I'm well aware of this. I do not believe the propaganda is aimed at them.
Violent revolution is not going to come from that demographic. What the government is worried about is the less-educated, general population having unfiltered access to certain 'unpleasant' pieces of information. The gov't is concerned about uprisings like what has been going on in Xinjiang. It is not concerned so much about some Chinese ibanker learning that a bunch of people died in Tiananmen Square in 89. The ibanker already knows that.
Tiananmen Square was a direct result of young well educated people taking a stand. Educated people are behind a lot of the world revolutions and I think the non violent revolution is probably more dangerous to China to the interests of Chinese leadership than a purely military coup.
Anyway, my point is the lack of a language barrier means a site like HN is as dangerous to the Chinese government as better regulated site within their borders. While the government has significant military power, you can’t keep a billion people in check without some control over how they think. So even with the Great Firewall of China popular world opinion is still important because it shapes how people inside China think.
PS: Also you can easily come up with a post that is corrosive to the Chinese government which does not touch any of the current third rail issues in such a way that automated software could detect what is going on. EX: An academic discussion of the economic costs of export oriented monetary policy where china’s is not even mentioned.
