michael caster
@mcaster.bsky.social
490 followers 500 following 56 posts
Head of Global China Programme @article19.bsky.social. Cofounder/advisor @safeguarddefenders.bsky.social. Other stuff. He/him.
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Reposted by michael caster
Reposted by michael caster
article19.bsky.social
What does China’s influence in digital governance and cybersecurity say about its wider global ambitions?

ARTICLE 19’s Michael Caster outlines the threats to democracy and human rights – and what the international community can do to protect free speech.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
The Growth of Chinese Digital Norms
Podcast Episode · The Fletcher Forum Podcast · 09/08/2025 · 45m
podcasts.apple.com
Reposted by michael caster
rsf.org
RSF @rsf.org · Aug 13
#UK: RSF and press freedom NGOs, including Article 19, urge State Secretary Lisa Nandy to pause and investigate the planned #Telegraph sale to an investor with reported close ties to the Chinese regime, warning robust safeguards are vital to protect editorial independence.
Reposted by michael caster
emilyywu.com
I caught up with @mcaster.bsky.social and I-Chen Liu of @article19.bsky.social on their 2025 report on China's Digital Digital Silk Road: "Cybersecurity with Chinese Characteristics". We talked about UN, ASEAN, the upcoming Hanoi Convention. Have a watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t5a...
Digital Silk Road: how China's reshaping the global digital norm
YouTube video by 鬼島之音 Ghost Island Media
www.youtube.com
Reposted by michael caster
icij.org
ICIJ @icij.org · Jun 13
A new report by @article19.bsky.social traces how China’s targeting of protesters has evolved since the Tiananmen Square massacre into part of a sophisticated transnational repression campaign using harassment, violence and surveillance. #ChinaTargets

Read more:
New report details Beijing’s targeting of protestors abroad - ICIJ
ARTICLE 19, a freedom of expression advocacy organization, documented heightened transnational repression during state visits, echoing the findings of ICIJ’s China Targets investigation.
buff.ly
Reposted by michael caster
mcaster.bsky.social
Please join us on June 4TH for an @article19.bsky.social webinar & report launch: From #Tiananmen to transnational repression - #China's assault on the right to protest. I'm excited to be joined by experts @zhoufengsuo.bsky.social @zumretayarkin.bsky.social & @aimenlau.bsky.social QR 4 registration!
mcaster.bsky.social
This is not the first time #TeacherLi has been subjected to a 'search suggestion ban' during a high-profile protest anniversary. The same thing happened last year during the anniversary of the White Paper Protest. www.article19.org/resources/ch...
China: X must immediately end shadow ban of prominent human rights account - ARTICLE 19
ARTICLE 19 calls on X to immediately end the shadow ban of ‘Teacher Li is not Your Teacher’ account.
www.article19.org
mcaster.bsky.social
On the eve of the #Tiananmen anniversary, @whyyoutouzhele
X account - renowned for protest related content - is again shadow banned, amid some 800 inauthentic Teacher Li accounts. Fake accounts game the algorithm to silence expression. It is part of Beijing's arsenal of influence.
Reposted by michael caster
thecfhk.bsky.social
🔥FLAME OF FREEDOM: @zhoufengsuo.bsky.social recalls meeting a #HongKonger in #Beijing in 1989, the spirit of resistance that united them, and how it lives on through Chow Hang-tung and others who refuse to forget the #TiananmenSquareMassacre.

Read the blog: thecfhk.org/the-spirit-o...
mcaster.bsky.social
Please join us on June 4TH for an @article19.bsky.social webinar & report launch: From #Tiananmen to transnational repression - #China's assault on the right to protest. I'm excited to be joined by experts @zhoufengsuo.bsky.social @zumretayarkin.bsky.social & @aimenlau.bsky.social QR 4 registration!
Reposted by michael caster
aimenlau.bsky.social
I will be speaking on June 4th, 2025 about transnational repression against PRC dissidents alongside some stellar panelists for @article19.bsky.social, please join us if you can!

@mcaster.bsky.social
Reposted by michael caster
mtacalendar.bsky.social
New event!
📆4th June
🕛Midday UK time

@article19.bsky.social launch new report "From Tiananmen to transnational repression China's assault on the right to protest" w/ @aimenlau.bsky.social @zumretayarkin.bsky.social @mcaster.bsky.social
@zhoufengsuo.bsky.social
rom Tiananmen to transnational repression - China's assault on the right to protest

Details
Join our expert panel to mark the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre and the launch of ARTICLE 19's new report

 

Zhou Fengsuo
Executive Director, Human Rights in China; President, Humanitarian China; former Tiananmen protester

Ai-Men Lau
Former Doublethink Lab Social Engagement Team Lead and adviser to HK Alliance Canada Hong Kong

Zumretay Arkin
Vice President, World Uyghur Congress

Michael Caster
Head of Global China Programme, ARTICLE 19

Wed, 04 Jun
12:00 - 14:00 BST
Online
Reposted by michael caster
Reposted by michael caster
ifex.org
IFEX @ifex.org · May 2
#China 🇨🇳 @globalvoices.org interviews @mcaster.bsky.social of ARTICLE 19 about the importance of looking into the digital security norms increasingly imposed by China in the larger Asia-Pacific region.

buff.ly/kENeHEA @article19.bsky.social
"As China strikes cooperation agreements with countries along the Digital Silk Road relating to AI enabled tools and technologies while concurrently promoting its own “best practice”, we are likely to see greater adoption of China-style AI enabled techno-authoritarianism." Michael Caster, Head of Global China Programme, ARTICLE 19
Reposted by michael caster
emilyzfeng.bsky.social
”The sacrifices that RFA reporters make knowing they’re the last line of defense for their countrymen are often unimaginable…Now these brave journalists…may be silenced by the very nation whose belief in press freedom inspired them in the first place.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/o...
Opinion | Trump Is Silencing Radio Free Asia. Now China Doesn’t Have To.
The U.S. government’s dismantling of Radio Free Asia means giving Beijing’s propaganda free rein.
www.nytimes.com
mcaster.bsky.social
This is beyond outrageous! #HongKong authorities have sunk to a new despicable low in their escalating transnational repression in arresting the father and brother of human rights defender in exile Anna Kwok, executive director of Hong Kong Democracy Council. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Hong Kong police arrest father and brother of wanted activist Anna Kwok
Hong Kong national security police have arrested the father and brother of wanted activist Anna Kwok for allegedly dealing with her finances, local media reported on Friday, in the first use of the city's security law on family members.
www.reuters.com
Reposted by michael caster
Reposted by michael caster
article19.bsky.social
New event: Join @engagemedia.org for Cybersecurity with Chinese Characteristics: Digital Governance in the Indo-Pacific and the Taiwanese Alternative

📆May 5 | 2PM BKK time

🗣️With @mcaster.bsky.social, Lulu Kang, and OPEN Culture Foundation Board Member Liu I-Chen.
engagemedia.org/2025/drapac-...
mcaster.bsky.social
US State Dept country "human rights reports" to drop virtually all reporting on rights violations. This is not only an abdication of responsibility to hold foreign perpetrators accountable but also a harbinger of the likely increase in domestic rights assault in US. www.npr.org/2025/04/18/n...
The State Department is changing its mind about what it calls human rights
The agency's annual human rights reports are being purged of references to prison conditions, political corruption and other abuses.
www.npr.org
Reposted by michael caster
handle.invalid
@mcaster.bsky.social warns that Xi Jinping’s Southeast Asia tour could deepen digital repression. China’s push for tech cooperation with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia risks exporting surveillance and censorship models. www.article19.org/resources/ch...
China: Southeast Asia visit raises alarm over digital repression - ARTICLE 19
As Xi Jinping visits countries in Southeast Asia, ARTICLE 19 warns about the risk of growing digital repression in the region.
www.article19.org
Reposted by michael caster
badiucao.bsky.social
I am deeply grateful and honored to have such powerful support from 40+ organisations from around the world stand in solidarity as I face legal harassment in relation to my recent protest art 'Here and Now' in Hong Kong.

www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/04/the-...
Reposted by michael caster
indexoncensorship.org
We join 40+ organisations standing in solidarity with artist, political cartoonist and activist @badiucao.bsky.social, who faces ongoing harassment for his work. Art Innovation Gallery must immediately drop their legal threats against him:
www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/04/the-...