It also helps them develop their own sovereign Internet ecosystem. They have their own search engines, e-mail providers, social networks, video sites, that can develop at their own pace without being trampled by giants from Silicon Valley and being subject to their algorithms like in the rest of the world.
Believing China doesn’t have a capitalist-driven Shenzhen and doesn’t have a robust, sophisticated set of their own algorithms to contain and deliver social media is bewildering to me.