China is selling its 'Big Brother' surveillance technology to a country with a poor human rights record

Diego Azubel/Reuters

• By 2030 China plans to build a $150 billion industry by becoming a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence. 
• China seeks to continue its already sizable investment in Africa, and many parts of Africa are now essentially reliant on Chinese companies for their telecoms and digital services. 
• CloudWalk Technology, a Chinese start-up, signed a deal with the Zimbabwean government to provide a mass facial recognition infrastructure.
• China has previously used this type of mass surveillance technology to target particular social groups, such as ethnic minorities and those who pose political threats to the government, and is looking to sell this technology despite Zimbabwe’s bleak human rights record. 

Editors Note: This article was written before the Zimbabwean election. As of this posting, we have not received an update on the election's impact on the deal between CloudWalk Technology and the government of Zimbabwe.