Many years ago (in the mid 1990s, at the dawn of the modern internet) I read a book called "Orwell's Revenge."
It was about how Orwell was wrong, how the internet was going to usher in a new age of freedom, how the authorities couldn't control the new networks. It was pretty much the essence of "Can't stop the signal, Mal."
But what the author failed to understand was that the system COULD be used to create exactly what Orwell dreaded, and in fact could become more intrusive than Orwell even believed was possible. Winston Smith in "1984" thinks that one never knew when the telescreen was being monitored. There might be a member of the Thought Police looking in on you, there might not be, so best to behave. But software doesn't sleep, and we carry our telescreens with us. Those cameras in China are always looking, and the systems behind them are getting better and better at spotting anything untoward. China is just doing what many in power in the West wish they could do. It's a way of ensuring that there's never another threat to their power.