Within the global cyberspace, i.e. the immense network of networks and systems that allow the Internet to exist, China has erected an impressive security system to isolate its cyber space from the rest of the world, building one of the most controversial and sophisticated digital barriers of the 21st century: the Great Firewall. This system is part of an extensive digital security project initiated by the Chinese government in the early 2000s with the intention of controlling the country's ever-expanding digital landscape. Just as the ancient Great Wall of China protected China from invaders from the north, the Great Firewall aims to block content considered politically dangerous to the stability of the regime. Through a complex system of IP address blocking, prohibited keywords, and censorship of Western sites considered dangerous, the Chinese government manages to control the IT life of 1.4 billion citizens, excluding and totally blocking all the central IT platforms on the Western web in China: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Google are just some of them.

The Chinese authorities have encouraged the development of similar and parallel platforms, exclusively available in Chinese and intended for Chinese citizens: these include WeChat, Weibo and Baidu. These platforms are surveillance tools that comply with strict censorship regulations and fully respect the guidelines imposed by the Chinese Communist Party, even to the detriment of users' privacy. Technological control and the ideological narrative proposed by these media have made the Great Firewall an indispensable tool to reinforce the government's internal authority. However, there are critical issues: circumvention technologies, such as VPNs, are able to circumvent central security systems, allowing some citizens to access content on the western web. At a time when the Internet is considered a frontier of freedom, the Great Firewall stands as a powerful barrier.