China Passes One of the World’s Strictest Data Privacy Laws

China approved a sweeping privacy law that will curb data collection by technology companies but is unlikely to limit the state’s widespread use of surveillance. The national privacy law closely resembles the world’s most robust framework for online privacy protections, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, and contains provisions that require any organization or individual handling Chinese citizens’ personal data to minimize data collection and to obtain prior consent. Major provisions within the law include limits on facial recognition technology, regulation to prevent algorithmic discrimination online, and the option for consumers to opt-out of personalized marketing. Unlike in Europe, where governments face more public pressure over data collection, Beijing is expected to maintain broad access to data. Though the new privacy rules could allow China’s central government to control how lower-level agencies use and share data, nothing suggests “anything resembling legal limits on government surveillance,” said Karman Lucero, a fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. “Chinese civil society still has very limited means of ‘watching the watchmen,’” he added.