Anton / Pexels
The Chinese internet and social media ecosystem is a heavily censored pool, one that aggressively bans and removes any content that is deemed unaligned to the government policies. One of the reasons why Western social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram could never make an inroad in the market is due to that extensive censorship and local data regulation laws.
Meta, however, was reportedly eager to enter the Chinese market and with such eagerness that it was willing to share user data with the Chinese government and create a complex censorship filter, as well. The revelations come as part of a complaint filed by a Meta whistleblower, which contained internal documents and communication viewed by The Washington Post.
Filed before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by former Director of Public Policy at Facebook, Sarah Wynn-Williams, the 78-page complaint that the social media juggernaut created a China-favoring censorship system in China in hopes of launching Facebook in the country.
Please enable Javascript to view this content
What was Project Aldrin?
According to The Post, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company also “planned to install a “chief editor” who would decide what content to remove and could shut down the entire site” during times of social unrest. The company is claimed to have created a dedicated team for its planned China operations as part of an internal project codenamed “Aldrin.”
But more than just creating a censorship system, Meta also was reportedly willing to stifle dissent against the government. “Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg also agreed to crack down on the account of a high-profile Chinese dissident living in the United States following pressure from a high-ranking Chinese official the company hoped would help them enter China,” says the report citing the complaint.
Furthermore, the company was even willing to loosen its privacy rules and grant the Chinese government access to data covering China as well as Hong Kong-based users. The plans kicked into motion in 2014, but were ultimately abandoned in 2019 when diplomatic relations between the US and China were strained.
Meta won’t be the only player with such ambitions. Back in 2018, Google was reportedly working on a heavily censored version of Search under the codename “Project Dragonfly,” but the plans were ultimately put on cold ice. As of 2025, AI is the new tech hunting ground, and the spectre of Chinese censorship is clearly visible on products such as the DeepSeek open-source AI model
.
Nadeem is a tech and science journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started…
Here’s how Pixel 6 and Galaxy S21 users can live the MagSafe life like me
The other day, if you were scrolling through Twitter and avoiding Eternals spoilers and politics, you might have seen a tweet from David Imel from the MKBHD team. He was checking out the latest Pixel 6 and a Moment case, and he noticed that Moment seemed to have included MagSafe-compatible magnets with the case. Sure enough, he popped it on a MagSafe charger, and not only did the charger stick, it started charging the phone. You can watch the video below.
So Moment Pixel 6 cases work with MagSafe. You can charge your phone, use the wallet, other accessories.
This is hilarious but also amazing. pic.twitter.com/sYuzfXsQ3I
— David ImeI (@DurvidImel) October 20, 2021
Read more
Apple might have a way to boost battery life in the iPhone 17 Air
Everyone is excited to learn about the ultra slim iPhone 17 Air that Apple is working on, but many people have expressed concerns about its potential battery life, given the small amount of space that will be available for a battery within the device. With a reported thickness of just 5.5mm, and apparently a large screen of up to 6.7 inches in size, the iPhone 17 Air seeks to cram a lot of functionality into a very slim form.
But with a thin device always comes a tricky problem: how to fit in a battery large enough to hold a reasonable amount of charge. According to industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 17 Air will solve this problem by making use of a high-density battery.
Read more
Google Maps’ new feature sees Android play catchup to iOS
Android users are getting their first glimpse of a new operating system feature while using Google Maps, as the app is the first to make use of the Live Updates ability that was added for Android 16. The feature will give users updated information in their status bar so they can keep track of ongoing activity such as following directions using maps.
Similar to Apple’s Live Activities system, the Android function can potentially be used by a range of apps but has first been seen in Google Maps. “Live Updates are a new class of notifications that help users monitor and quickly access important ongoing activities,” Android developers explained in a post highlighting the feature when it was first announced.
Read more
