to international services will continue, promoting a parallel Internet that exclusively serves the needs of the Chinese market.
Conclusion
The Internet in China has become more than just a tool for accessing global information. Under the influence of the Great Firewall and government control policies, the country has developed its own closed digital ecosystem, where apps like WeChat and its Mini-programs dominate citizens’ daily lives. While this model offers enormous convenience, it also raises serious concerns about privacy, control, and digital freedom. The Internet in China is, in effect, a national intranet, a carefully controlled digital space that reflects both innovation and restrictions. My personal view of this approach is that it is not far removed from Western proposals, from companies like Google or Facebook, which also aim to bring together users’ digital lives with in-app solutions or large integrations of companies with mutual interests.