World Internet Development Report 2022: Blue Book for World Internet Conference 9819953855, 9789819953851

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Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies

World Internet Development Report 2022 Blue Book for World Internet Conference

World Internet Development Report 2022

Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies

World Internet Development Report 2022 Blue Book for World Internet Conference

Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies Beijing, China

ISBN 978-981-99-5385-1 ISBN 978-981-99-5386-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5386-8 Jointly published with Publishing House of Electronics Industry The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland) please order the print book from: Publishing House of Electronics Industry. © Publishing House of Electronics Industry 2024 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

Our world today is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, with international landscape, contemporary trend and historical course tremendously reshaped. New-round scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation that feature digital technologies reconstruct global innovation landscape. The world enters a new historical stage of digital transformation in an all-round way, and profound changes take place in the models of social production, lifestyle and governance. Simultaneously, the pandemic unseen in a century remains unabated, and the RussianUkrainian conflict keeps flaring up. The weak and faltering global economic recovery is compounded by more complex and volatile international environment. The uncertainty and instability of global development intensify, and the problems of imbalanced development, incomplete rules and unreasonable order in the Internet field become more prominent. These pose new requirements for global Internet development and governance. Opportunities and challenges coexist, and peace and development constitute the themes of the times. We earnestly compile World Internet Development Report 2022 (hereinafter referred to as “the Report”) to analyze, summarize and evaluate world Internet development, aiming to represent the status quo of world Internet development and reveal the trends of world Internet development in an objective way in 2022. (1) The Report demonstrates the latest practice of building a community with a shared future in cyberspace. Cyberspace relates to the destiny of mankind. The future of cyberspace should be jointly created by various countries in the world to actualize global consultation and cooperation for shared benefits. This tallies with both the opportunity of history and the mission of the times. The Report mirrors how various countries actively explored the development path, jointly promoted global economic recovery, tackled risks and challenges, discussed world Internet development, constructed new international order in cyberspace, and shared new achievements in world Internet development under complex international circumstance in the past year.

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(2) The Report grasps the trends of world Internet development and displays new initiatives and advancements of Internet construction in various countries. The Report showcases the characteristics of world Internet development. In the past year, the layout of global Internet infrastructure accelerated, and the competition for IT innovation heated up. Digital economy became a new engine to drive the recovery of world economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, and digital transformation quickly progressed. Internet media developed in a diverse way and furnished more paths for exchanges and construction among global civilizations. Meanwhile, the fragmentation and polarization of cyberspace deteriorated. It means an urgent task for multilateral parties in cyberspace to strengthen exchanges and cooperation and build a new cyberspace order that is more equitable, inclusive, secure, stable and dynamic. (3) The Report strives to illustrate new landscape and characteristic of world Internet development in a comprehensive, accurate and objective manner. Focusing on the status quo and trend of world Internet development, the Report optimizes the index system of world Internet development, and systematically evaluates Internet development in 48 representative countries in five continents from six dimensions, i.e., infrastructure, innovation capacity, industrial development, Internet application, cybersecurity and cyberspace governance. The Report deeply analyzes the highlights in eights aspects, i.e., information infrastructure, information technology, digital economy, digital government, Internet media, cybersecurity, rule-of-law construction in cyberspace and international cyberspace governance, in a bid to reflect new circumstances, problems and requirements of Internet development in major countries in the world more comprehensively, accurately and objectively. The Report truthfully records the progress of world Internet development in 2022. In the future, we will attach more attention to the trend of world Internet development and contribute Chinese wisdom to boosting the construction of a community with a shared future in cyberspace. Beijing, China August 2022

Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies (CACS)

Contents

1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 World Internet Development in 2022 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Information Infrastructure is Optimized and Upgraded and the Commercial Deployment of Satellite Internet is Accelerated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 The Development of Digital Technology Enters the Fast Lane and the Use Case of AI Technology Broadens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.3 Digital Economy Promotes Global Economic Recovery and Regional Digital Divide Enlarges . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.4 The Construction of Digital Government Steadily Improves and Various Countries Accelerate Strategic Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.5 With the Diversified Development of Internet Media, Social Media Become the Main Battleground for Public Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.6 Cybersecurity Faces High Risks and Attack-Defense Confrontation in Cyberspace Intensifies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.7 The Legislation in Cyberspace Accelerates and the Regulation of Digital Market Intensifies . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.8 International Competition in Cyberspace Intensifies and the Influence of Non-state Actors Increases . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries . . . . . . 1.2.1 Index Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 GIDI System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 Analysis of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1.4 The Trends in World Internet Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 The Competition and Confrontation Concerning the Dominance of Digital Technology Intensify and Necessitate Inclusiveness, Cooperation and Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.2 Digital Technology Continually Injects Strong Momentum into Global Economy and Necessitates Integration & Innovation-Driven Development . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.3 The Phenomenon of Digital Divide Means a Continuous and Dynamic Process and Requires Long-Term Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.4 The Evolution and Upgrading of Cybersecurity Risks Necessitate a Secure and Stable Cyberspace Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.5 The Application of New Technologies Causes New Problems and Necessitates Building a Win–Win Governance Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2 The Construction of World Information Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 The Construction of the Communication Network Infrastructure is Accelerated and Upgraded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 The Construction Global 5G Network Quickens . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 The Proportion of Optical Broadband Network Keeps Rising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 The Number of IPv6 Users and the Deployment Rate of IPv6 Progress Steadily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4 Various Countries Accelerate the Deployment of Satellite Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.5 Global Satellite Navigation Market Comes to the Stage of Rapid Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 The Construction of Computing Infrastructure is Continuously Enhanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 Cloud Computing Service Market Grows Stably and Cloud Native Technology Develops Rapidly . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 The Demand for Data Center Market Grows Robustly . . . . . 2.3.3 Global Competition in Supercomputing Intensifies . . . . . . . . 2.4 The Construction of Application Infrastructure Accelerates . . . . . . . 2.4.1 Various Countries Actively Further the Development of IoT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.2 Industrial Internet Maintains Innovation-Driven Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.3 Global IoV Industry Comes to a Stage of Rapid Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 World Information Technology Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Basic Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 High-Performance Computing Completely Reaches the Exascale Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Integrated Circuit Technologies and Products Keep Changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Software-Technology Innovation Diversifies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Cutting-Edge Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 AI Accelerates Innovative Iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 Quantum Information Experiment and Theory Develop Synchronously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 New Technologies and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Continuous Achievements Are Attained in the Combination or Integration of IT and Biotechnology (BT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Blockchain is Gradually Applied to Various Fields . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 The Idea of Metaverse Sparks Market Attention . . . . . . . . . . 4 World Digital Economy Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 The Development Trend of World Digital Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 The Development of World Digital Economy Accelerates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Regional Digital Divide Continuously Enlarges . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Various Countries Actively Launch Relevant Development Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Digital Industrialization Develops Steadily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Basic Telecom Industry Continuously Progresses . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Electronic Information Manufacturing Grows Solidly . . . . . 4.3.3 Software & IT Service Industry Develops Rapidly . . . . . . . . 4.3.4 Internet Information Content Service Industry Grows Rapidly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Industrial Digitalization Continues to Deepen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 The Proportion of Industrial Digitalization Continues to Increase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 The Scale of Global Industrial Internet Market Keeps Growing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Industrial Digital Transformation Achieves Remarkable Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 The Innovation on Fintech Continuously Advances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.1 Blockchain Finance Develops Vigorously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2 Digital Payment Has Broad Prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.3 Embedded Finance Comes to Rise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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4.6 E-Commerce Maintains Rapid Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.1 Global E-Commerce Realizes Sustainable Growth . . . . . . . . 4.6.2 Mobile E-Commerce Grows Rapidly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.3 The Transformation of Global E-Commerce Pattern Accelerates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5 World Digital Government Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 The Reform and Innovation on Digital-Government Strategies and Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Relevant Development Strategies, Policies and Regulations on Digital Government Are Continuously Optimized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 The Innovation on Digital-Government-Related Mechanism Continues to Emerge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 The Construction of Infrastructure and the Application of Digital Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 Regional Information Infrastructure That Supports International Government Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 The Construction of Government Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.3 The R&D, Application and Supervision of Digital Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 The Use of Open Government Data and the Governance of Cross-Border Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.1 Government Data Opening & Sharing Continuously Progresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.2 The Development and Utilization of Government Data Resources Continue to Deepen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.3 Cross-Border Data Management is Affected by Regional Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.4 The Security of Government Data and the Protection of Personal Privacy Receive Wider Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Online Government Services and Collaborative Governance Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5.1 Online Government-Service Level Continuously Rises . . . . 5.5.2 The Development of Digital Technology Sustainably Improves the Capability of Collaborative Governance . . . . . 5.6 The Development of Digital Society and the Digital Literacy of Citizens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6.1 Under the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Various Countries Quickly Enhance the Capacity in the Construction of Digital Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6.2 Bridging the Digital Divide and Improving Citizen’s Digital Literacy Arouse Great Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5.6.3 Various Countries Vigorously Build Smart Cities and Promote Sustainable Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 6 World Internet Media Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 The Development Pattern of Global Internet Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Global Digital Media Field Keeps Expanding . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Streaming Media and Digital Entertainment Develop Rapidly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.3 The Vision of Metaverse Attracts Global Attention . . . . . . . . 6.3 Multiple Governance of Western Internet Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 Cross-Border Data Governance of Internet Media . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 Content Governance of Internet Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.3 The Algorithm Governance of Internet Media . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Hot Topics of Global Internet Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 Beijing Winter Olympics Arouses a Heated Discussion Among Global Internet Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Catalyzes the Vision-Led “Cyber Cognitive Warfare” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.3 The Rise of Generation Z Reshapes Global Internet Media Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.4 The Acquisition of Twitter May Affect the Pattern of Global Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7 World Cybersecurity Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 The Development of Global Cybersecurity Encounters a New Situation of Militarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 The Attack-Defense Confrontation in Cyberspace Plays an Increasingly Important Role in Modern Warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.2 Frequent Supply Chain Security Incidents Highlight the Importance of Supply Chain Security Management Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.3 That Various Countries Augment the Construction of Cyber Forces Intensifies the Militarization Trend in Global Cyberspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.4 The Game in Cyberspace Accelerates the Pace of Fragmentation in Global Cyberspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.5 Hacker Organizations Play a More Important Role in the Attack-Defense Confrontation in Cyberspace . . . . . . . 7.3 The Risks and Threats to Cybersecurity Remain Prominent . . . . . . . 7.3.1 Typical Risks and Threats to Cybersecurity Continue to Evolve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 Risks and Challenges in Key Industries of Cybersecurity Continue to Emerge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7.4 Various Countries Constantly Strengthen Strategic Planning and Deploy Major Tasks in the Field of Cybersecurity . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.1 Solidifying the Strategic Position of Cybersecurity . . . . . . . . 7.4.2 Optimizing Cybersecurity Management and Guaranteeing Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 Cybersecurity Industry Maintains a Trend of Healthy Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.1 The Market Scale of Cybersecurity Industry Continues to Grow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.2 Cybersecurity Insurance Industry Becomes a New Hot Field in Cybersecurity Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.3 Cybersecurity Investment and Financing Remain Active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6 Phased Breakthroughs Are Made in Cybersecurity-Technology Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6.1 5G Cybersecurity Evaluation Makes Headway . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6.2 Major Breakthroughs Are Achieved in the Cybersecurity of Post-quantum Cryptography . . . . . . . 7.6.3 Privacy Computing Develops Toward Technological Security and Platform Interconnectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7 Remarkable Results Are Achieved in the Training of Talents and the Improvement of Skills in the Field of Cybersecurity . . . . . . 7.7.1 Global Gap in Cybersecurity Talents Remains Huge . . . . . . . 7.7.2 The Trend that Governments Play a Leading Role in Cybersecurity Talents Training Becomes More Obvious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7.3 The Training of Cybersecurity Talents Continuously Improves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 World Rule-of-Law Construction in Cyberspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 The Situation of Cybersecurity Becomes Serious, with the Legislation on Cyber Sovereignty Intensified . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 Safeguarding the Sovereign Security in Cyberspace and Strengthening the Management of Critical Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.2 Strengthening the Protection of User’s Information and Privacy and Launching Data and Cybersecurity Governance Simultaneously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.3 Adjusting the Organizational Regulations of Cybersecurity Departments and Enhancing the Control on Key Industrial Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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8.3 Cybercrimes Become Complex and Legal Sanctions Become Diverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.1 Combating Cybercrimes with Multiple Means and Purifying Cyber Environment in an All-Round Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2 Constructing Administrative Responsibility System and Strengthening the Responsibilities of Internet Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.3 Enhancing the Management of Internet Information Content and Highlighting the Protection of Rights and Interests of Special Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 The Weight of Digital Economy Rises and the Legislation on Market Supervision Intensifies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.1 With Anti-monopoly Regulatory Measures Upgraded, the Competition in Digital Market Heats Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.2 With IP Management Enhanced, the Protection of Digital Copyright is Normalized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.3 Digital Finance Thrives and Various Countries Explore Regulatory Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5 Technological Development Poses Challenges to Traditional Law and the Demand for Cyber Legislation in Various Countries Surges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.1 The Idea of Metaverse Emerges, with Priority Given to the Rule of Industrial Self-Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.2 The Type of Digital Assets Diversifies and the Legislation on NFT Varies in Different Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.3 The Pace of Algorithmic Legislation Accelerates, with a Consensus on Anti-algorithmic Discrimination . . . . . 8.5.4 Various Countries Vigorously Support AI and Highlight Ethical Standards in Legislation and Supervision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 International Cyberspace Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Annual Features of International Cyberspace Governance . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 The Pandemic Unseen in a Century and the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Are Intertwined, Bringing New Challenges and Opportunities for International Exchanges, Cooperation and Governance in Cyberspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 The Influence of Non-state Actors on the Development and Governance of Cyberspace Continues to Enlarge . . . . . .

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9.2.3 Major Countries and Regions Deploy the Cooperation and Governance of Digital Economy and Cybersecurity in Indo-Pacific Region . . . . . . . 9.2.4 Various Parties Vie for Dominant Position in the Development of Digital Technology and the Formulation of Standards & Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 Progress on Major Issues of International Cyberspace Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.1 Cross-Border Data Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.2 Digital Technology Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.3 Digital Currency Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.4 Internet Platform Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.5 Cybersecurity Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Chapter 1

Overview

Presently, human society undergoes an era in which the international landscape, contemporary trend and historical course tremendously change. New-round scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation develop rapidly. Commonly acknowledging that the level of Internet development embodies national comprehensive strength, various countries actively promote strategic layout and contend for the dominant position in IT development. Generally speaking, Internet advances in twists and turns and develops in competition. The construction of infrastructure like 5G, IPv6, satellite Internet, IoT and industrial Internet continues to progress. Deeply integrated with emerging technologies like AI, quantum computing and blockchain, the construction of infrastructure sustainably boosts the development of digital industrialization, enhances traditional industries, drives the growth of the digital economy and injects new vitality into global economic recovery. Internet media develop in a diverse way, with multiple development paths of cultural communication and media convergence. As various countries step up efforts in strategic planning and layout of cybersecurity, the cybersecurity industry maintains a healthy development trend, and security-protection capacity continues to improve. The ruleof-law construction in cyberspace steadily advances, with more efforts invested in protecting cybersecurity and data privacy and combating cybercrime. Various countries make remarkable achievements in international governance of such issues as cross-border data, platforms and cybersecurity, which further reshapes international rules and order in cyberspace. Simultaneously, uncertainties that arise from the complex international landscape enlarge significantly. The once-in-a-century pandemic continues unabated, and humans face new risks and challenges. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict erupted, which has a widespread impact on information technology, digital finance, cybersecurity, international cyberspace governance and other fields. Globally, the crisis of the supply chain intensifies, and the instability of digital finance increases. Social media become the main battleground for public opinion. In cyberspace, the trend of fragmentation emerges, which necessitates building a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly international order in cyberspace. Cyberspace concerns the destiny © Publishing House of Electronics Industry 2024 World Internet Development Report 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5386-8_1

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of humans, and peace and development remain the theme of the times. Hopefully, various countries around the world take joint efforts to promote extensive consultation via dialogue and exchanges and enlarge shared benefits with practical cooperation, so as to build a more unprejudiced, inclusive, stable and dynamic cyberspace and benefit people in the world with achievements of Internet development.

1.1 World Internet Development in 2022 1.1.1 Information Infrastructure is Optimized and Upgraded and the Commercial Deployment of Satellite Internet is Accelerated Globally, new-round scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation come to rise. New-generation information technology represented by 5G, AI, big data, cloud computing and blockchain has penetrated into all fields of economy and social life. Giving full play to the leading role of information technology, various countries continuously accelerate the construction of information infrastructure. Over the past year, global communication network infrastructure came to the stage of acceleration and upgrading, the construction of computing infrastructure continually advanced, and the construction of application-oriented infrastructure like IoT, industrial Internet and IoV quickened. The number of fixed broadband users maintained steady growth, and the proportion of optical-fiber broadband network kept rising. According to the data of Point Topic, by the end of 2021, the number of global fixed broadband connection had increased by 1.5%, reaching 1.27 billion, and the share of global FTTH/B users in the total number of fixed broadband users had reached 62.5%. The construction of the global 5G network stably progressed and entered a new stage of commercial use. Many economies started the strategic layout of 6G. Globally, 487 operators in 145 countries or regions have invested in 5G network, including technological testing, license acquisition and network planning, deployment and opening. 200 operators in 78 countries and regions have launched the network for commercial 5G that can meet the standards of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).1 Now, various countries actively deploy the development of satellite Internet and accelerate the research of satellite-Internet-technology standards, with continuous innovation in satellite application technology. The United States, Europe, Russia, Japan and other countries and regions speed up the low-orbit constellation programs. The low-orbit satellite Internet sees the stage of commercial deployment. SpaceX of the United States has actively deployed in the field of satellite Internet and proposed Starlink High-Speed Broadband Network. In 2021, “Starlink” of the United States planned to deploy 989 satellites throughout the year,

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Data Source: Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).

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with a total of 1,798 satellites in orbit.2 Currently, “Starlink” has been put into use in 36 countries, including the United States and Canada. Computing facilities become a new force for development. A multi-level computing- facility system that consists of cloud computing, data center, and supercomputing keeps evolving. The development trends of cloud-network integration, cloud-edge integration and computing-network integration become increasingly prominent. The construction of application-oriented infrastructure continues to advance, and various countries energetically boost the R&D of IoT. According to the estimated data of Markets and Markets, by 2027, the scale of the global IoT-technology market will realize 566.4 billion U.S. dollars, and the global industrial Internet platform will accelerate integrated development. IoV industry enters the fast lane of development, with the use cases constantly expanding and the commercial trend quickening. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, to expedite the development of digital economy means a global consensus. As the basic factor that determines the development of digital economy, the level of digital-infrastructure construction plays an important part in the deployment of various countries. In June 2021, the United States released the trillion-level “Build Back Better” infrastructure project and formulated a series of policies to promote the development of critical infrastructure in the future, such as 5G and AI. In February 2022, the European Commission declared that it would launch the satellite Internet project “Secured Connectivity” with a total cost of c. six billion euros to build a space-based secure communication system. In June 2022, the Japanese government announced the basic guideline for “Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation”, a policy to enhance regional vitality. As planned, 5G will cover 99% of the Japanese population by the end of 2030, and high-speed Internet communication optical fiber circuit will cover 99.9% of Japanese households by the end of 2027.

1.1.2 The Development of Digital Technology Enters the Fast Lane and the Use Case of AI Technology Broadens Currently, human society and scientific & technological development come to a crucial stage. Innovations and breakthroughs are constantly made in emerging digital technologies in many fields. IT innovation worldwide is characterized by highefficiency, multi-direction and cross-field. Over the past year, the global IT industry made steady progress, the innovation on basic information technologies such as highperformance computing, integrated circuit and software technology accelerated, the cutting-edge scientific & technological achievements continuously widened the frontiers of human knowledge, and new technologies such as AI and quantum information quickly turned to reality. The competition in the high-performance computing

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Data Source: Blue Paper of China Aerospace Science and Technology Activities 2021 released by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

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industry heats up, with the advent of exascale supercomputing. “Frontier”, a newtype supercomputer in the United States, boasts the first supercomputer that significantly reaches the exascale level. The industrial productivity of integrated circuit further improves, technological innovation and product transformation accelerate, and the new-round global division of labor and landscape of competition in integrated circuit industry intensifies. In terms of computing chip, the monopoly pattern becomes prominent, and traditional leading corporations occupy the leading position in research and development. With 5G technology deeply integrated with AI, big data and IoT, the market demand for 5G communication chip continues to be robust. The scale of memory chip market continually expands, and DRAM and NAND possess dominant market advantages. Various countries make continuous innovations on the technology of chip process, and their competition in advanced processes becomes white hot. In June 2022, Samsung announced the mass production of GAA-based (Gate-All-Around) transistor-structure 3 nm-chip, ushering in an era of GAA transistor. Simultaneously, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has a negative impact on the production of neon, palladium and other chip raw materials, which further aggravates the global shortage of chip production. With remarkable progress, AI technology plays a key role in leading the development of the world in the future. Generative AI signals a trend in technological development. No matter in micro fields like smart speech technology and protein-structure prediction or in macro fields like national defense and scientific research, AI-application achieves sustainable breakthroughs and penetrates into various aspects. In particular, AI is applied to wars in a fast way. In the case of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, AI was used to analyze data to obtain war intelligence, deep forgery and false propaganda. Various countries in the world attach more attention to quantum information research. Major breakthroughs, such as the launch of the “Micius” quantum communication satellite as well as Random Circuit Sampling and Boson Sampling Quantum Advantage Experiments successively completed by Google and the team from the University of Science and Technology of China, provide important opportunities for the research of quantum information technology. The applications of new intelligent and digital technologies derived from information technology grow rapidly. Amid the background of the once-in-a-century pandemic, digital innovative medical care & health service technologies develop against the headwinds and bring opportunities for the breakthroughs in modern medical technology. Digital technology, as one of the fields with the fastest innovation speed, the widest universality, the strongest penetration and the biggest leading role, becomes a new area that arouses widespread concern of various countries. Vying for a dominant position in the competition, various countries generally accelerate strategic deployment, especially in the fields of AI, quantum computing and other cuttingedge technologies. Many countries introduce or update AI strategies and increase the R&D investment in a sustainable way. Professional AI R&D institutions continue to emerge. Major national and international standardization organizations actively carry out AI-standard research and formulation. In June 2021, the Japanese Cabinet Office proposed AI Strategy 2021 (The Draft), which met national overall scientific & technological strategic needs such as building “Super Intelligent Society 5.0” and

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tackling global common problems and Japan’s social and economic problems, laid software & hardware foundation for the full use of AI technology, and worked out new policies and measures in educational reform, research and development, social application, digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, digital government, ethics and so on. In December 2021, the French government issued a new plan of National Strategy for AI. In the next five years, France will invest 2.2 billion euros to boost the development of AI, focusing on AI research and training. The main goals are to improve the competitiveness of French AI, build France into a leader in embedded AI and trusted AI, and accelerate the application of AI in the economic field.

1.1.3 Digital Economy Promotes Global Economic Recovery and Regional Digital Divide Enlarges Featuring digitalization, networking and intelligence, digital economy injects new momentum into global economic growth and serves as a new engine for global economic recovery. In 2022, digital economy grew against the headwinds. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, more economic activities were transferred online, which fostered new products and business forms such as intelligent terminal, telemedicine, online education, teleworking and online payment, and created new economic growth points for various economies. Meanwhile, the integration of digital technologies and industries deepened, and the scale of digital industrialization quickly expanded. In 2021, the added value of digital economy in 47 countries around the world achieved 38.1 trillion U.S. dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 15.6% in nominal terms, accounting for 45.0% of the GDP.3 As the leading effect of digital economy increases, high-income countries and developed economies have absolute advantages in the scale of digital economy, and regional gap in the development level and scale of digital economy continues to enlarge. In 2021, the scale of digital economy in developed countries was 2.98 times that of developing countries, and the proportion of digital economy in GDP in developed countries was 26.7% higher than that in developing countries.4 The value of data factor continuously expanded, playing a positive role in optimizing resource allocation, promoting collaboration and saving production costs. The digital transformation of traditional industries further accelerated. Digital economy and real economy were deeply integrated, and the era of “Industry 4.0” was about to start. The innovation on Fintech attracted more attention. As the data of CB Insights suggested, in 2021, global Fintech sector received a total of 133 billion U.S. dollars in venture capital, about three times of the amount of investment in 2020. The dependence on digital payment increased, the scale of global QR 3

Data Source: White Paper on Global Digital Economy 2022 released by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). 4 Data Source: White Paper on Global Digital Economy 2022 released by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

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code payment market expanded, e-commerce developed rapidly, and cross-border e-commerce became a new direction of development. Major countries and regions in the world give priority to digital economy in promoting economic recovery and actively carry out strategic layouts. On the basis of the advantages in domestic market, China continues to deepen the cooperation in digital economy, participates in or takes lead in the construction of global platform economy, and actively builds new pattern of coordination and joint contribution among multiple parties. Based on the advantages in international technological innovation, the United States continues to consolidate its competitiveness in global digital economy and compete for the dominance of making the rules on global digital economy. The European Union actively develops core digital technologies, constantly improves the construction of digital ecosystem, promotes the idea of “European model” of digital governance, and establishes a global leading position.

1.1.4 The Construction of Digital Government Steadily Improves and Various Countries Accelerate Strategic Layouts Under the continuous impact of the global pandemic, human’s social life and interactive model are altered. When the policies on pandemic prevention & control stand in opposition to social management, the model of digital government provides optimized solutions, and the model of government management & service becomes more intelligent and digitalized with the help of new technologies and applications. Over the past year, various countries around the world continued to improve infrastructure construction, open public data, online-service level and digital-government leadership. In major countries and regions, the overall framework of E-government took initial shape, with the turn to full-process integrated government services. The applications of new technologies mean a new direction for the construction of government-service infrastructure. Government-service platform further deepens, forming national, intensive and multi-level e-government cloud. In open public data, various countries lay equal stress on both quantity and quality and further improve the transparency of power operation. Online-government-service applications and development tools continue to grow. With more interactive platforms between citizens and governments built, citizen’s digital participation keeps rising. The utility of new technological applications continuously enlarges. Blockchain technology is applied to build new-type trust mechanism, which provides governments with new approaches in organizational procedure and information processing. IoT technology is widely used in smart cities and other fields. By analyzing and screening massive data, AI technology provides governments with more effective social and economic supervision, as well as services or functions like tracking, monitoring and identification, which enormously raise the efficiency of the supervision on government services.

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Various governments in the world generally recognize that strengthening the construction of e-government and improving the level of governmental collaborative governance play an important part in promoting the digital transformation and development of a country. Many countries vigorously enhance government’s abilities in tackling complex affairs in the fields of economic development, market regulation, social governance, public service and environmental protection. In January 2022, the United Kingdom released the fifth UK National Action Plan for Open Government 2021–2023. The Action Plan makes commitments around six aspects, i.e. open contract, open justice, algorithmic transparency & accountability, medical care, anticorruption and international illegal finance,5 so as to achieve the transparency in governmental procurement and financial allocation, solve corruption and poor financial management, further unify data standards and improve the quality of public data. In April 2022, China issued The Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Digital Government, emphasizing that the application of digital technology should be fully included in governmental management system. The Guiding Opinions establishes systematic and complete deployment from the perspective of national strategy, and comprehensively promotes the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity.

1.1.5 With the Diversified Development of Internet Media, Social Media Become the Main Battleground for Public Opinion Driven by digital technology, the world undergoes an all-round transformation in politics, economy and society, and the Internet media industry enters a new era of development. Mainstream news media remain the most trusted channels for obtaining information. Noticeably, “the logic of social media” has been deeply “embedded” and “implanted” in news production as well as the dissemination and flow of public information, and social media has become an important “player” in the news industry. The competition pattern of news media also changes. Visual social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube develop rapidly and become the preferred news source for young users. News short videos and news podcasts mushroom, and paid subscriptions steadily grow. Simultaneously, the costs of identifying user information shoot up. With the multiplication and dissemination of misleading video information, the difficulty of identifying public information increases. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the consumption habits of media users change. Influenced by the media type of user reach and the length of user consumption, digital streaming media develop rapidly, and the competition between platforms becomes increasingly fierce. 5

UK National Action Plan for Open Government 2021–2023, Updated 23 August 2022, https:// www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-national-action-plan-for-open-government-2021–2023/ uk-national-action-plan-for-open-government-2021–2023#commitment-3-algorithmic-transpare ncy-and-accountability.

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Various platforms strive to create differentiated pop content and exclusive IP to maintain user viscosity and attract new audiences. As two giants in the digital streaming media market, Netflix and YouTube still occupy most of the market share, and Netflix continues to lead the list with a content user reach rate of 81%.6 The scale of the global game market continues to grow. The total revenue of the game market reaches 180.3 billion U.S. dollars, with an increase of 1.4% over 2020. The scale of the mobile terminal-based (e.g. mobile phone) game market realizes 92.3 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 52% of the total revenue and playing a leading role in driving the growth of game market.7 As low-cost means of public-opinion interference, such as online rumor, false information, deep forgery and news leakage, are widely used, international publicopinion game based on digital media communication comes to a new stage and constitutes an important dimension that affects national security. In 2022, the RussianUkrainian conflict escalated into a full-scale “hot war”. Visual social media platforms such as TikTok and Meta became another “main battlefield”. Key opinion leaders (KOL) who were on the battlefield or concerned about the hot topic used short videos to conduct the real-time report of the war, making it the first military conflict to be globally livestreamed. Social media objectively become the main battleground and source of information in the public opinion war. Countries that own the dominant power on platforms can utilize their advantages to silence other countries, so as to obtain information dominance and win the war in public opinion.

1.1.6 Cybersecurity Faces High Risks and Attack-Defense Confrontation in Cyberspace Intensifies Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic development and geopolitical factors, global cybersecurity is harried by the complex and volatile situation. In particular, against the background of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, global cybersecurity encounters severe challenges, and the confrontation and conflict in cyberspace continue to evolve. Over the past year, the threats to global cybersecurity were upgraded. Cyber threats and risks, such as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), ransomware, high-risk vulnerability, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), phishing, counterfeit webpage and e-mail attack, remain prominent. The protection of cloud computing security proves unsatisfactory, and the cyberattack on IoV presents an upward trend. Cybersecurity threats and incidents concerning key industries, new technologies and new use cases occur frequently, and hackers who launch cyberattacks have lower threshold and adopt more radical attack methods. Cybersecurity protection shifts to zero trust security, and zero trust architecture enters a critical stage 6

Data Source: Pallotta, Kang. Squid Game is Netflix’s ‘biggest ever’ series launch. https://edition. cnn.com/2021/10/12/media/squid-game-netflix-viewership/index.html. 7 Data Source: Newzoo. The Games Market and Beyond in 2021: The Year in Numbers. https://new zoo.com/insights/articles/the-games-market-in-2021-the-year-in-numbers-esports-cloud-gaming.

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of development. Global APT attacks remain active, and key industries become hot targets. According to Global Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 2021 Annual Report of Qi’anxin, in 2021, 41% of global APT events involved governmental departments and medical & health industry, followed by science & technology, national defense, manufacturing, energy and other fields. Biopharmaceutical, aviation, blockchain and other industries became new targets of APT activities.8 Ransomware still ranks 1st in the list of malware threats, and the number of data vulnerability reports reaches a record high. The transfer and deployment of cloud platform accelerate, which raises higher requirements for the protection of cloud platform security. The market scale of Internet industry continues to grow. As the data of Gartner suggested, global expenditure on cybersecurity increased by 13% in 2021, reaching 172 billion U.S. dollars. In 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict mingled with the COVID-19 pandemic, the international landscape proved more complex and changeable, and cyberspace painted a grimmer picture. Generally recognizing that cybersecurity plays an important strategic role in national security, various countries in the world continue to strengthen the strategic layout of cybersecurity policies and focus on the protection of critical information infrastructure, supply chain security, data privacy governance and minors Internet protection. In the cultivation of cybersecurity talent, various countries formulate training and capacity-building plans, promote the training of network skills, enhance the awareness of cybersecurity prevention, meet the needs of skill training, and narrow the gap of cybersecurity talent. In August 2021, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released The Cybersecurity Workforce Training Guide, which aimed to help Internet and IT professionals improve their skills and expand their career choices in the field of cybersecurity. In November 2021, European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) published the report Improving Cybersecurity Awareness, which intended to help the EU member states improve their citizen’s cybersecurity capacity. The United Kingdom launched the “Internet Explorer” Program to provide free online skills training for middle school students.

1.1.7 The Legislation in Cyberspace Accelerates and the Regulation of Digital Market Intensifies Presently, cybersecurity faces serious challenges, the increase of the weight of digital economy puts forward new requirements for market regulation, and the issue of data security arouses widespread attention. Various countries actively establish and improve policies, laws and regulations, strengthen the legislation on emerging technologies in the digital era, create a better atmosphere for technological innovation, and improve the supply of legal systems in the fields of digital economy and market 8

Data Source: Global Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 2021 Annual Report, Qi’anxin, February 2022, https://www.qianxin.com/threat/reportdetail?report_id=151.

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legislation. In the past year, major countries and regions in the world made steady progress in rule-of-law construction in cyberspace, stepped up efforts in the legislation on cybersecurity, and solidified the security of network infrastructure. The U.S. House of Representatives passed DHS Industrial Control Systems Capabilities Enhancement Act, which required CISA to play a leading role in better identifying and mitigating threats to industrial-control-system infrastructure. Various countries attach more attention to niche fields of cybersecurity and tighten up the legislation in key fields such as data protection, supply chain security and cloud services. Additionally, various countries continuously strengthen the legislation on data security protection, improve specific rules for collecting personal information, and highlight the anonymity of personal information. In June 2021, China promulgated The Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, which reinforced data security protection capacity by establishing provisions on data classified and graded management, data security review, risk evaluation and monitoring & early warning. In September 2021, the Japanese Personal Information Protection Commission announced the updated The Q&A on the Guidelines to the Personal Information Protection Law, which answered the questions of “pseudonymized processing information” and “anonymized processing information”. In terms of cyber sovereignty, as the crisis of the global supply chain deteriorates and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict escalates, the idea that “cyberspace respects no borders” has been negated. Various countries commonly stress cybersecurity, strengthen their influence and control in cyberspace, curb the penetration and influence of foreign countries, and safeguard cyber sovereignty by reinforcing administrative supervision and promoting national technological standards and infrastructure autonomy. Various countries take diverse approaches or strategies to crack down on cybercrimes, and give play to the cooperation on cross-border law-enforcement. The European Commission released The 2021–2025 Strategic Plan for Combating Organized Crimes, proposing to strengthen the law-enforcement and judicial cooperation among EU countries in the digital world and properly achieve the regional balance of crime compensation. The rapid development of digital economy also induces risks and hidden dangers and raises new needs for governance. As super-large Internet platform becomes “quasi critical infrastructure”, the risk of monopoly arises, such as restricting healthy market competition and infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The commercial competition among technological enterprises continuously causes IP disputes. Legislators in various countries accelerate the legislation in platform antimonopoly, digital copyright protection and other fields. In March 2022, the European Union reached an agreement on The Digital Markets Act to break the monopoly of technological enterprises from multiple angles and build gatekeeper-identification rules. In June 2022, China revised The Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China to strengthen anti-monopoly and prevent the disorderly expansion of capital, and further clarify the applicable rules of anti-monopoly-related systems in platform economy according to the models and characteristics of competition in the platform economy.

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1.1.8 International Competition in Cyberspace Intensifies and the Influence of Non-state Actors Increases Presently, the governance deficit, trust deficit, peace deficit and development deficit of the international community become increasingly prominent. Cyberspace expands into the new terrain of national security, the forefront of big power games and the main front of ideological confrontation. Deglobalization, unilateralism and hegemonism pervade in cyberspace, and the complexity and uncertainty of the international landscape continue to rise. In 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, which involved the international community via the Internet. With AI, big data and other technologies widely applied in wars, the blind spot and weakness in cyberspace governance emerge, which poses an urgent task to formulate fair, reasonable and operable International rules in cyberspace. However, the existence of deglobalization counts against the coordination of major countries and the formulation of global universal rules. Major countries and regions compete and cooperate in the issues of cross-border data governance, AI governance, digital currency, digital market regulation and cybersecurity, in a bid to seize the chance in the new-round industrial and technological revolution. In February 2022, the European Union officially released The EU Standardization Strategy, which focused on strengthening the EU’s leadership in global key technological standards. In March 2022, the United States and the European Union reached an agreement in principle on a new framework for transatlantic data transmission, which would promote transatlantic data flow and re-establish an important legal mechanism for the transfer of EU personal data to the United States. In June 2022, the BRICS Beijing Summit proposed to promote the formulation of governance rules in the field of AI and use AI in an ethical and responsible manner. Non-state actors continue to rise in cyberspace. In addressing global issues, they feature professionalism and flexibility, and exert a greater influence on cyberspace development and governance. Non-state actors represented by large-scale scientific & technological corporations have a significant impact on the change of international pattern by getting involved in inter-state competition, participating in the process of global governance and interfering in public opinion. The cyber warfare of cyber hackers, the psychological warfare of social media and the cognitive warfare in cyberspace demonstrated the power of non-state actors in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Some large Internet-technology corporations played a major role in “sanctioning” Russia, including the “embargoes”, “supply cuts” and “delisting” against the country. To construct new order in cyberspace, relevant parties must fully consider the role and influence of these actors and supervise them. The United States, China, the European Union, Russia and other countries and regions have issued relevant policies and norms to guide the development of non-state actors, especially large Internet corporations, and to propel them to effectively undertake social responsibilities.

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1 Overview

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries In 2017, World Internet Development Report established Global Internet Development Index (GIDI) System. GIDI System selects and analyzes 48 representative countries on the five continents to fully represent the latest world Internet development in 2022. The 48 representative countries are listed as below: America: The United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Cuba. Asia: China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Israel, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Pakistan, Iran. Europe: The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Ukraine, Poland, Ireland, Belgium. Oceania: Australia, New Zealand. Africa: South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia.

1.2.1 Index Construction Global Internet Development Index (GIDI) System comprehensively measures and mirrors a country’s Internet development with six first-level indicators, i.e. infrastructure, innovation capacity, industrial development, Internet application, cybersecurity and cyberspace governance. In 2022, GIDI System followed the first-level indicators in previous years, with 18s-level indicators and 38 third-level indicators. Given the availability of original data as well as the scientificalness of indicator structure, GIDI System slightly adjusted the descriptions of some third -level indicators at as well as data sources. To be specific, GIDI System is modified as follows: The first-level indicator “Infrastructure”, newly added: the third-level indicator “Fixed Broadband Subscription Rate”, the third-level indicator “IPv6” moved from the second-level indicator “Fixed Infrastructure” to the second-level indicator “Application Infrastructure”, Data Sources: “Cisco” changed to “APNIC Labs”. The first-level indicator “Innovation Capacity”, the third-level indicator “Innovation Driving Force” changed to “The Capacity to Adopt Emerging Technologies”, Data Sources: No changes. The first-level indicator “Internet Application”, the third-level indicator “Social Media Usage Online Duration” changed to “Internet Inclusiveness”, Data Sources: “Statistics of Global Digital Reports released by DataReportal and other institutions” changed to “Statistics of World Economic Forum”, newly added: the third-level indicator “Business-Level Digital Application”, Data Sources: Statistics of Portulans Institute. The first-level indicator “Cybersecurity”, the third-level indicator “The Times of Cyberattacks” changed to “The Capability and Level to Prevent Cyberattacks”,

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries

13

Data Sources: “Survey Report of Global Cybersecurity by Comparitech, a technological research corporation” changed to “National Cybersecurity Index by Estonia e-Governance Academy”.

1.2.2 GIDI System Table 1.1 shows GIDI System in 2022.

1.2.3 Analysis of Results Through the calculation of indicators, the scores of Internet Development Index in 48 countries are obtained, as shown in Table 1.2. In general, the United States and China take the lead over other countries in Internet development, South Korea, Singapore, Japan and other Asian countries attain remarkable progress in the score of Internet Development Index, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and other European countries generally maintain robust strength in Internet development, and Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa rise in the scores of Internet Development Index, yet rank low as a whole. (1) The Process of New Infrastructure Construction Accelerates and the Development of Digital Economy Displays a Great Imbalance The Asia Pacific Region has been playing a leading role in 5G. South Korea and Japan were the first countries in the world to test and start commercial 5G network. With the further popularization of cloud services, AR, VR, UHD audio & video and other applications, the penetration rate of 5G in the Asia Pacific Region gradually increases. According to the statistics of GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association), by the first quarter of 2022, South Korea ranked 1st with 44.92% in the penetration rate of global 5G, followed by Chinese Mainland (36.82%), China’s Hong Kong (29.62%) and Japan (25.49%). According to the report released by VIAVI Solutions, a communication equipment corporation, by January 2022, a total of 839 cities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa had deployed 5G technology, and 689 cities in the Asia Pacific Region and 419 cities in the Americas had deployed 5G technology respectively. In recent years, new technologies sprang up and put forward more demand for IP addresses, with IPv6 gradually changing from an “optional” element to a “mandatory” element. From 2016 to 2021, the proportion of global IPv6 traffic usage continually increased, whilst the proportion of IPv4 traffic usage sustainably decreased. By the end of 2021, the penetration rate of global IPv6 had exceeded 37%9 and kept rising. According to the statistics of APNIC Labs, the United States, Germany, Saudi 9

Data Source: https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2022-05-07/doc-imcwiwst5994005.shtml.

14

1 Overview

Table 1.1 GIDI System in 2022 First-level indicators

Second-level indicators

Third-level indicators

Indicator description

Data sources

1. Infrastructure

1.1 Fixed infrastructure

1.1.1 Average download rate of fixed broadband network

Reflecting the average download rate of fixed broadband users over a given period of time in different countries

Statistics of Global Digital Reports released by DataReportal and other institutions (2022)

1.1.2 Fixed Reflecting the subscription broadband level of fixed broadband subscription rate for every 100 people in different countries

Database of the World Bank (2020)

1.2.1 Average download rate of mobile broadband network

Reflecting the average download rate of mobile broadband users over a given period of time in different countries

Statistics of Global Digital Reports released by DataReportal and other institutions (2022)

1.2.2 Infrastructure of mobile network

Reflecting the infrastructure construction of mobile network in different countries

Statistics of Global Digital Reports released by DataReportal and other institutions (2021)

1.2.3 Charge burden of mobile network

Reflecting the availability of mobile services and devices from the perspective of price in different countries

Statistics of Global Mobile Suppliers Association

1.3.1 The number of supercomputers

Reflecting the number of Top 500 (2022) supercomputers in different countries

1.3.2 IPv6

Reflecting the deployment of IPv6

APNIC Labs (2022)

2.1 ICT patent application

2.1.1 The number of ICT patent applications

Reflecting the level and capacity of ICT patent applications in different countries

Database of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2020)

2.2 Innovation and development capacity

2.2.1 The ratio of R&D investment in GDP

Reflecting the ratio of The World Bank (2020) R&D investment in GDP in different countries

2.2.2 The capacity to adopt emerging technologies

Reflecting the application of emerging technologies like AI, robotics, big data, cloud computing and e-commerce by enterprises in different countries

Statistics of World Economic Forum (2020)

2.3.1 The ratio of talents with digital skills

Reflecting the ratio of talents with digital skills in the total population in different countries

Statistics of World Economic Forum (2020)

1.2 Mobile infrastructure

1.3 Application infrastructure

2. Innovation capacity

2.3 Innovation potential

(continued)

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries

15

Table 1.1 (continued) First-level indicators

Second-level indicators

Third-level indicators

Indicator description

Data sources

3. Industrial development

3.1 Industrial development environment

3.1.1 The degree of intellectual property rights protection

Reflecting the degree of the protection of physical property rights and intellectual property rights, as well as the legal and political environment to realize the protection of property rights in different countries

Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance International Property Rights Index (IPRI) (2021)

3.1.2 The capacity of participating in globalization

Reflecting the level of participating in globalization in terms of economic, social and political dimensions in different countries

Swiss Economic Institute (2020)

3.2.1 The ratio of ICT value added

Reflecting the ratio of ICT industrial value added in GDP in different countries

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2021)

3.2.2 The ratio of ICT service export

Reflecting the ratio of ICT service export scale in that of domestic service in different countries

Statistics of World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank (2021)

3.2.3 The ratio of ICT product export

Reflecting the ratio of ICT product export scale in that of domestic products in different countries

Statistics of World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank (2020)

3.2.4 The number of unicorns in digital industry

Reflecting the number of the corporation with the market value of over one billion U.S. dollars in digital industry in different countries

Statistics of CB Insights (2022)

3.2.5 The creation of mobile applications

Reflecting the creation of mobile applications in different countries

Statistics of International Monetary Fund (2020)

3.2 Digital industry

3.3 Economic effect of digital industry

4. Internet application

4.1 Personal-level application

3.3.1 The degree Reflecting the use of ICT to Statistics of World of enterprises’ improve commercial model Economic Forum digital in different countries transformation 3.3.2 The impact of digital economy on new organizational model

Reflecting the use of ICT to improve organizational model, such as building virtual teams and telework, in different countries

Statistics of World Economic Forum

4.1.1 The number of internet users

Reflecting the total number Statistics of Global of internet users in Digital Reports different countries released by DataReportal and other institutions (2022) (continued)

16

1 Overview

Table 1.1 (continued) First-level indicators

Second-level indicators

4.2 Business-level application

4.3 Government-level application

Third-level indicators

Indicator description

Data sources

4.1.2 Internet inclusiveness

Reflecting the gender gap in internet use, the urban–rural gap in digital payment, and the socioeconomic gap in digital payment

Statistics of World Economic Forum (2021)

4.1.3 Online content availability

Assessing the availability of relevant online content and services available to citizens in different countries

Statistics of World Economic Forum (2020)

4.2.1 ICT used in B2B transactions

Reflecting enterprises’ level and capacity in using ICT in B2B transactions in different countries

Statistics of World Economic Forum (2020)

4.2.2 Internet used in B2C transaction

Reflecting the role of internet in e-commerce

Statistics of World Economic Forum (2020)

4.2.3 Business-Level Digital Application

Reflecting the number of Statistics of Portulans enterprises with relevant Institute (2020) websites, the investment in telecom services, corporate R&D investment and other levels

4.3.1 Online service index

Reflecting the quality of online service provided by government websites in different countries

Statistics of the United Nations (2021)

4.3.2 E-participation index

Reflecting the online communication between citizens and governments in different countries

Statistics of the United Nations (2021)

4.3.3 Open Reflecting the level of open Statistics of the United government data government data in Nations (2020) index different countries 5. Cybersecurity

5.1 Cybersecurity legislation

5.1.1 Policies and regulations on cyber security

Reflecting the legislation on cybersecurity and cybercrime in different countries

Statistics of International Telecommunication Union (2020)

5.2 Cybersecurity facilities

5.2.1 The number of secure network server per one million people

Reflecting the number of secure network server per one million people in different countries

Statistics of the World Bank (2020)

5.3 Cybersecurity industries

5.3.1 The number of companies included in Hot 150 Cybersecurity Companies

Reflecting the number of companies that earn a spot on the list of Hot 150 Cybersecurity Companies in different countries

List of Hot 150 Cybersecurity Companies published by Cybersecurity Ventures (2021)

5.4 Cybersecurity level

5.4.1 The capability and level to prevent cyberattacks

Reflecting the capability of different countries to prevent cyber threats and control cybercrimes

Statistics of Estonia e-Governance Academy (2022) (continued)

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries

17

Table 1.1 (continued) First-level indicators

6. Cyberspace governance

Second-level indicators

6.1 Internet governance

6.2 Participation in international governance

Third-level indicators

Indicator description

Data sources

5.4.2 Cybersecurity development capability

Reflecting in the R&D of cybersecurity technology, education and training, and the improvement of domestic cybersecurity development capacity by government departments in different countries

Statistics of International Telecommunication Union (2020)

6.1.1 Related organizations in internet governance

Reflecting related organizations in internet governance in different countries, in such specific affairs as policy, security, protection of critical information infrastructure, Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), criminal, and protection of consumer

Referring to achievement of foreign researches and inviting experts and scholars in relevant fields to conduct comprehensive evaluation

6.1.2 Policies and regulations in internet governance

Reflecting the making of related regulations and policies on internet affairs or ISP in different countries

Referring to achievement of foreign researches and inviting experts and scholars in relevant fields to conduct comprehensive evaluation

6.2.1 Participation in international meetings in internet governance

Reflecting participation in international conferences on cyberspace in different countries, including bilateral meetings, multilateral meetings and other forums

Referring to achievement of foreign researches and inviting experts and scholars in relevant fields to conduct comprehensive evaluation

6.2.2 Leading or participating in cyber capacity construction

Reflecting helping others in cyber capacity construction, including technological assistance, policy guidance or project training in different countries

Referring to achievement of foreign researches and inviting experts and scholars in relevant fields to conduct comprehensive evaluation

Arabia, Belgium and other countries have a strong ability to provide IPv6. By the end of 2021, more than 50% of countries or regions had achieved a comprehensive IPv6 deployment rate of 30% or above. Among them, South Asia ranked 1st in IPv6 support capacity (c. 60%), followed by North America (44.29%). Western Europe ranked 3rd, with a support capacity of 39.98%.10 For developed countries and developing countries, the digital divide remains large, e.g. Internet connection, access, and use, which poses a great challenge to Internet 10

Zhang Guocheng: The Analysis of Global IPv6 Deployment Status and Competition Pattern in 2022, Prospective Industrial Research Institute. https://www.qianzhan.com/analyst/detail/220/211217-f03d41da.html.

18 Table 1.2 The scores of internet development index in 48 countries

1 Overview

Ranking

Country

Score

1

The United States

70.86

2

China

63.56

3

Germany

60.87

4

Sweden

60.73

5

The Netherlands

60.68

6

South Korea

60.44

7

The United Kingdom

60.39

8

Canada

60.38

9

Finland

60.30

10

Denmark

60.16

11

Singapore

60.05

12

Switzerland

60.02

13

France

59.73

14

Japan

59.57

15

Israel

58.89

16

Norway

58.22

17

Australia

58.08

18

Spain

57.32

19

Estonia

56.76

20

Ireland

56.39

21

New Zealand

55.98

22

Italy

55.72

23

Belgium

55.56

24

Portugal

55.40

25

Malaysia

54.21

26

India

54.00

27

Russia

53.86

28

Poland

53.86

29

The United Arab Emirates

53.26

30

Saudi Arabia

53.13

31

Thailand

51.96

32

Brazil

51.53

33

Türkiye

51.39

34

Chile

51.39

35

Ukraine

49.89

36

Mexico

49.26

37

Egypt

49.05

38

South Africa

49.05 (continued)

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries Table 1.2 (continued)

19

Ranking

Country

Score

39

Vietnam

48.95

40

Indonesia

48.63

41

Kazakhstan

48.24

42

Argentina

48.24

43

Kenya

45.93

44

Iran

44.87

45

Nigeria

44.42

46

Pakistan

43.95

47

Ethiopia

38.36

48

Cuba

35.91

development. In particular, Singapore, Norway, South Korea and other developed countries lead the list in the score of information infrastructure and develop fast in average network download rate, broadband subscription rate and IPv6 number. In contrast, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and other underdeveloped countries need to improve their information infrastructure. Only 20% of the population in these least developed countries use Internet, with slow download speeds and high Internet charges. Internet is used in various ways. In some developed countries, eight out of every 10 Internet users shop online, while in many least developed countries, the proportion of online shopping proves less than one tenth. Additionally, there is a prominent gap in the use of Internet between rural and urban areas and between men and women in a country.11 Table 1.3 shows the scores of Information Infrastructure Index in 48 countries. (2) The Pattern of Scientific & Technological Innovation Continues to Evolve and Industrial R&D Investment Increases Against the Headwinds With the promotion and application of 5G, AI, cloud computing and other new technologies, scientific & technological innovation plays an increasingly important role in national and commercial competition. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) releases the latest Global Innovation Index 2021 (GII 2021). As it suggests, in spite of the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic causes losses to workforce and economy, governments and enterprises in many regions worldwide continue to increase investment in scientific & technological innovation, and scientific outputs, R&D expenditures, IP applications and venture capital transactions continue to grow. Among them, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea and other countries rank at the top in the technological innovation ranking list. Middle-income economies such as China, Türkiye, Vietnam and India strive to reshape global scientific & technological innovation patterns. 11

Data Source: Digital Economy Report 2021 published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

20 Table 1.3 The scores of information infrastructure index in 48 countries

1 Overview

Ranking

Country

Score

1

Singapore

7.17

2

Norway

7.07

3

South Korea

7.01

4

The United States

6.99

5

China

6.93

6

Denmark

6.90

7

Switzerland

6.76

8

The Netherlands

6.68

9

The United Arab Emirates

6.59

10

Canada

6.35

11

Thailand

6.19

11

Saudi Arabia

6.19

13

Sweden

6.14

14

Finland

6.12

15

Chile

6.07

16

Spain

6.04

17

France

6.03

18

New Zealand

5.95

19

Australia

5.92

20

Portugal

5.84

21

Japan

5.79

22

Belgium

5.76

23

Germany

5.75

24

The United Kingdom

5.50

25

Estonia

5.36

26

Poland

5.29

27

Israel

5.18

28

Brazil

5.05

29

Italy

5.02

30

Vietnam

4.91

31

Malaysia

4.88

32

Ireland

4.84

33

Russia

4.67

34

Ukraine

4.57

35

Argentina

4.52

36

Mexico

4.43

37

Türkiye

4.34

38

India

4.19 (continued)

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries Table 1.3 (continued)

21

Ranking

Country

Score

39

Kazakhstan

4.18

40

South Africa

4.16

41

Egypt

4.02

42

Iran

3.90

43

Indonesia

3.85

44

Kenya

3.58

45

Pakistan

3.55

46

Ethiopia

3.23

47

Nigeria

3.16

48

Cuba

2.81

According to The 2021 EU Industrial Research and Development Scoreboard, in 2020, the R&D investment scale of the top 2,500 enterprises in the world reached 908.9 billion euros, with an increase of 6% over 2019. Specifically, the R&D investment in ICT accounted for 41.5% of the total investment, up by 1.5% over 2019. ICT became the industrial field with the fastest growth and the largest proportion of investment scale. Noticeably, the United States continues to stand first in the number of enterprises with R&D investment in the world, with 779 enterprises on the list. China follows closely, with 683 enterprises (including 86 in Taiwan, China) on the list. There are 293 enterprises in South Korea, 124 in Germany, 105 in the United Kingdom, 66 in France, 60 in Japan and 59 in Switzerland. Table 1.4 shows the scores of Innovation Capacity Index in 48 countries. (3) The Planning and Deployment of Digital Industry Enters the Fast Lane and the Transformation of Industrial Digitalization Accelerates Digital industry represented by new-generation information technology serves as an important force to achieve innovation-driven and wealth-driven development and, above all, a major transformative force to realize global economic and social development. Developed countries and regions like the United States and Europe as well as emerging economies like China attach more attention to the strategic planning and deployment of digital industry. To achieve their goals and plans, various regions boost the deployment of digital-industry strategy. For example, the United States optimizes the deployment of AI, quantum and semiconductor to ensure its global leadership and technological leadership. The European Union released a series of strategic documents such as 2030 Digital Compass, striving to achieve “digital sovereignty” and regulatory innovation. Germany promotes high-tech strategy and strengthens the innovation on major fields and the competitiveness of core industries. Japan focuses on “Society 5.0” and speeds up scientific & technological innovation. Notably, the United States and China hold a safe lead in the scores of digital industry index, followed by the United Kingdom, Singapore, Finland and other countries. India and other countries also give an eye-catching performance in this regard.

22 Table 1.4 The scores of innovation capacity index in 48 countries

1 Overview

Ranking

Country

Score

1

The United States

10.54

2

Germany

10.20

3

China

10.19

4

The Netherlands

10.01

5

Sweden

10.00

6

South Korea

9.94

7

Finland

9.91

8

Japan

9.90

9

Israel

9.89

10

The United Kingdom

9.79

11

Switzerland

9.76

12

Canada

9.60

13

France

9.48

14

Denmark

9.34

15

Singapore

9.29

16

Australia

9.11

17

Spain

9.06

18

Ireland

8.99

19

India

8.84

20

Italy

8.64

21

Malaysia

8.62

22

Saudi Arabia

8.56

23

New Zealand

8.55

24

Estonia

8.46

25

Mexico

8.45

26

Portugal

8.41

27

Norway

8.32

28

The United Arab Emirates

8.30

29

Poland

8.16

30

Egypt

8.07

31

Türkiye

8.06

32

Russia

8.00

33

Argentina

7.92

34

Belgium

7.91

35

Ukraine

7.79

36

South Africa

7.62

37

Indonesia

7.59

38

Chile

7.52 (continued)

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries Table 1.4 (continued)

23

Ranking

Country

Score

39

Thailand

7.04

40

Iran

6.87

41

Vietnam

6.85

42

Brazil

6.79

43

Kazakhstan

6.74

44

Kenya

6.57

45

Pakistan

6.54

46

Nigeria

6.44

47

Ethiopia

5.90

48

Cuba

5.64

Industrial digitalization comes to a new stage of rapid development and comprehensive competition. According to the OECD report, more than 80% of OECD member countries successively release strategies and action plans for industrial digitalization transformation.12 For instance, the United States and the European Union introduce America Competes Act of 2022 and New Plan for Industrial Digitalization respectively. The United Kingdom plans to publish new digital strategies. According to the statistics of the World Economic Forum, the United States possesses a strong advantage in digital transformation. China, South Korea, Sweden and Ireland come after the United States. Table 1.5 shows the scores of Internet Industrial Development Index in 48 countries. (4) Global Internet Application Reaches a Historical Peak and the Data Flow Grows Rapidly As the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development estimated, in 2022, global Internet traffic would exceed the sum of Internet traffic before 2016.13 In the score of personal-level application, the United States and China, two major Internet application countries, have higher scores, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Australia and other countries. According to the statistics of Global Digital Report 2022, by January 2022, the number of global Internet users had reached 4.95 billion (approaching five billion), accounting for 62.5% of the world population. The number of social-media users continues to grow at a faster rate than that before the outbreak of the pandemic, with an increase of around 13.5 new users per second. A total of 4.62 billion people use social media, accounting for 58.4% of the world population, with a year-on-year increase of 7.4%.14 In the score of business-level 12

Shi Jianxun: Industrial Digitalization Promotes the Transformation of World Economy, https:// www.imsilkroad.com/news/p/474948.html. 13 Data Source: Digital Economy Report 2021 published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 14 Data Source: We Are Social and Hootsuite, Digital 2022: Global Overview Report, https://dat areportal.com/reports/digital-2022-global-overview-report.

24 Table 1.5 The scores of internet industrial development index in 48 countries

1 Overview

Ranking

Country

Score

1

The United States

18.27

2

China

15.11

3

Sweden

14.49

4

The Netherlands

14.34

5

Finland

14.32

6

Switzerland

14.21

7

The United Kingdom

14.19

8

Germany

14.12

9

Singapore

14.10

10

Ireland

14.05

11

Denmark

13.95

12

Israel

13.90

13

Estonia

13.90

14

France

13.79

15

Canada

13.71

16

Norway

13.58

17

South Korea

13.43

18

Japan

13.26

19

Malaysia

13.20

20

Belgium

13.15

21

Australia

13.13

22

Spain

13.08

23

Portugal

13.01

24

New Zealand

12.83

25

Italy

12.71

26

Poland

12.46

27

Chile

12.19

28

Thailand

12.18

29

India

12.14

30

Ukraine

12.12

31

Russia

12.01

32

South Africa

11.89

33

Mexico

11.88

34

The United Arab Emirates

11.82

35

Vietnam

11.72

36

Brazil

11.69

37

Argentina

11.68

38

Türkiye

11.63 (continued)

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries Table 1.5 (continued)

25

Ranking

Country

Score

39

Saudi Arabia

11.62

40

Indonesia

11.37

41

Egypt

11.35

42

Kazakhstan

11.13

43

Kenya

10.87

44

Pakistan

10.72

45

Nigeria

10.42

46

Iran

10.27

47

Ethiopia

9.42

48

Cuba

8.90

application, the United States, Canada, China, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands score high. The competition in the consumer-Internet-based platform economy matures, yet the competition in the industrial-Internet-based platform economy just starts. More traditional enterprises maintain their competitive advantages in specific fields by taking measures such as promoting digital transformation and reshaping business models. Simultaneously, they participate in the cross-border competition with cross-industry rule-subverters. According to 2021 Network Readiness Index published by Portulans Institute, enterprises in the United States, South Korea, Estonia, Finland, Israel and Sweden take the lead in the application of emerging technologies. In the score of government-level application, South Korea, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Australia score high. As 5G, AI, blockchain, IoT, big data, cloud computing and other new technologies are continuously applied in the construction of digital government, various countries around the world continue to explore and optimize governmental structure. According to the report 2021 Network Readiness Index, the United States, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and other countries keep ahead in e-participation, online services and open data. Data & information flow expands and generates more economic value. As predicted, monthly global data traffic will surge from 230 exabytes (EB) in 2020 to 780 exabytes (EB) in 2026. In particular, around 80% of Internet traffic flow to video, social network and game. The United States and China rank the top in the ability to participate in and benefit from a data-driven digital economy, and own 50% of the world’s super-large-scale data centers.15 Table 1.6 shows the scores of Internet Application Index in 48 countries.

15

Data Source: Digital Economy Report 2021 published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

26 Table 1.6 The scores of internet application index in 48 countries

1 Overview

Ranking

Country

Score

1

The United States

16.71

2

China

16.63

3

Japan

16.45

4

South Korea

16.21

5

The Netherlands

16.07

6

Canada

16.05

7

Australia

16.03

8

The United Kingdom

15.97

9

Germany

15.92

10

Switzerland

15.89

11

Sweden

15.85

12

France

15.83

13

Denmark

15.77

14

New Zealand

15.74

15

Spain

15.66

16

Finland

15.65

17

Singapore

15.59

18

Norway

15.57

19

Italy

15.38

20

Israel

15.34

21

Russia

15.29

22

Brazil

15.21

23

Poland

15.19

24

Estonia

15.03

25

Ireland

14.94

26

India

14.93

27

Belgium

14.92

28

Türkiye

14.78

29

The United Arab Emirates

14.71

30

Malaysia

14.70

31

Portugal

14.68

31

Saudi Arabia

14.68

33

Mexico

14.67

34

Chile

14.65

35

Argentina

14.53

36

Thailand

14.50

37

Kazakhstan

14.43

38

Indonesia

14.29 (continued)

1.2 The Evaluation of Internet Development in Major Countries Table 1.6 (continued)

27

Ranking

Country

Score

39

Ukraine

14.21

40

South Africa

14.14

41

Vietnam

13.72

42

Kenya

13.65

43

Egypt

13.64

44

Iran

13.52

45

Pakistan

13.14

46

Nigeria

13.06

47

Ethiopia

12.11

48

Cuba

10.20

(5) Global Cybersecurity Situation Remains Grim and Cybersecurity Industry Continuously Expands The trend of global confrontation in cyberspace intensifies, large-scale targeted cyberattack increases, and security vulnerability, data leakage, cyber fraud and other risks deteriorate. In Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2022, the World Economic Forum confirms that amid the new normal, cyber intrusions become more frequent and complex, among which ransomware, external attack and malicious insider activity are regarded as three major threats. In Global Risks Report 2022, the World Economic Forum also lists cybersecurity risk as one of the important global risks in 2022. As National Cybersecurity Index (NCSI) by Estonia e-Governance Academy indicates, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Finland, France and other European countries build strong cybersecurity capacities, while Iran, Cuba, South Africa, Vietnam, Mexico, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries need to enhance their cybersecurity capacities.16 Global cybersecurity industry maintains steady growth. According to IDC’s statistics, the total investment in global cybersecurity-related hardware, software and services reached 151.95 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, and would increase to 223.34 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, with a five-year CAGR of 10.4%, as estimated.17 As the market capacity of global cybersecurity industry expands, the investment attraction of cybersecurity industry increases significantly. In global capital market, the capital activity of cybersecurity industry reached the highest level in history in 2021, of which the secondary market value exceeded 442 billion U.S. dollars and would

16 17

Data Source: https://ncsi.ega.ee/ncsi-index/?order=ncsi. Data Source: IDC Worldwide Security Spending Guide (2022v1), https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prCHC48961122.

28

1 Overview

continue to rise rapidly in the next three years, as predicted.18 Table 1.7 shows the scores of Cybersecurity Index in 48 countries. (6) The Rules on Cyberspace Governance Continue to Evolve and Mature and the Effect of Multilateral Governance Mechanism Becomes Visible In 2021, major economies in the world successively strengthened cyberspace governance, and the construction of digital rules in key areas accelerated. AI governance sinks to professional organizations, specific cases and detailed rules. For example, the European Union issues the proposal of Artificial Intelligence Act, which becomes the world’s first AI law. Under the tireless efforts of organizations in international trade agreements, cross-border data-flow rules quicken the integration. For example, the United States has reached a consensus with Japan and the European Union on crossborder data flow. High-standard international trade agreements have included the civil liabilities of digital platforms and probably include the public liabilities of platforms in the future. The construction of international rules on digital currency is already in full swing. China, the European Union, the United States and other countries and regions all explore the formulation of regulatory solutions for digital currency. Among them, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other countries lay stress on strengthening domestic Internet governance and improving relevant policy & regulation systems. The process of governance rules under the multilateral mechanism makes new progress. International organizations represented by G20 vigorously promote digital issues and form closer ties. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and Regional Trade Agreement pave the way for the development and evolution of digital rules. The construction plans for digital infrastructure, such as the “Digital Silk Road” and “Build Back Better World” initiatives, as well as relevant institutional supplies, function as new models of global governance. Particularly, the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and Sweden actively participate in the formulation of rules on international cyberspace governance, and achieve remarkable results in international cooperation. Table 1.8 shows the scores of Cyberspace Governance Index in 48 countries.

1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions By comparison, as the scores of Internet Development Index in 48 countries reveal, developed countries and regions in North America, Europe and Asia maintain the high level of Internet development on average. Developing countries and regions in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa develop quickly on Internet. The Report 18

Chen Huaping and Yin Wenpeng: “Industrial Observation: Trillion Market Is Taking Shape! Global Cybersecurity Industry from the Perspective of Capital”, https://www.secrss.com/articles/ 39805.

1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions Table 1.7 The scores of cybersecurity index in 48 countries

29

Ranking

Country

Score

1

The United States

9.16

2

Israel

7.22

3

Germany

7.08

4

Estonia

7.07

5

Singapore

7.02

6

Finland

6.95

7

The Netherlands

6.94

8

The United Kingdom

6.91

9

France

6.88

10

Sweden

6.87

11

Denmark

6.78

12

Canada

6.77

13

Malaysia

6.67

14

Italy

6.62

15

Russia

6.54

16

Australia

6.52

17

Ireland

6.45

18

South Korea

6.43

19

Japan

6.43

20

Belgium

6.41

21

Norway

6.40

22

Spain

6.38

23

Poland

6.36

24

Portugal

6.35

25

Türkiye

6.13

26

Switzerland

6.11

27

India

6.07

28

China

5.94

29

Thailand

5.92

30

Brazil

5.90

31

Saudi Arabia

5.86

32

Kazakhstan

5.86

33

New Zealand

5.86

34

Egypt

5.84

35

The United Arab Emirates

5.72

36

Kenya

5.71

37

Nigeria

5.70

38

Vietnam

5.68 (continued)

30 Table 1.7 (continued)

1 Overview

Ranking

Country

Score

39

Ukraine

5.60

40

Chile

5.20

41

Indonesia

5.20

42

South Africa

4.66

43

Pakistan

4.20

44

Mexico

4.05

45

Iran

3.99

46

Cuba

3.15

47

Argentina

3.08

48

Ethiopia

2.12

selects representative countries and regions (e.g. the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany, France, Russia, Australia, South African and the European Union) and analyzes their Internet development. (1) The United States The United States ranks 1st in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 4th in the score of the information infrastructure index, and 1st in the scores of innovation capacity index, industrial development index, Internet application index, cybersecurity index and cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.1 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of the United States. The World Economic Forum publishes Global Competitiveness Report. As it reveals, the United States boasts one of the most competitive, innovative and open economies in the world. In 2021, the United States focused on strengthening the construction of Internet-related institutions. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced the establishment of the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy which comprises three distinct policy offices, including International Cyberspace Security, International Information and Communications Policy and Digital Freedom, in a bid to enhance the DOS’s capacity to lead the formulation of global digital policies and standards. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced the establishment of Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, in charge of strengthening and integrating DOD’s data, AI and digital solutions. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation planned to set up a department to track and confiscate illegal cryptocurrencies, integrate expertise and experts on cryptocurrencies, and initiate international cooperation to combat cybercrimes. In 2021, the United States launched an unprecedented fiscal-stimulus policy and passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the largest infrastructure package in the last decades, involving c. 550 billion U.S. dollars in new expenditure, with a total expenditure of 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars (the investment to broadband network as high as 65 billion U.S. dollars). According to Fiber Development Index in 2021 issued by Omdia, a market research organization, the United States ranks 18th among 81

1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions Table 1.8 The scores of cyberspace governance index in 48 countries

31

Ranking

Country

Score

1

The United States

9.18

2

China

8.77

3

The United Kingdom

8.03

4

Canada

7.90

5

Germany

7.79

6

Japan

7.74

7

France

7.71

8

Sweden

7.54

9

Denmark

7.43

10

Belgium

7.41

11

South Korea

7.41

12

Australia

7.37

13

Finland

7.36

14

Russia

7.36

14

Italy

7.36

14

Israel

7.31

17

Switzerland

7.29

18

Norway

7.28

19

India

7.24

20

Ireland

7.12

21

Spain

7.11

21

Portugal

7.11

23

New Zealand

7.04

24

Estonia

6.94

25

Brazil

6.89

26

Singapore

6.88

27

The Netherlands

6.84

28

South Africa

6.58

29

Argentina

6.51

30

Türkiye

6.45

31

Poland

6.40

32

Indonesia

6.32

32

Iran

6.32

34

Saudi Arabia

6.23

35

Malaysia

6.14

36

The United Arab Emirates

6.13

37

Egypt

6.13

38

Thailand

6.13 (continued)

32 Table 1.8 (continued)

1 Overview

Ranking

Country

Score

39

Vietnam

6.07

40

Kazakhstan

5.90

41

Pakistan

5.81

42

Mexico

5.78

43

Chile

5.76

44

Nigeria

5.64

45

Ukraine

5.61

46

Ethiopia

5.58

47

Kenya

5.56

48

Cuba

5.21

Fig. 1.1 The scores of internet development index of the United States

countries or regions in terms of the optical fiber network. In a way, the increase in broadband investment helps to lift America’s ranking in broadband penetration rate among major countries. With respect to mobile Internet, the United States was one of the first countries in the world to launch the commercial use of 5G. In 2021, 5G signal covered 80% of the American population. While building the 5G network, the United States continues to reinforce the research and development of the 6G network. In October 2021, The U.S. Senate promoted the bipartisan legislation that supported 6G infrastructure construction, proposing to establish the “Next-Generation Telecommunications Committee” to give advice to Congress of the United States on 6G and other wireless technologies. In 2021, spurred by the acceleration of digital transformation, the market value of American Internet corporations soared. Among them, Apple’s market value increased by 34%, Google by 65%, Facebook by 23% and Amazon by 2.5% respectively. While fostering economic development, Internet enterprises gave rise to a series of risks and problems such as platform monopoly and false information. Amid such circumstances, the U.S. government continued to strengthen platform regulation. In June 2021, the White House released a domestic counter-terrorism strategy, which

1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions

33

included the regulation of Internet platforms. The strategy identified online platforms as playing a key role in “bringing violent ideas into the mainstream society”, and even called social media websites the “front line” of domestic terrorist war in the United States. The U.S. government continues to cooperate with social media and technological companies to combat online false information and eliminate online terrorism and extreme violence. In July 2021, 36 states in the United States and Washington D.C. sued Google for violating antitrust laws when operating its Android App store. According to the indictment, Google charged program developers 30% when providing application purchase and subscription services. Additionally, Google set obstacles against potential competitors through exclusive contracts, technological barriers and “misleading” security warnings. The United States prioritizes cybersecurity in the work of government and promotes domestic and international cybersecurity governance simultaneously. In July 2021, the White House issued National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems, stating that the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure was the most important and serious problem facing the United States. Besides, the United States releases Federal Zero Trust Strategy, Secure Equipment Act of 2021, Security Enhancement Guide, Cyber Incident Reporting Act and National Security System & Cybersecurity Memorandum to strengthen cybersecurity governance. At the international level, the United States strengthens cybersecurity cooperation with France, Israel, Japan and other countries, and joins Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace. The United States tries to split the Internet by building an alliance system in cyberspace. In April 2022, the United States, together with Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines and China’s Taiwan province, established a global crossborder privacy forum, built an open cross-border privacy rule system for global economies, and expanded regional cooperation on digital economy and cybersecurity through the Indo-Pacific Strategy. In April 2022, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan and other countries jointly published the so-called A Declaration for the Future of the Internet. The Declaration “advertised” itself as a “democratic Internet” declaration, in an attempt to counter the Internet system established by International Telecommunication Union and other countries by building a unified Western front. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the United States also wantonly used sanction tools to demand American high-tech corporations to “silence”, “disconnect”, “delist” and “stop serving” Russia, and openly split the Internet. (2) China China ranks 2nd in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 5th in the score of information infrastructure index, 3rd in the score of innovation capacity index, 2nd in the score of industrial development index, 2nd in the score of Internet application index, 28th in the score of cybersecurity index and 2nd in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.2 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of China.

34

1 Overview

Fig. 1.2 The scores of internet development index of China

In 2021, China continued to accelerate the construction of information infrastructure, optimize the strategic layout, and promote the construction of an intelligent comprehensive digital information infrastructure that highlights 5G network, national integrated data center system and national industrial Internet and features high speed & ubiquity, air-ground unity, cloud-network integration, keen intelligence, low carbon and high controllability. By June 2022, China had built and opened 1,854,000 5G base stations and formed the largest scale of 5G network construction in the world, with 5G applications covering industry, agriculture and service industry and the number of 5G use cases exceeding 20,000.19 By July 2022, the number of IPv6 active users in China had reached 693 million, accounting for 67.1% of the total number of Internet users.20 The scale of China’s computing infrastructure continues to expand, ranking 2nd in the world. By June 2022, the total scale of computing power had exceeded 150 EFlops. In the number of innovative outputs like digital-technology-related patents, China maintains a leading position. In 2021, the number of international patent applications under China Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) reached 69,540, ranking 1st in the world for three consecutive years, including more than 30,000 patent applications in the information field, accounting for more than one third of the world.21 The overall performance of Chinese high-performance computers ranks the top in the world. According to the latest Global Top 500 Supercomputers List, China has a total of 173 high-performance computers, ranking 1st in the world. Chinese supercomputers “Sunway TaihuLight” and “Tianhe-2” rank among the top ten. China’s Internet industry continues to develop and economic life becomes increasingly digitalized. According to The 50th Statistical Report on China Internet Development released by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), by June 2022, the number of Chinese Internet users reached 1.051 billion, and the penetration rate of Internet reached 74.4%. Internet facilitates the rapid development of the 19

Data Source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Data Source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. 21 Data Source: Digital China Development Report 2021 published by Cyberspace Administration of China. 20

1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions

35

digital economy in China. In January 2022, the State Council released The 14th FiveYear Plan for Digital Economy Development, China’s first national-level special plan in the field of the digital economy, which clearly put forward the task and requirement of “accelerating digital development and building Digital China”, and made a comprehensive plan for the future of China’s digital economy. In 2021, China endeavored to enhance the efficiency of digital public services, promote the integrated development of the smart city and digital village, and improve the level of inclusive use of limited resources. By the end of 2021, Chinese telemedicine had covered all prefecture-level cities and more than 90% of counties (cities and districts), built a national unified medical insurance information platform, and realized medical insurance services such as inter-provincial and remote medical self-service filing and direct settlement of hospitalization for 1.36 billion insured people.22 With the help of digital-technology-based fight against the pandemic, China accelerates the opening and sharing of government data. Relevant departments utilize a national integrated government service platform, gather data on the pandemic prevention & control, share more than 230 billion times of confirmed COVID-19 cases, nucleic acid testing, vaccination and other data, and support the sharing and exchange of “Health Code” information in various regions for more than 64.8 billion times.23 “Strengthening anti-monopoly and preventing disorderly expansion of capital” was one of China’s eight key tasks in 2021. Governmental departments successively introduce a series of regulatory measures to strengthen Internet regulation. In October 2021, State Administration for Market Regulation made administrative penalties on Meituan for its suspected monopolistic behavior of “one out of two”, ordered Meituan to stop its illegal behavior, and imposed a fine of 3.442 billion yuan. In the same month, the Ministry of Commerce, Cyberspace Administration of China and National Development and Reform Commission issued The 14th “FiveYear Plan” for E-commerce Development, stressing that China would accelerate the revision of The Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China, promote the revision of The E-commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, optimize the anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition rules, prevent and stop monopoly and unfair competition in the field of platform economy, and guide platform business operators to obey laws and regulations. Additionally, in July 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched a special rectification of Internet industry, focusing on four aspects and eight types of problems, including disturbing market order, infringing on user’s rights and interests, endangering data security and violating resource & qualification management regulations. In September 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held an administrative guidance meeting on blocking website links, requiring all platforms to remove the blocking according to the standards. Otherwise, they would be punished according to law. In terms of Internet governance, relevant departments continuously carry out a series of special actions “Internet clean-up campaign”, which lays a solid foundation 22 23

Data Source: National Healthcare Security Administration. Data Source: General Office of the State Council.

36

1 Overview

for building a clean cyberspace. In August 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued The Notice on Further Strengthening the Governance of Undesirable Fan Culture to crack down on the chaos in undesirable fan culture. In September 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued The Measures for the Administration of Online Performance Brokerage Institutions, which clearly stipulated that online performance brokerage institutions shall not induce users to consume by means of false consumption and giving tips, and shall not hype the incomes of online performers by means of tip ranking and false publicity. In the same month, the National Press and Publication Administration released The Notice on Further Implementing Strict Management to Effectively Prevent the Minors from Indulging in Online Games, and sternly implemented the real-name registration and login requirements of online-game-user accounts. The Chinese government continues to bolster cybersecurity governance. In June 2021, The Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China was passed, which regulated data security protection from the perspectives of data security and development, data security system, data security protection obligation and government data security and opening. In August 2021, The Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China was adopted, which improved the legal system for personal information protection. In September 2021, The Regulations on the Security Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure came into effect, emphasizing that China should highlight the protection of critical information infrastructure, take measures to monitor, defend and address cybersecurity risks and threats at home and abroad, and punish illegal and criminal activities that would endanger the security of critical information infrastructure according to law. In February 2022, the new edition of Measures for Cybersecurity Review officially came into force, including the situations that may affect national security into the scope of cybersecurity review and improving national-security risk-evaluation factors. (3) The European Union The European Union possesses a strong innovation capacity in the world. According to Global Innovation Index 2021, among global innovation leaders (top 25), 16 were European economies, of which 12 were EU member states. Besides, the rankings of France (11th), Austria (18th), Estonia (21st) and other EU economies increased over 2020. The European Union continues to invest to the construction of digital infrastructure. In December 2021, Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital, the EU’s key financing tool, adopted its first working plan, proposing to allocate one billion euros from 2021 to 2023, of which 258 million euros would be used to support the construction of 5G, cloud infrastructure and gigabit network. From 2021 to 2027, CEF will invest 33.7 billion euros to shore up the construction of trans-European digitalization, transportation and energy network.24 In regard to industrial development, the European Union strives for the global leading position in the development and deployment of technologies such as AI and 24

Data Source: http://www.cinic.org.cn/xw/hwcj/1228972.html.

1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions

37

blockchain, hoping to accelerate the development of green and digital economy. To this end, the European Commission has introduced a number of measures. “Horizon 2020” allocated 1.5 billion euros for AI research and development from 2018 to 2020. As part of the multi-year financial framework 2021–2027, “Digital Europe” plans to invest an additional 2.5 billion euros for AI deployment in enterprises and public administration departments.25 In terms of digital trade, the European Union strikes the balance between free trade and data protection, and allows data flow under the high-standard data-protection mechanism of General Data Protection Regulation. In the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the “Digital Trade” Chapter includes the standards for data free flow and the ban on data localization for the first time. In the trade agreements negotiated by the European Union with Australia, New Zealand and Tunisia, as well as the proposals on WTO e-commerce rules, privacy protection is regarded as a basic right. In May 2022, the European Union announced the official launch of the EU-Japan digital partnership, in an attempt to establish digital autonomy through various channels and measures and dedicated to privacy protection. In relation to Internet governance, in February 2022, the European Union released the draft of Data Act, which aimed to provide a fair access and sharing framework for non-personal data use and clarify B2B and B2G data-flow measures. Simultaneously, Data Act determines relevant obligations of data-processing-service providers, promotes a more open data market and gives full play to the value of data. In April 2022, the European Parliament approved Data Governance Act. The Act aims to tackle core issues such as the access and reuse of the sensitive data of public sectors, the authentication or authorization solutions of “data altruism” and data sharing, as well as building a certification framework for European data intermediaries or data markets. In July 2022, the European Union overwhelmingly passed Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which intended to regulate the order of digital market and curb the unfair competition of technology giants, and would have a significant impact on online services and app store platforms in Europe. In terms of technological governance, in March 2022, the European Union released the new edition of The EU Standardization Strategy, hoping to strengthen its competitiveness in global technological standards, achieve a resilient green and digital economy, and ensure new technologies in conformity with democratic values. Additionally, the European Union proposed Artificial Intelligence Act, which would regulate a series of high-risk AI applications in digital services (e.g. recruitment and enrollment) and physical products (e.g. medical devices), or play an important role in coordinating the development of AI regulatory tools. In terms of digital diplomacy, in September 2021, the European Union issued India-Pacific Cooperation Strategy, deepened the cooperation with Japan, South Korea and Singapore in the digital field, and proposed to reinforce standard cooperation and interoperability in emerging technologies like AI, so as to expand bilateral 25

Data Source: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and the Future of Europe: How Disruptive Technologies Create Opportunities for a Green and Digital Economy, October 2021, https://op.europa. eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/8730fef5-315c-11ec-b-d8e-01aa75ed71a1/language-en.

38

1 Overview

Fig. 1.3 The scores of internet development index of Germany

trade and investment relations. In November 2021, the EU-Central Asia Forum was staged, clearly stating that the European Union and Central Asia would cooperate in three priority areas, i.e. green recovery, digitalization and the optimization of business environment. In December 2021, the European Union officially released “Global Gateway”, which planned to invest 300 billion euros in developing countries from 2021 to 2027, prioritize the digitalization of investment in health, climate, energy, transportation, education and other fields in developing countries, and shape global infrastructure construction in line with the EU standards. In April 2022, the European Union and India officially established the EU-India Technology and Trade Commission, which aimed to jointly address challenges in trade, technological security and other fields, deepen relevant cooperation and strengthen the strategic coordination mechanism of both sides. (4) Germany Germany ranks 3rd in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks the 23rd in the score of information infrastructure index,2nd in the score of innovation capacity index, 8th in the score of industrial development index, the 9th in the score of Internet application index, 3rd in the score of cybersecurity index and 5th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.3 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of Germany. As 2021 Network Readiness Index (NRI) suggests, owing to technological advantage and prominent improvement in governance, Germany scores 78.95 in network readiness index, ranking 8th among 130 economies.26 While vigorously deploying 5G, Germany accelerates the research and development of 6G technology. The funds for 6G access, networking and automation-related projects are supported by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, with a total budget of 38.4 million euros and Nokia as general director. Germany plays a leading role in global technological innovation. According to Global Innovation Index 2021 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Germany ranks 10th in the score of innovation index (i.e. among the top ten most innovative economies in the world), and ranks 3rd in the world in human capital 26

Data Source: Network Readiness Index, https://networkreadinessindex.org/country/germany/.

1.3 Internet Development in Representative Countries and Regions

39

and research. Germany attaches importance to the development of innovation clusters to continually optimize the ecosystem for innovation. Nine German scientific & technological clusters enter the global top 100 scientific & technological clusters, ranking 3rd in the world, following the United States (24) and China (19). In terms of industrial development, Germany becomes a leader in the development and application of AI. In April 2021, a survey of more than 600 enterprises conducted by BITKOM indicated that although only c. 8% of German enterprises used AI, more than two-thirds of German enterprises interviewed recognized that AI was the most important technology in the future, and that 30% of enterprises stated that they had prepared or were considering deploying AI, with the proportions on the rise as a whole. In order to support AI enterprises to make a foray into a wider market, in September 2021, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung announced the construction of a number of AI service centers (public computing power service platforms) and provided financial support of not less than ten million euros for each service center. In terms of cybersecurity, 2021 Information Technology Security Report released by Bundesamtfür Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) showed that in the past year, the number of new variants of malware discovered in Germany reached 144 million, with an increase of 22% over 2020. Accordingly, BSI raised the threat level of Germany’s cybersecurity from “tense” in 2020 to “tense to severe” in 2021. 2021 Information Technology Security Report suggests that online ransom becomes the biggest threat to German society. Confronted with the threat of cyberattack on satellite communication, in June 2022, BSI released an overview document on IT baseline protection of space infrastructure, which defined the minimum requirements for satellite cybersecurity, classified the protection of various satellite missions into three levels (i.e. normal, high and very high), and embedded them in the whole lifecycle from satellite manufacturing to operation. Germany attaches importance to Internet governance. In January 2021, German Bundestag adopted the Tenth Amendment to Das Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen to strengthen the regulation of the monopoly of platform economy. In January 2022, German Bundeskartellamt asserted that it had made a decision to determine Google had significant cross-market competitive influence, which indicated that Google would be strictly regulated by Bundeskartellamt. In June 2021, German BaFin published the regulatory principles for financial institutions to use algorithm, big data and AI in their decision-making process, aiming to promote the responsible use of these technologies. (5) South Korea South Korea ranks 6th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 3rd in the score of information infrastructure index, 6th in the score of innovation capacity index, 17th in the score of industrial development index, 4th in the score of Internet application index,18th in the score of cybersecurity index and 10th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.4 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of South Korea.

40

1 Overview

Fig. 1.4 The scores of internet development index of South Korea

The Internet penetration rate of South Korea reaches 93%, and the use rate of high-speed Internet remains high. South Korea boasts the first country in the world to launch 5G commercial services. In South Korea, 5G has been commercially available for more than two years since April 2019. By the end of 2021, the number of 5G service users had exceeded 20 million. Besides, South Korea actively invests in 6G research and development. According to the “6G Research and Development Implementation Plan”, South Korea will invest 220 billion Won by 2025 to build the world’s top power in 6G technology. South Korea also plans to launch 14 6G communication satellites before 2031, so as to make South Korea a global leader in satellite communication for 6G applications. The South Korean government continues to increase financial investment to promote the development of digital technology and digital economy. In November 2021, the South Korean government proposed to spend around 510 trillion Won (450 billion U.S. dollars) in the next decade to build the world’s largest chip manufacturing base and consolidate AI chip technology. Seoul municipal government of South Korea issues The Five-Year Plan for Metaverse Seoul, which aims to create an administrative service ecology for metaverse in all business fields, including culture, tourism, education, complaints and proposals. In March 2022, the South Korean government announced a new ruling program, which proposed to vigorously develop future strategic industries such as chip, AI and power battery and strengthen cooperation with European and American countries and regions in joint research, attracting talents and sharing research infrastructure. South Korea reinforces regulation on Internet giants. In September 2021, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea ruled that financial intermediary services provided by Fintech platforms such as NAVER Financial, Kakao Pay and Toss violated Financial Consumer Protection Law and demanded that relevant services be stopped. In mid-September 2021, Google was fined 207.4 billion Won (c. 1.141 billion yuan) by South Korea for allegedly abusing its market dominance in the mobile OS and app market. With increasing attention paid to data value and personal information protection, in September 2021, the South Korean Personal Information Protection Committee

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41

submitted The Personal Information Protection Law (Amendment) to the national assembly, amending 2011 Personal Information Protection Law, introducing rules such as the right to carry personal information and the right to refuse automated decisions, and diversifying the way of the cross-border flow of personal information. In October 2021, South Korea passed The Basic Law on Promoting the Revitalization and Utilization of Data Industry, aiming to lay a foundation for the development of data industry and the revitalization of data economy. According to the Basic Law, South Korea will establish National Data Policy Committee under the Prime Minister’s Office as the regulatory body of national data industry policy, and review & issue a comprehensive plan for the revitalization of data industry every three years. As stated, South Korea will train data brokers as promoters of data economy, and build data-value evaluation, asset protection and dispute-settlement mechanisms. In November 2011, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Information Communication of South Korea issued The Development Strategy of Core Technologies for Data Protection, aiming to activate data use and safely convert it into data economy by acquiring and mastering data-protection technologies. South Korea actively participates in international cooperation in the digital and network fields. In July 2021, the United States and South Korea established the “South Korea-US Network Working Group” to strengthen the response to the growing threat of hackers. In September 2021, South Korea formally applied to join Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and actively participated in the discussion and formulation of rules on digital trade. In May 2022, South Korea announced that it would join the NATO CCDCOE (Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence), which may complicate the situation in Northeast Asia. (6) The United Kingdom The United Kingdom ranks 7th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 24th in the score of information infrastructure index, 10th in the score of innovation capacity index, 6th in the score of industrial development index, 8th in the score of Internet application index, 8th in the score of cybersecurity index and 3rd in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.5 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of the United Kingdom. In August 2021, British Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released the report UK Innovation Strategy: Leading the Future by Creating It, aiming to forge an excellent innovation system by strengthening the four strategic pillars of enterprise, talent, region and government, and build the UK into a global innovation center by 2035. In December 2021, the United Kingdom released National Cyber Strategy 2022, which intended to strengthen the UK’s cybersecurity, protect & promote the UK’s interests in cyberspace, and build the UK into a cyber power by 2030. The Strategy proposes five “priority actions” for the UK in the next five years, including strengthening the UK’s Internet ecosystem, building a resilient and prosperous Digital UK, ensuring the UK’s leading position in important Internet technologies, and enhancing the UK’s global leadership and influence. The United Kingdom is one of the countries in the world with the highest Internet popularization rate. In 2021, the Internet popularization rate in the UK reached 98%,

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Fig. 1.5 The scores of internet development index of the United Kingdom

with 62.86 million Internet users. In July 2021, the UK DCMS launched RAN FRANC program, investing 30 million pounds to stimulate 5G Open-RAN innovation and improve the security and resilience of 5G technology. In November 2011, British government announced that it would vigorously promote the deployment of Open RAN technology and increase financial support for related projects. After Brexit, the United Kingdom has independently formulated cyberspace regulatory policies. Meanwhile, its governance system is steadily improving. In April 2021, the British government established Digital Market Unit to prevent digitaltechnology giants from using their market dominance to stifle competition and innovation. Set up within Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Digital Market Unit is responsible for balancing the relationship among large technological companies in the digital market, content providers and advertisers, formulating new codes of conduct, and promoting the development of digital industry. In September 2021, the British government released National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which aimed to guide actions in the next decade and make the UK a global AI superpower. Additionally, the United Kingdom releases The Framework of Ethics, Transparency and Accountability for Automated Decision-Making to regulate the development of AI technology. In December 2021, the British Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) released the first algorithmic transparency standard in the world, which clarified the transparency principle of decision-making algorithmic tools for governmental departments and public institutions. In terms of international data transmission, the United Kingdom sets up the International Data Transmission Experts Committee, hoping to “become a global leader in removing barriers to cross-border data flow” and provide a “world-leading and real” global data policy for the future. The United Kingdom plans to relax data-privacy rules, establish global data partnerships with the United States, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, India, Brazil, Kenya and Indonesia, and reach new data transmission agreements to reduce international data transmission costs. (7) France France ranks 13th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 17th in the score of information infrastructure index, 13th in the score of

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Fig. 1.6 The scores of internet development index of France

innovation capacity index, 14th in the score of industrial development index, 12th in the score of Internet application index, 9th in the score of cybersecurity index and 7th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.6 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of France. In terms of infrastructure construction, France focuses on 5G. In July 2021, France launched “National 5G Acceleration Plan”, which would provide 47 million euros for seven R & D projects. As a part of the broader “France 2030 Investment Plan”, “National 5G Acceleration Plan” aims to strengthen France’s competitive position in the development and production of future network technologies. In the choice of suppliers, in early 2022, the Constitutional Council of France approved a ruling, requiring operators to remove Huawei’s devices in densely-populated areas and only temporarily retain Huawei’s devices in remote areas when upgrading their networks to 5G wireless technology. The French government attaches importance to the deployment of cutting-edge digital technologies. In 2021, France announced a national cloud strategy to help the public and private sectors achieve digital transformation by promoting and supporting access to sovereign cloud services. As regulated, French enterprises can use cloud computing technologies authorized by American corporations, but they must store relevant data in Europe before they can be recognized by the French government. In AI, in 2021, the French government issued a new plan of “National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence”, and planned to invest 2.2 billion euros in the next five years to accelerate the development of AI. According to the plan, France will add 2.2 billion euros to the investment of 1.5 billion euros in “National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence” in 2018, so as to enhance the competitiveness of French AI, make France a leader in the field of embedded AI and trusted AI, and accelerate the application of AI in the economic field. In April 2022, Commissione de l’informatique et des libertés released a guideline on AI to regulate the use of AI technology. In quantum computing, France launched “National Strategy for Quantum Technology” in 2021, planning to invest 1.8 billion euros from 2021 to 2025 to develop the quantum computer, quantum sensor and quantum communication and promote education and training in relevant industries. In January 2022, France staged the “National Quantum Computing

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Platform”, a hybrid computing platform that connected quantum computer with classical systems, with an initial investment of 70 million euros and a total target of 170 million euros, in a bid to become the first country with a complete prototype of general-purpose quantum computer in the world. With regard to cybersecurity, in April 2021, France announced that it would invest one billion euros to strengthen cybersecurity construction and tackle cyberattacks. As planned, the French government will spend 140 million euros on the education and training of cybersecurity personnel. Besides, the French government will invest 136 million euros in the construction of “Cyber Firefighter Program” of the National Information Security Agency, and establish emergency-response agencies in various cities to rapidly respond in the event of cyberattacks. French government launches new alert system for small & medium-sized enterprises, aiming to support them to effectively address cyberattacks. France plays a leading role in the governance of digital economy, digital tax in particular. In order to resolve the divergences with the United States on digital tax, France and the United States agree to seek a multilateral solution for digital tax within OECD. In October 2021, after the 13th plenary meeting of G20 & OECD inclusive framework was held, 136 jurisdictions reached a consensus on major reform of international tax system, and released Statement on a Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy, agreeing to rewrite international tax rules and actualize major reform of cross-border tax rules. The reform agreement has “two pillars”. The first one is to ensure that the largest transnational corporations in the world can distribute benefits and taxes more equitably among countries. The second one is to impose a global minimum corporate tax of 15% on large transnational corporations. Both pillars set 2023 as the deadline for implementation. (8) Japan Japan ranks 14th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 21st in the score of information infrastructure index, 8th in the score of innovation capacity index, 18th in the score of industrial development index, 3rd in the score of Internet application index, 18th in the score of cybersecurity index and 6th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.7 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of Japan. According to the results of the demographic survey released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, by January 1, 2022, the population of Japan totaled 123 million. With the Internet penetration rate of 93%, Japan is one of the countries with the largest number of Internet users in the Asia Pacific Region. Japan props up the R&D of 5G Open Ran technology and 6G. By December 2021, the number of 5G users in Japan had reached 36.42 million, with an annual increase of 30.97 million. According to the joint statement of American President Biden and then Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide in April 2021, in order to promote 6G R&D and 5G popularization, the United States and Japan will invest 2.5 billion U.S. dollars and 2 billion U.S. dollars respectively, and work together to “build a secure and open network”. In August 2021, the Japanese National Institute of

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Fig. 1.7 The scores of internet development index of Japan

Information and Communications Technology (NICT) announced that it would invest 20 billion yen to build and promote joint research facilities between governments and citizens in 2022, with a view to achieving 6G practicality by 2030. In June 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Toyota, Panasonic, NEC Corporation and other corporations founded “Beyond 5G Promotion Alliance” to actively offer 6G-technology solutions and make them international technological standards. In 2021, Japan zealously deployed cutting-edge technologies and enhanced technological supervision. In March 2021, the Japanese government issued the “Sixth Basic Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation”, a programmatic plan to guide the development of science, technology and innovation from 2021 to 2025. The plan proposes to combine cyberspace with physical space and build a virtuous-cycle society. In May 2021, Japan officially passed The Economic Security Promotion Act to protect key technologies and supply chains and implement more stringent supervision over sensitive industries and major Japanese enterprises. As the Act stipulates, the Japanese government has the right to block patents on some sensitive technologies when necessary. In December 2021, Japan announced the implementation of the “three-step plan” to strengthen the foundation of semiconductor industry, accelerate the construction of IoT-related semiconductor production bases, cooperate with the United States in the R&D of next-generation semiconductor technology, develop new world-leading technologies that can change the “rules of the game”, and establish an open innovation framework. Japan also regards AI and quantum computing as “tools for international hegemony”, introduces new strategies for quantum technology and AI, and strives to put its first domestic quantum computer into use by the end of March 2023. Japan improves the design of cybersecurity strategies and solidifies the capacity to launch attack and defense in cyberspace. In August 2021, the Japanese Personal Information Protection Commission published Guidelines for 2020 Amendment to The Personal Information Protection Law and solicited public opinions. The Law introduces mandatory reporting of certain violations and expands the scope of protected

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data. In September 2021, the Japanese government approved The Draft of Cybersecurity Strategy for the next three years, emphasized strengthening joint exercises with the U.S. military, and listed specific countries as cybersecurity threats for the first time, including China, Russia and North Korea. In February 2022, the Japan Cybersecurity Center released the latest version of The Cybersecurity Strategy, which viewed cybersecurity threats as national security threats and proposed strategic goals such as improving the cybersecurity literacy of the masses and strengthening international cooperation in cybersecurity. In March 2022, the Japanese Self-Defense Force completed the expansion of its cyber defense force, with a total number of 290 people, and actively carried out cooperation with the United States in cybersecurity defense, in an attempt to create a “standardized order” in cyberspace. In Internet governance, Japan hopes to give play to its own advantages and forge global influence. In February 2021, The Law on Improving the Transparency and Fairness of Specific Digital Platforms came into force. In April 2021, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry designated three US-funded corporations (i.e. Amazon, Google and Apple) as well as two Japanese corporations (i.e. Lotte and Yahoo) as the applicable objects of the Law, requiring relevant corporations to disclose contract conditions to ensure the transparency of transactions with customers and enterprises. (9) Australia Australia ranks 17th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 19th in the score of information infrastructure index, 16th in the score of innovation capacity index, 21st in the score of industrial development index, 7th in the score of Internet application index, the 16th in the score of cybersecurity index and 12th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.8 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of Australia. According to Ipsos 2020 satisfaction survey on digital infrastructure such as broadband and mobile network in 28 countries, Australia ranked 3rd from bottom among 28 countries. Among the Australians surveyed, more than half (51%) viewed that Australia’s digital infrastructure was “relatively backward or very backward”. Therefore, in 2021, Australia announced that it would launch a plan to upgrade national Fig. 1.8 The scores of internet development index of Australia

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broadband network at a cost of 3.5 billion Australian dollars, so as to enable two million Australian households to enjoy fiber-to-home service by 2023. In February 2022, Telstra also announced that it would invest around 1.4 billion to 1.6 billion Australian dollars in two national construction projects within five years to strengthen Australia’s connectivity. Australia attaches importance to the research of Internet cutting-edge technologies. In June 2021, the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER) of Australia announced Australian Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. With an investment of 124 million Australian dollars (c. 600 million yuan), the plan aims to make Australia a global leader in developing and adopting credible, secure and responsible artificial intelligence. According to Australia’s “2021 Research Infrastructure Roadmap”, the Australian government would support the construction of quantum-technology infrastructure, including rapid prototyping infrastructure supporting the quantum sensor, low-temperature equipment for testing and measurement, manufacturing facility for quantum-technology components (e.g. quantum computing hardware) and training & development tool. In March 2022, Australia launched a “Redspice” (Resilience-Effects -Defence-Space-IntelligenceCyber-Enablers) of around ten billion Australian dollars (7.5 billion U.S. dollars) distributed over ten years to recruit 1,900 data scientists and software engineers. In recent years, Australia focused on cybersecurity development. In May 2021, Australia initiated Critical Infrastructure Uplift Program (CI-UP) to identify and address vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure and help providers improve the maturity of cybersecurity. In October 2021, in line with Critical Infrastructure Bill, Australian Signals Directorate (a governmental agency responsible for cyber warfare and information security) was given more power to take charge of critical infrastructure in case of ransomware or other cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. In December 2021, the Australian government passed Security Legislation Amendment Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2021, focusing on improving the security and resilience of the national critical infrastructure framework. In December 2021, Australia and the United States signed Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, which aimed to strengthen cooperation in combating serious crimes, terrorism, ransomware attacks and the destruction of critical infrastructure. In April 2022, Australia announced that it would develop a data security framework. In the regulation of cryptocurrency, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) formulates a policy roadmap to supervise financial institutions engaged in cryptocurrency assets. Australian government lays stress on online content security and intellectual property protection. In February 2021, the Parliament of Australia passed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, which stipulated that Australian news media organizations had the right to require digital platforms to pay for the use of their news content and to conduct individual or collective negotiations in this regard. According to the new agreement, if news media organizations and digital platforms cannot reach an agreement on fair payment of news content, an arbitrator appointed by the Australian government can intervene in mediation to urge the parties to reach

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Fig. 1.9 The scores of internet development index of India

an agreement. Presently, Google and other corporations have chosen to compromise on payment. In December 2021, the Australian government announced the updated content of The Online Security Act of 2021, expanding the power of eSafety commissioners, allowing them to forcibly delete harmful content hosted overseas, and enlarging the scope of online content governance from domestic to overseas. Additionally, eSafety commissioners will have the “right to ban websites” to enable rapid law enforcement in the event of terrorist attacks on streaming media. (10) India India ranks 26th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 38th in the score of information infrastructure index, 19th in the score of innovation capacity index, 29th in the score of industrial development index, 26th in the score of Internet application index, 27th in the score of cybersecurity index and 19th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.9 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of India. In 2021, India realized an actual economic growth rate of 8.1%, and its GDP exceeded 220 trillion rupees, breaking the record of three trillion U.S. dollars in exchange rate conversion. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of digital India accelerated, and the integration of Internet economy and traditional economy quickened, ushering in a new trend for development. In May 2021, the Indian government approved four mainstream telecom operators (including Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone India) to start 5G tests. In March 2022, the Ministry of Communications of India declared that the 5G test would be completed soon, and the bidding for 5G frequency band would quickly begin. Predictably, India would start 5G services at the end of 2022. In January 2022, the Department of Telecommunications of India set up six task forces under the Technological Innovation Group to research 6G technology. Focusing on frequency spectrum policy, international standard, R&D financing and device-ecosystem roadmap, India intends to deploy 6G in 2024. The COVID-19 pandemic tremendously accelerates the digital process of Indian society. In 2021, Indian Internet industry saw a stage of rapid development. Statistics

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showed that in 2021, total investment in Indian technological enterprises approximated to 38 billion U.S. dollars, most of which was invested in Internet enterprises, including Paytm, Oyo, Eruditus, Meesho, Ola, Dailyhunt and Cars24. In 2021, a total of 44 unicorns were founded in India, equivalent to the total of the previous ten years. In the first half of 2022 alone, nearly 20 unicorns were established in India. So far, the total number of Indian unicorns has exceeded 100, ranking 3rd in the world, following after the United States and China. Noticeably, Indian largest unicorns are distributed in the Internet field. By 2021, Internet startups occupied 74 seats in Indian unicorn club, accounting for more than 80%. India imitates the business models of a large number of Chinese Internet corporations, and quickly forms Indian versions of WeChat, Pinduoduo, Xiaohongshu, Meituan and others. In December 2021, India announced a 10-billion-U.S. dollar incentive plan to attract semiconductor and display manufacturers, reduce the dependence on import, and become a global electronic-product production center. In February 2022, the Indian National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) released the report The Quantum Revolution in India: Betting Big on Quantum Supremacy, stating that India would play a key role in the quantum technology revolution and that the Indian government would increase its investment in the research and development of quantum technology. The Indian government attaches great importance to Internet regulation and continues to take new measures. In 2021, the Indian government announced new regulatory guidelines to manage various digital platforms, requiring digital platforms to obey online-content rules and limiting a three-month rectification period. Facebook, Twitter and other American social media platforms failed to make any compliance or rectification in due time, and only Koo, an Indian social platform, met relevant regulations. This resulted in the prohibition of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms in India. In September 2021, Indian antitrust regulator judged that Google abused its market dominant position in Indian smartphone market, with its applications preloaded on Android devices to access Google’s app store, thereby illegally harming competitors’ interests. In December 2021, the Competition Commission of India ordered an investigation into Apple’s business practices, claiming that Apple’s App Store forced app developers to use Apple’s own payment system. India also takes various measures to restrict the use of China’s apps. As the fastest-growing emerging Fintech market in the world, India accelerates the development of official digital currencies, continuously improves the regulation of private cryptocurrencies and proposes to levy taxes on cryptocurrency transactions. In the field of digital tax, in October 2021, India and the United States reached a settlement on the 2%-equalization-tax imposed on e-commerce operators, stipulating that goods or services sold through Indian branches of foreign e-commerce organizations would not be subject to digital-tax rules. India actively carries out cyber & digital diplomacy. In 2021, the U.S.-JapanIndia-Australia quadripartite mechanism was officially established. India takes the mechanism as an important support for obtaining technological advantages and ensuring cybersecurity, and strengthens the cybersecurity cooperation with the

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Fig. 1.10 The scores of internet development index of Russia

United Kingdom, the United States and Australia with the help of the quadripartite mechanism and the Indo-Pacific Strategy. In April 2022, India and the European Union announced the establishment of the EU-India Trade and Technology Committee to enlarge the cooperation in trade, technological security and other fields. (11) Russia Russia ranks 27th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 33rd in the score of information infrastructure index, 32nd in the score of innovation capacity index, 31st in the score of industrial development index, 21st in the score of Internet application index, 15th in the score of cybersecurity index and 13th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.10 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of Russia. In 2021, the number of Internet users in Russia reached 112.22 million, of which more than 90% were mobile Internet users. Russia’s 5G infrastructure lags behind, yet Russia plans to become one of the leading 5G countries in the world and hopes to launch the ultra-high-speed network in at least ten big cities by 2024. In the face of a complex international landscape, Russia has mastered the technology of establishing RuNet and remained technologically ready to disconnect from the global Internet. In March 2022, the State Duma of Russia passed The Decree on Securing Information and Communications Technology, which aimed to achieve the transition to the use of domestic geographic information technology. It stipulates a restricted list of access to spatial data information and requires governmental organs, local governments and their subordinate units to use domestic geographic information software to process spatial data. For this purpose, it has specially developed GIS Axiom Cross-Platform Geographic Information System. In cybersecurity, in April 2022, Russia and Armenia signed The Agreement on Ensuring the Cooperation in the Field of Information Security, stressing that in the future, the two countries would strengthen data exchanges in the field of information security, so as to reinforce the identification, prevention, combating and investigation of terrorist and cybercrime activities using information and communications technologies, and tackle cross-border information-security threats via bilateral cooperation. In May 2022, the Security Council of the Russian Federation proposed The

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Draft of Basic Principles of State Policies on Ensuring the Security of Russia’s Critical Information Infrastructure, and decided to formulate several strategic-planning documents aimed at improving Russia’s information security system. The Draft puts forward three key tasks. The first one is to continuously improve and adjust the information security guarantee mechanism in the key facilities directly related to national defense capability, economic and social stability and development. The second one is to enhance the security of the information system and communication network of national institutions, strengthen the defense of domestic digital space, and reduce the risk of the leakage of citizen’s information and personal data. The third one is to fundamentally lower the risks that arise from the use of foreign programs, computer technologies and telecommunications devices. In cyberspace governance, Russia has signed memorandums with more than ten mainstream media and website operators, asserting that they will jointly combat Internet false information and develop a unified mechanism to effectively identify, verify and restrict all kinds of Internet false information. In December 2021, Russian court imposed a record fine of 100 million U.S. dollars on Google for “not systematically deleting banned content”. In anti-monopoly, in May 2021, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russian Federation issued a ticket of 906 million rubles (c. 12 million U.S. dollars) to Apple, because Apple abused its dominant position in the mobile phone application market. In October 2021, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russian Federation said that it had launched an antitrust investigation against Apple, because Apple prohibited informing App Store app buyers of alternative payment methods. (12) South Africa South Africa ranks 38th in “The Scores of World Internet Development Index”. Specifically, it ranks 40th in the score of information infrastructure index, 36th in the score of innovation capacity index, 32nd in the score of industrial development index, 40th in the score of Internet application index, 42nd in the score of cybersecurity index and 28th in the score of cyberspace governance index. Figure 1.11 shows the scores of Internet Development Index of South Africa. Fig. 1.11 The scores of internet development index of South Africa

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South Africa is one of the most advanced countries on the African continent in the field of telecommunications infrastructure. Over the past years, owing to a large amount of investment from governments and mobile network operators, South Africa achieved high coverage and stable network speed of the mobile network. As 2022 Network Readiness Index (NRI) suggests, South Africa ranks 70th among 130 countries and regions and 1st in Africa. South Africa becomes the first country on the African continent to use 5G. South African government vigorously supports the distribution of 5G spectrum, striving to achieve the goal of enabling all South Africans to access the Internet by 2024. South Africa possesses unique advantages in developing digital economy and highlights data and cloud services. In April 2021, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Technology of South Africa released The Draft of National Data and Cloud Policies, which planned to establish a high-performance computing and dataprocessing center to provide cloud services for national departments, provinces & cities, subways, universities, research centers, social organizations and public & private enterprises on demand. The Draft emphasized that most government data would be digitalized and cloudified, requiring that government data must be stored in high-performance computing centers to ensure data and information security.27 The South African government will establish a national digital information technology special economic zone to attract domestic and foreign enterprises to invest in data & cloud technological infrastructure and services. The government will introduce policies to encourage enterprises in the special economic zone to carry out skill training and technological exchanges, so as to promote the development of big data industry in South Africa. South Africa forges a relatively favorable environment for the development of AI and other technologies. According to Global Innovation Index 2021 released by World Intellectual Property Organization, South Africa ranks 61st in the world and 2nd in Africa (second only to Mauritius) in the score of innovation capacity. According to IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2021 released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, South Africa ranks 60th among 64 countries and regions. South Africa lags behind in knowledge, technology and future readiness, yet takes the lead in the investment in education and telecommunications. In 2021, the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries refused to grant patents for AI inventions. Against such a backdrop, South Africa announced that it would grant a patent right for AI inventions by the research team of the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, which was also the first globally-recognized patent created by AI. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic triggers the explosive growth of South Africa’s e-commerce market. According to the business service data of First National Bank of South Africa (FNB), by the end of 2021, e-commerce accounted for 14% of the total credit card payments in the retail sector, and tourism & accommodation accounted for 11%. Before the pandemic, tourism and accommodation accounted

27

Data Source: https://posts.careerengine.us/p/607e45bb556559233be76f5d.

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for 35%, and e-commerce accounted for 8%.28 Presently, the annual e-commerce turnover in South Africa exceeds one billion. As estimated, by 2025, the e-commerce market in South Africa will exceed 27.2 billion U.S. dollars.29 South Africa reaches a low level in cybersecurity and even lags behind many African countries. According to 2020 Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), South Africa ranks 59th in the world and 8th in Africa. It scores high on the four pillars of technology, legislation, cooperation and capacity, but low on the organization. South Africa was at number 88 in National Cybersecurity Index (NCSI) released by Estonia e-Governance Academy. It performs well in cybersecurity education, digital authentication & trusted services, personal information protection, cyber event response and addressing cybercrimes, yet performs poorly in cyber threat analysis, the protection of digital services and cyber threat management. In July 2021, Port of Durban, which accounted for more than 60% of South Africa’s national transportation, was paralyzed for nearly a week due to cyberattacks, with the shipping seriously blocked. Additionally, Kaspersky Lab, a cybersecurity corporation, confirmed that in August 2021, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia suffered a total of 85 million cyberattacks, of which 32 million occurred in South Africa. This meant that South Africa was a serious disaster area targeted by cyber criminals.30 Therefore, South Africa sets up the Standing Committee on Information System Security (SCISS) to enhance domestic cybersecurity capacity.

1.4 The Trends in World Internet Development World Internet development sees a period of rapid change. The applications of new technologies such as big data, IoT, AI and blockchain accelerate and deepen global digital transformation. Digital economy injects development momentum into global economic recovery. Cybersecurity and data security arouse global attention, and cyberattacks, data leakage and cybercrime display new characteristics, which pose new challenges to the capabilities of various countries in the prevention of cybersecurity risks. Globally, the combination of multiple risks, such as the continued spread of the pandemic, the escalation of regional conflict and the shortage of supply chain, puts forward new requirements for international rules on cyberspace governance.

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Economic and Commercial Department of Chinese Embassy in the Republic of South Africa: “E-commerce Market in South Africa Sees Explosive Growth”, http://za.mofcom.gov.cn/article/ jmxw/202203/20220303287488.shtml. 29 Data Source: “South Africa’s E-commerce Transaction Volume Will Exceed 27.2 Billion U.S. Dollars by 2025”, https://www.ennews.com/article-26106-1.html. 30 Data Source: http://www.africantimes2005.com/nfyw/38278.html.

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1.4.1 The Competition and Confrontation Concerning the Dominance of Digital Technology Intensify and Necessitate Inclusiveness, Cooperation and Innovation Today, science and technology have the most far-reaching impact on the future and destiny of a country. Presently, scientific & technological innovation becomes the main battleground for the international strategic game. However, some countries go against the trend of globalization, form “small circles” on science and technology, and continue to interfere with the innovation and development of other countries by means of scientific & technological monopolies, blockades and barriers, which result in the slowdown of global scientific & technological innovation, as well as the risk of relapsing into the division of technological system in global IT development. In the future, the contention for the dominance in information technology becomes more intense. In particular, the competition for advanced manufacturing capability of integrated circuits and the R&D capability of new structures and new materials, the competition for standard, ecology and market in the field of cutting-edge technology, the competition for Internet core resources like satellite Internet frequency & orbit resources, and the competition for global leading scientific & technological talents heat up. Some countries employ national resources and mass scientific & technological giants to curb the technological progress of other countries, in order to seek their absolute technological advantage and hegemony. This aggravates the imbalanced and unsustainable development of global technological innovation. Going forward, various countries should take the welfare of all mankind as the fundamental goal, uphold the principle of technological neutrality, abandon political bias, strengthen the exchanges and cooperation in scientific & technological innovation, encourage the rational flow of talents, promote the sharing of technological resources and knowledge, break down barriers that restrict the flow of knowledge, technologies, talents and other innovative elements, and boost the global flow of innovative elements. Besides, various countries should work together to enhance intellectual property protection, build an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for scientific & technological development, launch the cooperation on new technological standards and rules, achieve sustainable digital development featuring robustness, environmental-friendliness and stability and make digital technological achievements benefit people all over the world.

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1.4.2 Digital Technology Continually Injects Strong Momentum into Global Economy and Necessitates Integration & Innovation-Driven Development Against the backdrop of the change in the global landscape and the continuous impact of the pandemic, the world economy faces multiple unfavorable factors, and economic recovery becomes the theme of economic development in various countries. With strong development resilience and innovation capacity, digital economy serves as an important engine for economic recovery and a key force for restructuring global factor resources, reshaping global economic structure and reforming global competition pattern. Essentially, the evolution of technological innovation signifies both the process of improving production efficiency and the process of optimizing economic structure. Currently, the global IT revolution comes to the stage of coordinated integration & innovation of ICT and other economic sectors. The benefit of ICT innovation enlarges and spurs the evolution of IT innovation in the technological innovation of other industries. In the future, the driving effect of ICT on economic development continues to be released, the integration & innovation of digital technology and real economy become more prominent, and data (as a new production factor) further stimulates the vitality of talent, capital, innovation and other elements and improves total factor productivity. After the rise of consumer Internet, various parties attach attention to the development of industrial Internet. In the future, various countries should embrace the principle of inclusiveness and prudence, uphold regulation and development simultaneously, promote the normative, healthy and sustainable development of platform economy, and innovate and develop new forms and models of Internet businesses. They should extensively participate in the governance of global digital economy, deeply contribute to the formulation of international rules on digital economy, fully accommodate national conditions for development and national interests, and initiate practical exchanges and cooperation in digital-technology standards and guidelines. Besides, they should vigorously promote the development of cross-border e-commerce, reduce trade barriers, foster smooth logistics, improve the digitalization level and customs-clearance efficiency of cross-border industrial chains and supply chains, and help the development of real economy and the security and stability of global supply chains.

1.4.3 The Phenomenon of Digital Divide Means a Continuous and Dynamic Process and Requires Long-Term Attention Under the impact of the pandemic, different economies realize economic recovery at different paces, and the development gap between the North and the South further widens. Developed countries achieve much better and faster performance

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than developing countries in terms of digital-infrastructure construction, digitaleconomy volume and digital technology development. This imbalance in digital development will enlarge global digital divide and cause more uncertainty and instability to the recovery and development of global economy. Simultaneously, with the popularization of Internet, the rapid iteration and application of new technologies expand the differences in the accessibility of digital devices, digital skills and knowledge-acquisition environments among regions and groups, and exacerbate digital imbalance among different individuals. As a result, digital divide continues to exist. In the future, various countries should work together to address digital divide, build inclusive, shareable, equitable and accessible digital infrastructure, promote the interconnection, joint construction and sharing of Internet facilities, and improve the level of digital services for people. They should focus on major groups like the elderly and the disabled, carry out practical digital cooperation, speed up the transformation of elderly-friendly digital devices and the construction of information accessibility, and quickly bridge the “facility gap” between regions, urban and rural areas and people. Besides, they should jointly launch education and training for different groups, continuously narrow the “skill gap” between different groups, and generally raise the digital literacy and skills of people as well as their digital adaptability and creativity.

1.4.4 The Evolution and Upgrading of Cybersecurity Risks Necessitate a Secure and Stable Cyberspace Environment Cybersecurity means a common challenge to various countries in the world, and no country can stay aloof from it. Global cybersecurity faces a grimmer situation and cybersecurity risks continue to rise. Affected by cyber hegemony and geopolitics, local conflicts in global cyberspace intensify, and cyberattacks feature group attackers, large scale, multiple batches and diverse methods. With the arrival of the era of big data, the emergence of massive data breeds the risks of the leakage of sensitive data and personal information. Various countries attach attention to the governance system and guarantee the capacity of data security and personal information protection, as well as the rules on cross-border data. New technologies and applications, such as AI, blockchain, quantum computing, metaverse, 5G, satellite Internet and ICV, give rise to new security risks and challenges. Supply chain security attracts wide attention among various countries, and the ideas and approaches of cybersecurity protection need to be innovated. Russia and Ukraine engaged in hybrid warfare in the digital era. The strength of digital technology becomes an important factor in determining the direction of regional conflicts. The militarization of cyberspace further accelerates. Cyber warfare and cognitive warfare become the conventional forms of modern warfare.

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In the future, various countries should adhere to the idea of security featuring universality, integration, cooperation and sustainability, jointly safeguard world peace and security, cling to the peaceful settlement of international divergences and disputes through dialogue and consultation, and jointly address global security issues like cybersecurity. They should work together to strengthen personal information protection, ensure data security, and promote the rational and orderly flow of crossborder data. They should promote the negotiation process of The United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime, strengthen cross-border law-enforcement cooperation, severely crack down on cybercrimes, and jointly build a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace. They should cooperate in opposing cyberwar and the arms race in cyberspace and making cyberspace a peaceful space for the survival and development of human society.

1.4.5 The Application of New Technologies Causes New Problems and Necessitates Building a Win–Win Governance Pattern New-generation information technology represented by big data, AI and blockchain profoundly alters people’s production and lifestyle and boosts the transformation of global economic and social development. Meanwhile, big data-based analysis, algorithmic recommendation and other technologies facilitate user’s access to information yet cause the homogenization and fragmentation of user’s information acquisition, which form information cocoons and algorithmic discrimination, block effective communication between different communities and ethnic groups, and produce cultural bias. The application of new technologies not only augments the scale efficiency and Internet effect of Internet platforms, but also increases the risks of Internet monopoly and unfair competition. In this regard, the opportunities mingle with the risks, and the complexity and difficulty of governance continue to increase. This brings new challenges to the regulation and governance of various governments in the world. In particular, the universality of cross-border risks makes risk response a new problem in world Internet development. The combination of the pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict catalyzes the division of international forces. The competitions and games among countries in the digital field display a group-based trend. Some countries and regions continuously implement the policies of unilateralism and deglobalization, which intensifies the fragmentation of the rules on digital technologies, incurs more uncertainty in the development of global cyberspace cooperation, and increases the difficulty in coordinating international rules in cyberspace. In the future, various countries should understand the laws of Internet development and the development trend of new technologies, improve the governance mechanism of Internet technology, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and raise regulatory efficiency and collaborative governance capacity. They should enhance enterprise’s awareness of social responsibility, establish a social governance system that calls for

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corporate self-discipline, industrial autonomy, governmental regulation and other social forces, propagate the human value or idea of “technology for social good”, and build a new-type network-technology governance pattern that features fairness, justice, effectiveness and win–win cooperation. They should work together to build an exchange platform for international cyberspace governance, carry out cooperation in issues like cross-border data, digital technology, digital currency, digital platform and cybersecurity, give play to the roles of governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and enterprises, promote the formulation of international rules on cyberspace, and boost the construction of a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

Chapter 2

The Construction of World Information Infrastructure

2.1 Outline Nowadays, profound changes in the world unseen in a century and the COVID-19 pandemic are intertwined. The global economy falters, the South-North development gap further widens, and the world sees a period of turbulence and transformation. Simultaneously, digital technology penetrates all aspects of economy and society in an unprecedented way. As the volume of digital economy keeps expanding, various countries in the world attach more attention to the construction of information infrastructure. The industrialization of the global 5G network accelerates, with larger coverage. Gigabit optical fiber signals the mainstream trend of broadband development. The number of IPv6 users gradually increases and the scale of IPv6 deployment continuously enlarges. Satellite Internet industry develops rapidly, and the scale of satellite navigation market grows steadily. The scale of global cloud computing market expands year by year, data center displays a green and intensive trend, and high-performance computing comes to the E-era. With the rise of the empowerment of IoT, the innovation on industrial Internet remains active, and IoV enters the stage of high-speed development.

2.2 The Construction of the Communication Network Infrastructure is Accelerated and Upgraded Presently, the construction of the global 5G network expands and the commercial use of 5G quickens. The number of broadband network users continues to grow, and various countries actively promote the transformation and upgrading of gigabit optical fiber network. The large-scale deployment and application of IPv6 progress stably, and both the number of IPv6 users and the support rate of IPv6 are increasing.

© Publishing House of Electronics Industry 2024 World Internet Development Report 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5386-8_2

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As the commercial use of satellite Internet accelerates, various countries energetically deploy satellite Internet. In various countries, satellite navigation arouses wide attention and the market competition intensifies.

2.2.1 The Construction Global 5G Network Quickens 1. Various Countries Actively Deploy the Construction of Commercial Use of 5G Network Now, the construction of the global 5G network advances steadily, and more countries and regions endeavor to realize the commercial use of 5G. By the end of 2021, 487 operators in 145 countries and regions had invested in 5G network, including technological tests, license acquisition and network planning, deployment and opening. In terms of the commercial use of 5G, 200 operators from 78 countries and regions had launched the 5G network for commercial use that met the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standards. In particular, 187 operators had launched 5G mobile services, and 83 operators had launched 5G FWA (fixed wireless access) services that met the 3GPP standards.1 So far, Europe, the Asia Pacific Region and North America play a leading role in basically completing the commercial use of 5G network. South Asia, Eastern Europe, North Africa and Central and South America follow closely the first-mover regions and deploy the pre-commercial use of 5G. Most regions of Sub-Saharan Africa have not developed 5G yet. Additionally, the global 5G SA (Standalone) network achieves remarkable results. By the end of 2021, more than 20 telecom operators in the world had launched the 5G SA network. China and North America firstly started the 5G SA network. Afterwards, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Germany, Finland and other countries and regions introduced 5G SA network for commercial use in their markets.2 In 2021, various countries successively released strategies for the construction of the 5G network to accelerate the layout of the 5G ecology. In 2021, Singapore announced to boost in the application and commercialization of 5G technology with an investment of 30 million Singapore dollars. The European Commission released 2030 Digital Compass: The European Way for the Digital Decade, which aimed to achieve the coverage of 5G network in all densely-populated areas in Europe by 2030. French government initiated the acceleration strategy for 5G and future telecom network technology, hoping to facilitate the development and application of digital fields via 5G technologies. South Korea announced the “5G + Convergence Service Diffusion Strategy”. With the number of 5G users exceeding 20 million, South Korea achieved the coverage of 5G network in 85 cities. 1 2

Data Source: Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). Data Source: Ericsson Mobility Report published by Ericsson.

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2. The Number of Global 5G Users Gallops Owing to the quick deployment of the 5G network in various countries, the number of global 5G users continues to grow. In the first quarter of 2022, the number of global 5G users increased by 70 million and totaled around 620 million, with population coverage of more than 25%.3 North America and Northeast Asia saw the highest penetration rate of 5G users, followed by GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) member states and Western Europe. As Ericsson and GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association) predicted, the number of global 5G users would exceed one billion by the end of 2022. The deployment of the 5G network continues to enlarge, the number of 5G users continues to grow, and the scope of 5G service continues to expand. Accordingly, the total revenue of global mobile services jumps. As the GSMA data suggested, in 2021, global mobile-data traffic increased by 40%, and the total revenue of operators reached c. 1.08 trillion U.S. dollars. The growth in the number of 5G users triggers the rapid development of mobile terminal. According to the GSA data, 180 manufacturers in the world have started or will start 5G terminal services. By the end of 2021, various countries had launched 1,257 5G terminals, among which more than 600 terminals supported the 5G SA (Standalone Access) network. 3. Global 5G Innovation Remains Active As the commercial deployment of 5G continuously accelerates, major global technological enterprises bolster the 5G R&D, and the annual declaration of essential patents for 5G standards shoots up yearly. By the end of 2021, more than 64,900 5G standard essential patents and more than 46,100 effective global patent families had been declared globally. In the number of effective global patent families, the top ten corporations were Huawei, Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, ZTE, Nokia, Ericsson, Datang, OPPO, and Sharp, of which the top three corporations accounted for 14%, 9.8%, and 9.1% respectively.4 The United States, China and Europe boast the most active countries and regions in the field of 5G technological innovation. Huawei, Qualcomm, Samsung, LG and Nokia account for a high proportion of patent families authorized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Huawei, ZTE, Qualcomm, Datang and Nokia account for a high proportion of patent families authorized by China National Intellectual Property Administration. Huawei, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and Ericsson account for the highest proportion of patent families authorized by the European Patent Office. 4. 5G Technological System Develops in a Diverse Way Various countries actively deploy 5G, yet their technological systems vary. This necessitates the continuous reduction of the costs of 5G modules. In terms of the 5G spectrum invested by operators, n77 (3,300–4,200 MHz) and n78 (3,300–3,800 MHz) play a dominant role, followed by three millimeter-wave 3 4

Ericsson Mobility Report published by Ericsson. Ericsson Mobility Report published by Ericsson.

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bands (i.e. n257, n258 and n261) and several frequency bands (i.e. 700 MHz, 2.6 GHz, 2100 MHz and 1,800 MHz). With regard to the networking model, NSA (Non-Standalone Access) presents the mainstream in the deployment of 5G network, with slow growth. The growth of the deployment of the SA network speeds up. The first-mover regions continue to increase investment to 5G SA, such as North America, Europe, China, South Korea and Australia. With the improvement of networking model, the number of terminals that supports 5G SA rises rapidly, accounting for more than 50% of the total. Presently, mainstream chip manufacturers develop mature products that back dual models of NSA and SA. Besides, with the construction of the SA network, 5G FWA service grows robustly and plays an increasingly important role in providing broadband services. Currently, a large-scale market of 5G modules has not yet formed, and the costs evoke widespread attention among various parties. Specifically, the costs of 5G modules mainly include the development of chip and peripheral circuit, and baseband chip takes up the highest proportion. The peripheral circuit of communication module involves the secondary design and integration of a variety of chips and devices, which features standardization and customization and requires high R&D costs. Additionally, in order to meet industrial needs, the 5G module performs special functions that integrate perception, data processing, artificial intelligence (AI) and operating system and further increase the R&D costs. By the end of September 2021, 137 5G module products had been launched worldwide, yet most of them had not been shipped on a large scale. Therefore, reducing the costs of 5G modules becomes one of the major directions for industrial development in the future.

2.2.2 The Proportion of Optical Broadband Network Keeps Rising 1. Various Countries Accelerate the Deployment of Gigabit Fixed Broadband Network Global fixed broadband network enters the gigabit era. Various countries actively promote the construction of fixed-broadband-network infrastructure to upgrade the gigabit network. According to Fiber Development Index in 2021 released by Omdia, a market research organization, in 2021, Singapore ranked 1st in the world in the penetration rates of FTTH (Fiber To The Home), mobile base-station fiber and FTTP (Fiber To The Premise), as well as the speeds of download and upload. South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, China and Qatar followed after Singapore. In this regard, Spain and Sweden took the lead in European countries, ranking 7th and 8th in the world respectively, followed by Luxembourg and Romania. The United States ranked 1st in the Americas and 18th in the world. Countries adopt quite different access methods, technological systems and service solutions in the construction of fixed broadband. Accordingly, the development

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of gigabit network shows different characteristics. China, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand and the United States deploy 10G-PON (Passive Optical Network) ports earlier than other countries. Now, SingTel and Starhub in Singapore, KT and SKT in South Korea, Comcast Cable, AT&T and Verizon in the United States and other telecom operators have developed gigabit network packages and provided gigabit network access services. European countries lag behind in the construction of optical network infrastructure. For example, 95% of fixed broadband users in Germany use cable access (e.g. VDSL, DSL and Cable). The proportions of optical fiber users in France and the United Kingdom reach only 34 and 56% respectively. Noticeably, Europe vigorously advances the development of gigabit network. The European Union proposes to cover all European households with gigabit network by 2030. 2. The Number of Fixed Broadband Users in the World Increases Steadily Since various countries accelerate the construction of broadband network, there is an increase in the number of fixed broadband users in the world. As the data of Point Topic suggested, by the end of 2021, the number of fixed broadband connections in the world grew by 1.5% with the users of 1.27 billion. The share of FTTH/B in the total number of fixed broadband users reached 62.5%, and the share of high-speed and ultra-high-speed wired broadband connections reached 18%. According to the data released by Omdia, the number of signed users of gigabit broadband in the world would zoom to 50 million in 2022, up by more than 100% at the end of 2020 (24 million). Particularly, the proportion of broadband (500 Mb/s–1 Gb/s) users rose from 15% in 2020 to 21% in 2022. Notably, the number of global fixed-broadband-network users increases yearly; notwithstanding, the penetration rate of broadband remains low in underdeveloped regions like Africa, and the “digital divide” in the field of network service needs to be solved. 3. Remarkable Achievements Are Made in the Construction of International Submarine Optical Cable The fast development of Internet and the continuous growth of digital economy spark the larger demand for international bandwidth. Transnational data transmission speeds up the construction of the international submarine optical cable, and transocean submarine optical cable undertakes more than 95% of the task of international data transmission. Presently, there are around 400 submarine optical cables in the world. With a total length of more than 1.2 million kilometers, they can circle the earth 30 times. The European Union, the United States and Japan own the lion’s share of technologies for the construction of the international submarine optical cable. NEC Corporation (Japan), SubCom (the United States) and Alcatel Submarine Networks (France) monopolize most construction projects in the global submarine optical cable.

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2.2.3 The Number of IPv6 Users and the Deployment Rate of IPv6 Progress Steadily Globally, Industry 4.0 is already in full swing, which features digitalization and intelligentization. Essential to Industry 4.0, IoE (Internet of Everything) rests on massive IP addresses. In a way, the promotion of the scale deployment and application of IPv6 means an inevitable choice for the digital transformation and upgrading of global industries. In general, global deployment of IPv6 maintains a good momentum for development, and most countries actively deploy IPv6. In network infrastructure, in 2021, there were more than 21 million domain names with AAAA records in the world, accounting for 8.2% of the total number of domain names, with an increase of 2.3% over 2020. There were 135,298 active BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) routing entries, with a year-on-year increase of c. 50%. In websites, 19.4% of global websites supported IPv6, up by 3% over 2020. In the infrastructure of Internet applications, all the top ten CDN providers in the world supported IPv6. In network products, by August 2021, more than 2,745 IPv6 Ready Logos were issued in the world. In this regard, China ranked 1st in the world, followed by the United States, Japan and South Korea. In the types of certified devices, with more routers and switches certified, the number of IPv6 certification of various security products and home-gateway terminal products grew remarkably.5

2.2.4 Various Countries Accelerate the Deployment of Satellite Internet 1. Satellite Internet in Major Countries Satellite Internet possesses great market development potential and important social benefits. In consideration of the scarcity of frequency and orbit resources, more countries start to deploy satellite Internet and highlight the strategic position of satellite Internet. Particularly, global competition centers on low-orbit satellite Internet. Loworbit satellite proves significantly superior to high-orbit satellite in terms of uplink and downlink transmission delay, inter-satellite delay, link loss, system reliability and manufacturing cost. However, due to the limited capacity of low-earth orbit satellite, various countries vie for low-orbit space resources to achieve development goals. The United States has built the largest satellite Internet in the world. By April 2022, SpaceX of the United States applied to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the launch plan of 42,000 low-orbit satellites. Totally, SpaceX has launched more than 2,400 satellites and forged Starlink, the most deployed low-orbit satellite system in the world. Now, Starlink serves nearly 140,000 users in 20 countries. According to the data released by Ookla, a network-speed testing agency, SpaceX’s 5

Data Source: 2021 White Paper on Global IPv6 Support.

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satellite Internet services are successfully tested, and the average download speed in 15 countries exceeds 100 Mb/s. Russia plans to deploy satellite Internet. In April 2022, the Russian government announced the approval of the federal project “Sphere”, which would deploy hundreds of satellites for various purposes from 2023 to 2028. There would be around 600 satellites for communication, navigation and earth remote sensing, used to provide such services as earth remote sensing, navigation, broadcasting and broadband Internet access, data transmission, IoT and other technologies. The European Union also sets about to build independently-developed satellite Internet. In February 2022, the European Commission issued a statement, planning to launch “Secure Connectivity”, a satellite Internet project with a total investment of c. six billion euros, so as to build a space-based secure communication system. As scheduled, “Secure Connectivity” will be carried out in 2023. In 2025, the first group of on-orbit quantum encryption services and tests will be started. In 2028, the European Union will provide alternative solutions to the satellite Internet of China and the United States. 2. Various Countries in the World Swiftly Formulate Technological Standards for Satellite Internet The ubiquitous coverage of satellite and the hotspot coverage of ground base stations are characterized by natural integration and complementary advantage. Promoting the compatibility of their standards signals a main direction of satellite communication. Presently, major international alliances and organizations in the world play an active role in the research and formulation of technological standards for satellite Internet. In the research on “key factors that integrate satellite system into nextgeneration access technologies”, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) analyzes and defines the use cases, network structures and key technologies of 5G satellite network, and initiates the research on the topic of “Sat-M2M/IoT” for satellite IoT. 3GPP-standard organizations have listed satellite access technology in 5G NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) and started the feasibility study of NTN technological standards for R16 and the development of NTN technological criteria for R17. 3. The Technological Innovation on Satellite Internet Remains Active In recent years, technological innovation on satellite Internet becomes active, and the number of patent applications continually increases worldwide. By January 2022, there were 96,255 applications of satellite patents in the United States, accounting for 36.37% of the total number in the world. The United States boasts the largest technological-source country in satellite application in the world. China ranks 2nd, whose number of applications of satellite patents accounts for 27.05% of the total number in the world. Japan ranks 3rd, whose number of applications of satellite patents accounts for 16.32% of the total number in the world. South Korea and European Patent Office rank 4th and 5th respectively, yet they cannot stand comparison with the top three countries.

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As the overall development trend suggests, the number of applications of satellite patents in China grows rapidly. In 2018, China surpassed the United States, with the largest number of patent applications every year in the global satellite-application industry. In 2021, there were 9,546 applications of satellite patents in China. Besides, the applications of satellite patents in the United States and Japan show the same up-down trend. The numbers of applications in the United States and Japan prove significantly higher than those in South Korean and European Patent Office, which make little progress in this regard in recent years. In the rankings of applicants, by January 2022, Sony Corporation (Japan) had 3,468 satellite applied patents, ranking 1st in the world. Qualcomm (the United States) had 3,163 satellite applied patents, ranking 2nd in the world. Samsung (South Korea) and Huawei (China) ranked 3rd and 4th respectively, applying for 3,073 and 2,075 satellite patents respectively. Currently, the top ten applicants in the number of satellite patents in the world mainly deploy technologies related to niche fields of G06F3 and H04W4, with a market value exceeding 15 million U.S. dollars. 4. Global Satellite Internet Industry Develops Fast Satellite Internet market has a vast vista. Globally, around three billion people haven’t got access to Internet. The satellite and terrestrial cellular networks probably achieve wide coverage at lower costs. Now, the global satellite Internet industry displays good momentum for development, and the number of launched satellites continues to rise. In regional distribution, the United States holds a safe lead in the number of launched satellites and maintains the advantage in a short term. The numbers of launched satellites in Europe and China also grow yearly. In the distribution of satellite users, commercial satellites account for c. 70%. The commercialization of satellites continuously improves, which helps to realize the leaps-and-bounds development of market scale and increase the yearly income of related industries. Presently, the revenue of the ground device manufacturing industry accounts for 50%, which fosters the development of the satellite Internet industry with the satellite service industry. Additionally, with the continuous innovation on emerging technologies, the costs of satellite launch will continue to decrease and accelerate the development of satellite Internet industry. Advanced manufacturing technologies, e.g. 3D printing and flexible manufacturing, reduce the costs of satellite R&D and production. Simultaneously, technologies such as one rocket launch multi-satellites and rocket recycling substantially lower the costs of satellite launch.

2.2.5 Global Satellite Navigation Market Comes to the Stage of Rapid Development 1. The Scale of the Global Satellite Navigation Market Expands Yearly Global satellite navigation has a broad market. According to 2022 EO and GNSS Market Report released by the European Union Space Program Agency (EUSPA),

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in 2021, the scale of GNSS market achieved 198.9 billion euros, with an increase of 31.98% over 2019. Specifically, the service revenue reached 150.5 billion euros, accounting for more than 75%. The equipment revenue realized 48.4 billion euros. As the EUSPA estimated, global GNSS equipment shipment would increase from 1.8 billion units/year in 2021 to 2.5 billion in 2031. The total ownership would increase from 6.5 billion units in 2021 to 10.6 billion in 2031. The scale of GNSS market would grow from 198.9 billion euros in 2021 to 492 billion euros in 2031, with a CAGR of 9.2%. The Asia Pacific Region has the largest GNSS market scale. According to the EUSPA report, regionally, the Asia Pacific Region became the largest GNSS market scale in 2021, followed by North America and the European Union, which achieved 77.2 billion euros, 47.6 billion euros and 39.5 billion euros, accounting for 39%, 24% and 20% respectively. As the EUSPA forecasted, by 2031, the Asia Pacific Region, North America and the European Union would rank top three in the global GNSS market scale as ever. The market share of the Asia Pacific Region would grow continuously, whilst the market shares of North America and the European Union would decrease. Globally, Africa and the Middle East would reach the highest CAGR (13.90%) in the GNSS market scale from 2021 to 2031. The CAGRs of GNSS market scale would reach 10% in the Asia Pacific Region, South America and the Caribbean, Russia and other non-EU member states, which only reach 7% in North America and the European Union. 2. Various Countries Accelerate the Upgrading and Construction of Satellite Navigation Infrastructure The Global Positioning System (GPS) of the United States has served customers for several decades and formed a complete industrial system. Presently, the United States enthusiastically implements the “GPS Modernization Program”, aiming to consolidate its dominant role in the satellite navigation system in the next 30 years. In 2021, the United States issued Space Policy Directive-7, which emphasized that the United States must constantly improve and maintain GPS and its augmentation systems, enhance GPS complementary and standby capabilities, and raise the flexibility of PNT services, in a bid to meet the demands in military, civilian, commercial and scientific development. Now, the United States has completed the launch of five third-generation GPS satellites. Russia intends to launch new-type navigation satellites and strengthen the cooperation with China. Now, the satellite constellation of Russian GLONASS includes 27 satellites, i.e. 24 “GLONASS-M” satellites and 3 “GLONASS-K” satellites. Russia planned to launch the first “GLONASS-K2” satellite in 2022, which would provide users with more accurate positioning services and more navigation signals. In December 2021, Roscosmos and China Satellite Navigation System Commission signed The Roadmap of China-Russia Satellite Navigation Cooperation in 2021– 2025. In February 2022, China and Russian signed The Cooperation Agreement between the China Satellite Navigation System Commission (The People’s Republic of China) and Roscosmos (The Russian Federation) on the Time Interoperability of BDS and GLONASS Global Satellite Navigation Systems, which would further

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expand and deepen the long-term cooperation in the field of satellite navigation between China and Russia. The EU’s “Galileo” satellite navigation system has been fully put into operation. In December 2021, “Galileo” satellite navigation system successfully launched for the 11th time and deployed 28 satellites. As planned, “Galileo” will launch four times from 2022 to 2025 to complete the launch of the first-generation satellite of “Galileo”, enhance the flexibility of the constellations and optimize overall operation capability. Besides, the European Commission has signed new contracts that involve 12 satellites with Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence & Space respectively. The 12 satellites serve as the second-generation satellites (G2) of the EU’s “Galileo” satellite navigation system, of which the first satellite will be launched at the end of 2024 as scheduled. The project leader, who stated that these satellites can effectively improve the accuracy and robustness of the signals of “Galileo” satellite positioning system, believed that “this will be the key point to the development of military and security applications in the next decade”. The United Kingdom seeks an independent PNT program. As early as 2020, UK Space Agency initiated the “Space-Based PNT Program” (SBPP) to explore alternatives to GPS or “Galileo” satellite navigation systems. Meanwhile, UK Space Agency subsidizes “UK SBAS”, a test project that aims to enhance the UK’s capability in the PNT field after the Brexit and raise the ground-positioning accuracy from a few meters to a few centimeters. Japan fortifies the navigation capability of regional satellites. Japanese QuasiZenith Satellite System (QZSS) belongs to an enhanced regional satellite navigation system, networked by four satellites. In October 2021, Japan successfully launched QZS-1R, a QZSS network patching satellite, which would replace the first satellite in the constellation. As projected, the Japanese government will add three satellites to the existing constellation in 2023, in order to establish a seven-satellite system, offer more secure PNT services and cover the Asia Pacific Region. South Korea plans to build a regional navigation system by 2035. In November 2021, the prime minister of South Korea deliberated and approved a series of space programs such as “the Promotion Plan of KPS R&D Project”. As planned, South Korea would invest c. 3.7 trillion WON (approximately 20 billion yuan). KPS will be completed by 2035. Consisting of three geostationary orbit satellites and four elliptical orbit satellites, KPS can provide independent positioning and navigation signals in a 1,000-km radius from Seoul, with the positioning error in the service area less than one meter. India releases the drafts for satellite-navigation policies. In July 2021, the Indian Department of Space (DOS) issued the draft of India Satellite Navigation Policy 2021, which aimed to guide governments to effectively develop, operate and maintain independently-controlled satellite navigation systems and their enhancement systems and further promote the implementation of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan by making comprehensive and operable national policies.

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2.3 The Construction of Computing Infrastructure is Continuously Enhanced The scale of global cloud computing industry advances steadily, and cloud native technology develops fast. The investment in and construction of data center expand, with a prominent trend of green and intensive development. The United States comes out first in the E-era of supercomputing, a field with fierce competition.

2.3.1 Cloud Computing Service Market Grows Stably and Cloud Native Technology Develops Rapidly 1. IaaS-Dominated Cloud Computing Service Market Continues to Grow The global cloud computing service market progresses firmly. In particular, IaaS takes up the highest proportion. As Gartner’s data suggested, in 2021, the scale of IaaS public cloud service market jumped from 64.3 billion U.S. dollars to 90.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, with a year-on-year increase of 41.4%. The landscape of global cloud computing service market remains stable, and the top five IaaS-public-cloud providers occupied more than 80% of the global market share in 2021. Among them, Amazon still ranked 1st in IaaS public cloud service market in 2021, followed by Microsoft, AliCloud, Google and Huawei, as shown in Table 2.1. In 2021, Amazon’s market share in IaaS public cloud service dropped by 1.9% over 2020. Yet, Amazon forged a prominent advantage in the business revenue and led the global IaaS public cloud service market. Microsoft’s market share in IaaS public cloud service increased by 1.4% over 2020. By dint of massive corporate software and services, Microsoft’s Azure, a cloud-computing-based OS, occupied almost all vertical markets. Alibaba remained the third largest IaaS public-cloud provider in Table 2.1 The market share of global top five IAAS-public-cloud providers from 2020 to 2021. Unit: One Million U.S. Dollars Corporation The revenue in The market The revenue in The market The growth 2021 share in 2021 2020 share in 2020 rate from 2020 (%) (%) to 2021 (%) Amazon

35,380

38.9

26,201

40.8

Microsoft

35.0

19,153

21.1

12,659

19.7

51.3

Alibaba

8,679

9.5

6,117

9.5

41.9

Google

6,436

7.1

3,932

6.1

63.7

Huawei

4,190

4.6

2,681

4.2

56.3

Others

17,056

18.8

12,697

19.8

34.3

Total

90,894

100.0

64,286

100.0

41.4

Data Source Gartner (June 2022)

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the world. While dominating the Chinese cloud market, Alibaba made a foray into emerging cloud markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries. Google realized the rise of revenue of IaaS public cloud service by 63.7% and the growth of market share by 1% year on year, with the highest growth rate among the top five IaaS publiccloud providers. There were three reasons. The workloads of traditional enterprises called for more use of Google cloud. Besides, Google made innovations in cuttingedge technologies (e.g. AI and Kubernetes container technology), and enlarged its customer group by improving partner ecosystem. Huawei’s market share in IaaS public cloud service increased by 0.4%, ranking 5th. 2. Cloud Native Technology Booms As the cloud computing service market keeps expanding, cloud native technology comes to a stage of fast development. According to the statistics of open projects of major international open source foundations, there are more than 300 hotspot open source projects of cloud-native-technology ecology, which cover all technological levels, including five modules, i.e. cloud native underlying technology, cloud native application orchestration & management, cloud native application, cloud native security technology, and cloud native monitoring & analysis. Furthermore, the steady progress of cloud native core technology lays a solid foundation for cross-field technological integration. Cloud-native-based big data analysis, AI, blockchain and other technologies become a new development trend, and cloud-native-centered integrated application develops quickly. The development of cloud computing technology redefines software R&D procedures. Traditional software development takes a long time, with slow iterative updating and unsatisfactory flexibility. The development of cloud computing boosts the reform of software development procedures, and more enterprises take part in cloud software development. As relevant practices deepen, cloud architecture reshapes the development, operation and maintenance models, cloud test breaks performance bottleneck and improves software quality, and chaos engineering ensures the stability of cloudified systems. Cloud software engineering builds a new pattern of cloud software from three dimensions, i.e. upgrading technological architecture, improving software quality and ensuring systematic stability.

2.3.2 The Demand for Data Center Market Grows Robustly 1. The Investment in Data Center and Supporting Market Soars The scale of the global data center market continually swells. It outnumbered 67.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, with an increase of 9.8% over 2020, and would reach 74.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 as estimated, with a stable growth rate.6 Strong market demand for data center evokes the enthusiasm of investors. According to the 6

Data Source: Data Center White Paper 2022 published by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

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survey data of DLA Piper, in 2021, the transaction volume of global data centers climbed by c. 64% vis-à-vis 2020. With 113 transactions, the total investment doubled to 53.8 billion U.S. dollars. Noticeably, the investment markets in China, the United States and India grew fast. With the rapid development of Internet and IT, various countries continue to augment the construction of data centers, which kindles the rapid growth of software & hardware industries related to data centers. According to the data released by Synergy Research, a market research organization, in 2021, the revenue of global data-center-infrastructure devices (cloud and non-cloud software & hardware) totaled 185 billion U.S. dollars. Specifically, the total revenue of major hardware-oriented segments (e.g. server, storage and network) accounted for 77% of that of the data center infrastructure market, and the total revenue of OS, virtualization software, cloud management and cybersecurity accounted for 23%. With regard to market segments, Dell (the United States) takes the lead in the fields of server and storage, Cisco (the United States) plays a dominant role in the network field, and Inspur (China) keeps ahead in the public cloud server market. In the software field, Microsoft (the United States) runs fastest in server OS and virtualization apps. Besides, other market providers, such as HPE, Huawei, VMware, Lenovo and IBM rank top. 2. The Green Development of Data Center Signals a Mainstream Trend The construction, operation and maintenance of data centers mean a lot of energy consumption. With the rapid development of the new energy industry and the continuous innovation in energy-saving technology, green & low carbon-oriented construction of data centers forms the main direction of industrial development. In national policies, the United States, the European Union, Singapore and other countries and regions actively release data center-related energy efficiency indexes, technological roadmaps and optimization plans, which guide the green and low-carbon development of data centers. In technological innovation, the carbon emissions of data centers can be enormously reduced by fully using emerging technologies (e.g. liquid cooling, cold storage, waste-heat utilization, energy-storage power plant and energy-saving optimization algorithm) and new energies (e.g. solar, wind and water powers). In management and finance, industrial institutions and enterprises establish evaluation mechanisms for green power certificates and energy efficiency as well as corresponding management systems. These measures effectively further the green and low-carbon transformation of the data center industry. International Internet giants voluntarily effectuate green transformation and promote energy conservation and emission reduction. Among the top ten Internet corporations in the United States, Google, Apple and Facebook have used 100% renewable energy and further reduced carbon emissions of data centers. Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce and other four leading Internet corporations have also promised to achieve a 100% renewable-energy utilization rate from 2025 to 2035. To better foster the energy conservation and emission reduction of data centers, Google proposes to achieve real-time renewable energy power supply by hours for all data

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centers worldwide by 2030, or the “24 × 7 Zero Carbon Operation & Management Plan”. Microsoft urges data centers to reduce carbon emissions by optimizing the backup power systems of data centers, including energy-storage batteries and low-carbon fuels (hydrogen fuel).7

2.3.3 Global Competition in Supercomputing Intensifies 1. Various Countries Actively Deploy High-Performance Computing High-performance computing technology accords with national strategic demand and arouses wide attention among various countries. South Korea formulates National Ultra-High-Performance Computing Innovation Strategy, a medium & long-term development strategy for high-performance computing for 2030, which aims to build South Korea into a power in high-performance computing. In the report Strategic Calculation: High-Performance Computing and Quantum Computing in Europe’s Quest for Technological Power, Institut Français des Relations Internationals (France) stresses the great impact of high-performance computing and quantum computing on future national security. In line with the joint research programme of “Digitization of Energy”, European Energy Research Alliance releases the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of the Transversal Joint Programme Digitalization for Energy, which focuses on two specific fields: high-performance computing and data science & AI. In October 2021, the National Science and Technology Council of the United States published National Strategic Computing Reserve: A Blueprint. Under the guidance of national strategies, various countries continue to strengthen the deployment of high-performance computing projects. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the United States launches the “Low Temperature Logic Technology” project to develop ultra-low temperature device technology and overcome the power efficiency constraints that high-performance computing faces. Department of Energy of the United States allocates 3.7 million U.S. dollars for “High-Performance Computing for Energy Innovation” (HPC4EI) and invests 2.8 million U.S. dollars for high-performance algorithmic research. The EU’s “European Processor Initiative (EPI)” completed the first-phase task in December 2021. EPI’s second-phase task is to develop the second-generation chips to help the EU launch the first E-class supercomputing system. UK Atomic Energy Authority, in collaboration with UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, establishes the Center of Extreme Scale Computing at Fusion, which applies the latest computing systems and supercomputing technologies to accelerate the research of fusion energy projects in the United Kingdom. International giants kick off a new-round competition on high-performance computing. Diverse and heterogeneous computing becomes the main model of cloud 7

Data Source: Data Center White Paper 2022 published by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

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computing. Giants actively cooperate with enterprises in different fields and various links of the industrial chain to quicken the deployment of cloud capabilities. For instance, Intel highlights high-performance computing and cloud AI and forges a product system that covers a full technological route of CPU, GPU, FPGA and ASIC. Nvidia penetrates downstream fields from GPU chip to the mainboard, GPU acceleration connector and server architecture, and jointly promotes the GPU acceleration of ARM server with ARM. The demand for computing resources of AI training model shoots up and raises higher requirements for intelligent computing power. Multi-factor collaboration and optimization become the key development direction of intelligent computing. 2. The United States Ranks 1st in the Supercomputing List Again Supercomputers possess much higher computing power than ordinary computers, and their use cases cover nuclear test explosion, weather forecast, astrophysical simulation, cryptanalysis and other fields, with great strategic significance. Therefore, various countries continuously launch high-performance supercomputers. In May 2022, the 59th International Supercomputing Conference (ISC 2022) released the latest list of the top 500 supercomputers in the world (TOP 500). Frontier, an E-level (1018 floating point operations per second) supercomputer launched by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, USA, won the first place in the world with the performance of 1.102 EFlop/s. Fugaku, a Japanese supercomputer that ranked 1st for two consecutive years, ranked 2nd. LUMI, a newly-deployed Finnish supercomputer, ranked 3rd, becoming the representative of European supercomputers in this regard. In 2022, in terms of the top ten supercomputers in the world, the United States took up five, China took up two, and Japan, Finland and France took up one respectively. In the top ten of the latest list of global top 500 supercomputers, American supercomputers not only regain the first place but also occupy five seats. In addition to Frontier, Summit, Sierra, Perlmutter and Selene rank 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th respectively. This demonstrates that American supercomputers are going gangbusters. In the latest list of the global top 500 supercomputers, there are widely-distributed 39 new systems. The United States has the largest number (nine systems) and Germany has the second largest number (five systems). In the last decade, China had no new systems on the list for the first time. Yet, China owns most systems on the list (173 in total), whilst the United States owns 127 systems on the list. Noticeably, the performance of Frontier significantly enlarges the leading position of the United States.

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2.4 The Construction of Application Infrastructure Accelerates Major countries in the world energetically promote IoT construction, and IoT industrial scale keeps expanding. Industrial-Internet innovation remains active, which quickly empowers the integration of various industries. The technological system of IoV is maturing, and policies and regulations in various countries are constantly being improved.

2.4.1 Various Countries Actively Further the Development of IoT 1. IoT Industrial Scale Grows Steadily IoT development level arouses continuous attention in the world. In recent years, various countries and regions in the world enthusiastically boost the development of IoT and achieve positive results. The industrial chain system and industrial ecology that cover perception, transmission, platform and application continually improve, which raises technological innovation capability and expands the industrial application field. This increasingly diversifies corporate product systems and constantly enhances supply-chain resilience. In 2021, IoT grew robustly. IoT technologies like NB-IoT and Cat-M spread globally, involving many wide-area use cases of devices with low complexity, low cost, long battery life and low throughput. As predicted, in 2023, the number of IoT devices connected by NB-IoT and Cat-M technologies will exceed that of IoT devices connected by 2G/3G. Presently, around 124 service providers have launched commercial NB-IoT network, 55 service providers have launched Cat-M1, and around 40 service providers have launched both of the two technologies. In 2021, broadband IoT (4G/5G) became the main technology that connected all cellular IoT devices. IoT devices connected by broadband IoT (4G/5G) accounted for 44% of all connected IoT devices. According to the statistical data of International Data Corporation (IDC), in 2021, global corporate-level IoT expenditure reached 690.26 billion U.S. dollars, which would probably total 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2026, with a five-year CAGR of 10.7% (2022–2026). Now, IoT in smart home, security defense, smart industry and other fields become most active. Specifically, the scale of China’s corporate-level IoT market will reach 294 billion U.S. dollars in 2026, with a CAGR of 13.2%. The scale of China’s corporate-level IoT market accounts for c. 25.7% of the total global scale, maintaining the largest IoT market in the world.8 8

Data Source: IDC Worldwide Internet of Things Spending Guide (2022, v1) published by IDC.

2.4 The Construction of Application Infrastructure Accelerates

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2. IoT Industry Chain Develops Rapidly As the basis of IoT, sensors serve as the tie to achieve machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity. According to the statistical data of Report Linker, the scale of the global sensor market will surpass 120 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, with a CAGR of nearly 9% from 2020 to 2025. Owing to the long cycle and high capital investment of technological R&D and industrial cultivation, leading sensor corporations in the world mainly dot in the United States, Japan, Germany and other developed countries. Their market share reach c. 70%. Leading corporations in the sensor industry also include semiconductor companies such as Bosch, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Honeywell, Freescale, Infineon, Intermec, Philips and Analog Devices. IoT chips mainly include cellular IoT chips and non-cellular IoT chips. Presently, the industrial application of the cellular IoT industry deepens, and the potential market demand continuously increases. According to the analysis results of business revenue, shipment volume and other data of typical global suppliers, from 2021 to 2026, the CAGR of IoT chips will reach 28%. In terms of global supplier pattern, the mobile IoT chip market becomes centralized. Leading corporations, e.g. Qualcomm, Hisilicon, MediaTek and UNISOC achieve outstanding performance, whose shipments account for 90% of the global market. According to the statistical data of Counterpoint, a research institution, by September 2021, Qualcomm’s shipment of chips used in cellular wireless communication modules had taken the absolute leading position and accounted for c. 50% of the global market, ranking 1st in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, India, Japan and other countries and regions. Huawei Hisilicon ranks 2nd, and its main product covers NB-IoT chips. UNISOC ranks 3rd, whose cellular IoT chipset grows by more than 100% year on year, with enormous market expansion potential. The transmission layer of IoT, also known as the network layer, basically comprises the communication module, aerial and network service. Its network covers diverse forms, e.g. private network, Internet and wired & wireless communications, which achieve efficient and reliable transmission of information. There are various ways to classify the transmission layer in the IoT industry. For example, in line with the transmission distance, it includes wide area (NB-IoT, mobile communications, etc.) and local area (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.) technologies. In line with the transmission rate, it includes high-speed services (3G/4G/5G cellular mobile communication products), medium-speed services (Bluetooth, eMTC and other technologies), and low-speed services (NB-IoT, LoRa, Sigfox and ZigBee and other LPWAN technologies). In particular, LPWAN typifies the use cases of IoT, accounting for more than 60% of the global IoT market. In the era of IoT, terminals feature ubiquity, intelligence, small scale and mobility, which poses a huge challenge to traditional aerial technology. Currently, smart aerials can be classified into mobile terminal aerial and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning aerial according to the function. With the large-scale development of IoT industry, the market space of aerial technology will expand stably. According to the statistical data of Yole Development, a market research organization, with the deep innovation of IoT Technology and the widespread popularity

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of terminals, in 2022, the scale of the global terminal aerial market exceeded three billion U.S. dollars, with a CAGR of over 8%. In regard to global competition landscape, high-end aerial backbone corporations are distributed in the United States and Japan, including Amphenol, Murata, Laird, Pulse, Molex, Skycross, Galtronics, Schubert and other well-known enterprises. 3. IoT Applications and Services Are Continuously Diversified Presently, the widespread popularity, wide-coverage and ultra-low-cost connectivity, massive data collection-storage-analysis, and cross-field vertical-industry corporatelevel application of intelligent sensors are totally reshaping the service and business models of traditional industries and enterprises. As an important way to achieve the intelligent transformation of global industrial system, industrial IoT that covers such processes such as “intelligent factory”, “intelligent production” and “intelligent logistics” develops into a key field of IoT technological innovation and large-scale application, with prominent market scale and industrial-application demonstration effect. As IDC’s report suggests, industrial IoT boasts the largest part of IoT, with tremendous market expansion potential. With respect to global suppliers, technological giants (e.g. Microsoft and Amazon), large-scale industrial-automation- solution suppliers (e.g. IBM, Siemens and Rockwell), and leading communication-equipment corporations (e.g. Intel, Cisco, AT&T and Qualcomm) are all representatives in the application of IoT to the fields of industry or manufacturing. With the steadfast progress of global economic level and the continuous upgrading of consumption structure, the digital upgrading of culture, education, medical care, home furnishing and other industries accelerates. High-end, intelligent and customized product & service models represented by the application of IoT technology are continually optimized, which leads industrial innovation and development. Simultaneously, specific scenes such as VR/AR, wireless home entertainment, personal AI assistance and smart home are successively actualized. The maturity of the industrial chain continues to enlarge the market scale. According to the statistical of GSMA, in 2025, the number of global consumer IoT connections will exceed 11.4 billion. Notably, the number of smart-home-equipment connections based on security applications will grow fastest and exceed two billion, as estimated. In recent years, smart home, represented by products like smart lighting, home security, smart home appliances and smart audio & video, becomes one of the most popular IoT segments with the largest market scale and the biggest usability. According to the data released by IDC, the scale of smart home market outnumbered 200 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, with great potential for industrial development. Global Internet, home appliances, telecommunications and other industrial giants ardently deploy smart home and realize win–win results in the smart-home industrial chain via cross-field cooperation & integration solution. In terms of industrial development level, the current sources of smart-home technology mainly include China, the United States, South Korea, India and other countries, as well as famous corporations such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Tencent, Alibaba, Samsung, Baidu, Haier, Xiaomi, Huawei, Midea, JD, etc.

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2.4.2 Industrial Internet Maintains Innovation-Driven Development Global industrial Internet sees a stage of practical use. Globally, various countries quicken the deployment of industrial Internet platforms and the integration of software, control, electronics & electric, AR/VR and other tools or technologies into industrial Internet platforms. On the one hand, platforms timely unclog the whole-process corporate business, discern market demand more accurately based on business data, construct more flexible supply chains, and create business intelligent solutions for process automation. For example, grounded in original CRMfunction (customer relationship management), service providers of Salesforce software develop Einstein, an AI analysis tool to provide targeted market forecasts. On the other hand, in the layout of platform, priority is given to the dynamic monitoring and equipment management of vertical industries (e.g. power, petrochemical industry and equipment manufacturing). For example, General Electric (GE) of the United States releases an APM suite embedded with more than 300 diagnostic models for high-value equipment monitoring-diagnosis-analysis management. In the future, the industrial application will deepen, no matter in the scattered application of some chains or in the whole business process. Industrial Internet solutions will extend to other industries and segments, with a variety of use cases improved and implemented successively. Global industrial Internet stays in the stage of technological growth, and patent application remains active. According to the data of Prospective Industrial Research Institute, by August 2021, the cumulative number of patent applications in global industrial Internet industry had exceeded 13,000, with a total patent value of c. 602 million U.S. dollars. In patent categories, the number of inventions accounted for more than 86%, and the numbers of utility models and designs accounted for 12.62% and 0.88% respectively. In technological direction, now, major technological R&D and innovation in global industrial Internet are targeted at the computer, anomaly detection, industrial IoT, communication system, security, identification method, service platform, data processing, communication equipment, data collection, etc. China and the United States take the lead in the world in industrial-Internet innovation. According to the statistical data, presently, the number of industrial-Internetpatent applications in China accounts for 54% of the total number in the world, followed by the United States (28%). South Korea and World Intellectual Property Organization rank 3rd and 4th in the number of industrial-Internet-patent applications, yet their cumulative numbers of patent applications are less than China and the United States. Now, LG Electronics of South Korea has the largest number of industrial-Internet-patent applications in the world.

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2.4.3 Global IoV Industry Comes to a Stage of Rapid Development 1. IoV Technological Innovation Accelerates The fast development of information and communication industries creates new opportunities for the IoV industry. 5G communication technology improves, which substantially speeds up information exchanges in the IoV industry. The business use cases of IoV continue to expand. Contactless service and all-weather work facilitate the use cases of Robotaxi, unmanned delivery, auto driving bus and auto driving truck and enhance service capabilities, such as satellite positioning, electronic fence, vehicle anti-theft, navigation application, remote rescue and Over-the-Air (OTA) technological upgrading. The intelligent and networked development of automobile introduces new competitors to the closed ecosystem. By dint of AI, ICT and other technological strengths, Tesla, Xiaopeng, NIO and other automobile manufacturers swiftly optimize the innovation of automobile function and continuously expand the application scope of automobile. Additionally, Internet-technology giants like Huawei, Baidu, Apple, Google and Amazon set foot in IoV industry, which significantly augments the automotive industrial ecology. Various countries actively deploy IoV patents. In terms of global patent applicants, Japanese and American enterprises still lead the list. In terms of the technological flow of global patent applications, China, the United States and Japan become major technological originators and targeted market countries in the ICV field. China boasts the largest patent producer, with plenty of patent application data of foreign countries. Yet, China has fewer patents applied abroad. In this regard, the Japanese market is relatively enclosed and dominated by domestic technologies. With sustainable innovation on IoV intelligent technology, a series of use cases successfully turn into reality. Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) becomes the standard of many new cars, which continues to raise the level of automobile intelligence. Currently, the auxiliary driving functions represented by Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Lane Keep Assistance (LKA) are maturing. The full-range products of Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford, Geely, GAC and other car enterprises all achieve standardized settings. As the intelligence level improves, more advanced automatic driving functions like Autonomous Valet Parking (AVP) are put into commercial use. Tesla, NIO, Weltmeister, Benz and other car enterprises successively launch mass-production models. Meanwhile, the integration of ADAS and networking forms a development trend, and the function of LTE-V2X arouses wide attention among automobile manufacturers. GAC, SAIC, FAW Hongqi, NIO and other Chinese automobile manufacturers successively stage mass-production models equipped with LTE-V2X, and realize the functions of front-collision warning, blind area & lane-change warning, reverse-overtaking warning and left-turn assistance based on IoV. Audi displayed 13 high-level automatic driving applications that integrated LTE-V2X during the 2021 World Internet of Things Expo, which actualized the functions of pedestrian & non-motor vehicle

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sensing and automatic deceleration in blind areas, and automatic lane changing & yielding of emergency vehicles. 2. The Use Cases and Service Capabilities of IoV Innovation Constantly Improve The use cases and service capabilities of IoV innovation constantly improve. The use cases of connected automatic driving taxi and remote control driving mushroom. IoV helps to bolster the perception of automatic driving, address the problem of the perception of a single vehicle (easily affected by environmental conditions like occlusion and bad weather), resolve the contradiction between the computing and power-consumption of automatic driving, and improve the decision-making game efficiency and executive capability of automatic driving. Google Waymo, Baidu Apollo and other automatic driving taxis have achieved commercial operation. Some of them support information exchange via IoV and roadside infrastructure (e.g. traffic lights), and realize unmanned driving with remote control. The rapid development of IoV will empower the innovation of business models like the shared car, and connect information flow, energy flow, passenger flow and logistics to support such new forms as MaaS and LaaS. In recent years, many countries and automobile enterprises have lumped the research on IoV with travel, logistics and other services, so as to unclog supply–demand-side barriers and promote the development of IoV. Simultaneously, IoV energizes the coordinated development of ICV and smart city, and spurs the reform of new models. IoV helps vehicles to choose safer and more convenient travel routes by pushing real-time road-condition information to them, enhances road-traffic-control capability by conducting intelligent plans for real-time traffic-flow monitoring, and improves the digital level of traffic governance by strengthening the sensing & calculating the capability of roadside infrastructure and integrating it with vehicle perceptual information. IoV will further promote the integration and application of automobile, road construction, traffic management, logistics and other industries, and drive the continuous evolution of new models like sharing and cooperation. The United States has been at the forefront in the field of IoV-technology innovation. Major technological corporations continuously increase investment to the R&D of high-level automatic-driving technologies and make significant breakthroughs in IoV chip, intelligent algorithm and laser radar. In chip, Nvidia releases Atlan, an automatic driving chip, whose single-chip computing power reaches 1,000 TO/ S (the number of operations performed per second). Mobileye announces siliconphoton-laser-radar chip co-developed with Intel. In platform, Qualcomm launches Snapdragon Digital Cabin Platform and Snapdragon Ride Autopilot Platform. In algorithm, in July 2021, Google Waymo released automatic-driving AI-trainingsimulation software to continuously raise the amount of training data. In laser radar, Velodyne introduces Velabie, a low-cost, low-power solid-state laser radar equipped with Micro-Lidar Array Architecture (MLA).

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3. Various Countries Keep Improving Policies and Regulations on IoV With technological first-mover advantages and flexible mechanisms & policies, the United States continually quickens the test and use of IoV and actively guides or promotes the development of IoV industry. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) release the Automated Vehicles Comprehensive Plan (AVCP) based on “Automatic Driving 4.0”, which determined three goals (i.e. establishing the mechanism for the advancement of industrial collaboration and information transparency, optimizing traffic regulatory environment and preparing transportation system suitable for automatic driving), and clarified five preferential development fields (i.e. low-speed unmanned minivan, low-level automatic passenger vehicle, high-level automatic passenger vehicle, long-distance automatic truck on expressway, and low-speed shuttle vehicle). In March 2021, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration published the report Impacts of Automated Vehicles on Highway Infrastructure, which thoroughly analyzed the impacts of automatic driving on highway physical infrastructure, traffic control equipment, transportation management & operation system and intermodality infrastructure. Meanwhile, with extensive applications and tests of the automatic driving system, the United States augments the safety management of the automatic driving system. In June 2021, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued an order, requiring vehicle manufacturers and software suppliers & operators equipped with L2 auxiliary driving system and L3-L5 automatic driving systems to report accidents of the automatic driving system. In the USA, various states also voluntarily issue laws and regulations to support the research, test and application of IoV-related technologies. So far, at least 41 states and Washington District of Columbia have reviewed policies and regulations in relation to automatic driving vehicles. Among them, 29 states and Washington District of Columbia have issued relevant laws, 11 states have issued executive orders of governors, and five states have issued both. Europe takes the intelligent transportation system as the core. The European Union steps up efforts to develop mobility-as-a-service (MaaS), which effectively promotes the application of IoV and the development of interactive intelligent transportation. European Road Transport Research Advisory Council releases Connected Automated Driving Roadmap, which highlights the synergy between intelligence and networking, and emphasizes the interconnectivity between automatic driving vehicles and road traffic facilities. The European Union strengthens a unified strategy to boost the development of automatic driving in Europe and constantly improves and adjusts the roadmap of automatic driving and ICV. Besides, the European Union releases On the Road to Automated Mobility: An EU Strategy for Mobility of the Future, which underscores the use case of automatic driving and helps to achieve “Vision Zero” in 2050 (the goal of zero road traffic accident fatalities in Europe by 2050). European countries also promptly improve IoV regulatory environment to support the commercial use of L3 and L4 ICV. In July 2021, France issued an order on automatic driving to establish a complete regulatory framework for the deployment

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of automatic vehicles. In May 2021, German Bundesrat adopted The Amendment to Road Traffic Act and Compulsory Insurance Act: Act on Autonomous Driving, which allowed L4 completely unmanned cars to appear on German roads since 2022. Japan continuously advances the innovation and application of IoV driven by traffic demand, and stimulates the development of IoV industry on the basis of the Strategic Innovation Creation Program (SIP) as well as technological roadmap. In April 2021, the Japanese Autonomous Driving Commercialization Seminar released The Action Plan for Realizing and Popularizing Autonomous Driving (5.0) to accelerate the popularization and development of automatic driving. In June 2021, Japan released The Vision of Public and Private Intelligent Transportation Systems: Roadmaps 2021, which clarified the vision of the future intelligent transportation systems from the perspectives of rural area, private car travel, urban public transportation travel and digital society. Generally speaking, the above-listed representative countries have placed IoV industry in a strategic position in global scientific & technological innovation and industrial competition. Over decades of policy support, technological R&D, standard formulation and product promotion, the United States, the European Union, Japan and other countries and regions have initially forged the application pattern of ubiquitous IoV. With the deep integration of IoV, AI, big data and other technologies, IoV industry will quickly develop in the mutual promotion of security and technology, constantly expand the ecosystem, create new business forms, and build an industrial system that covers information communication, transportation, public security and other fields.

Chapter 3

World Information Technology Development

3.1 Outline Scientific & technological innovation constitutes the fundamental driving force that promotes the progress of human civilization. A new-round scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation furnish IT industrial development with new technological means, essential conditions and organizational models. Globally, IT innovation features high efficiency as well as multi-direction and multifield breakthroughs. Over the past year, global IT industrial innovation continuously advanced, and cutting-edge scientific & technological achievements constantly magnified the boundary of human knowledge. High-performance computing power improved steadily. The effect of IC (integrated circuit) industrial development intensified, technological innovation & product upgrading accelerated, and new-round industrial division and competition pattern took shape globally. Software technology developed in a diverse and innovative way, and no-code & low-code platforms and data fabric came to rise. Various countries made continuous breakthroughs in new technologies like AI and quantum information and quickly applied many technological achievements. The integration of IT and biotechnology deepened, which bred innovation-driven breakthroughs. The idea of the metaverse sparked market attention. Nevertheless, factors of instability, uncertainty and insecurity become increasingly prominent in the international landscape. Economic globalization undergoes profound and complex changes. Great development, great change, and great adjustment resonate with instability and uncertainty simultaneously, forming a distinctive feature of current global development. Besides, the global IT industrial chain and supply chain face multiple challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic and other factors seriously affect the stability of global semiconductor supply chain and aggravate global “core shortage” crisis.

© Publishing House of Electronics Industry 2024 World Internet Development Report 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5386-8_3

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3.2 Basic Technologies In the field of high-performance computing, global supercomputing power continues to rise. Frontier, an American new-type supercomputer, boasts the first supercomputer that truly reaches the Exascale level. In the field of integrated circuit, the global industrial scale grows significantly, the effect of industrial development enlarges, and technological innovation and product upgrading quicken, with new breakthroughs made in chip manufacturing process and package test. In the field of operating system, Windows, Android, iOS, macOS and Linux remain the top five mainstream products in the world.

3.2.1 High-Performance Computing Completely Reaches the Exascale Level 1. Global Competition in High-Performance Computing Industry Heats up, with the Advent of E-Level Supercomputing In May 2022, the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) released the list of the top 500 supercomputers in the world in the first half of 2022. Frontier, an E-level supercomputer launched by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the United States, won the first place. Fugaku, a Japanese supercomputer, ranked 2nd. Chinese supercomputers Sunway Taihu Light and Tianhe-2 ranked 6th and 9th respectively. Among them, Frontier comprises 74 Cray EX cabinets and contains 9,408 nodes. Each node is equipped with one AMD CPU and four AMD GPUs. The number of GPUs totals 37,632. The nodes are connected by HPE’s Slingshot-11. Each node CPU supports 512 GB DDR4 memory, and the cross-node CPU supports 512 GB HMB2e memory. The computing performance of Frontier outstrips the sum of the last seven supercomputers. Table 3.1 shows the top ten supercomputers in the Global Top 500 Supercomputers List in the first half of 2022. 2. The European Union Launches the First Photon Coprocessor Integrated in HighPerformance Computers in the World In December 2021, LightOn, a photon-processing corporation, integrated its “Appliance” OPU (optical processing unit) on French supercomputer Jean Zay, which signaled the first time that a photon coprocessor was integrated into the case of highperformance computing (HPC). Unlike traditional processors that use electricity, LightOn’s photon coprocessor uses light transmission to process information. 3. Real-Time Quantum Simulation Obtains the Award for Supercomputing Application In 2021, the SWQSIM Project (Real-Time Simulation of a Random Quantum Circuit Using a New Sunway Supercomputer) of a Chinese supercomputing team won the

The United States

China

Selene

Tianhe-2A

Adastra

8

9

10

China

France

The United States

Taihu Light

Perlmutter

The United States

6

Sierra

5

The United States

Finland

Japan

The United States

Country

7

LUMI

Summit

Fugaku

2

3

Frontier

1

4

Supercomputer

Ranking

2022

2018

2020

2021

2016

2018

2018

2022

2020

2021

Year

319,072

4,981,760

555,520

761,856

10,649,600

1,572,480

2,414,592

1,110,144

7,630,848

8,730,112

The number of cores

297,440

4,554,752

483,840

663,552

–

1,382,400

2,211,840

1,034,880

–

8,138,240

The number of accelerators/ coprocessor cores

46,100.0

61,444.5

63,460.0

70,870.0

93,014.6

94,640.0

148,600.0

151,900.0

442,010.0

1,102,000.0

Rmax /(TFlop/s)

Table 3.1 Top ten supercomputers in the global top 500 supercomputers list in the first half of 2022

61,607.9

100,678.7

79,215.0

93,750.0

125,435.9

125,712.0

200,794.9

214,351.9

537,212.0

1,685,651.5

Rpeak /(TFlop/s)

921.5

18,482.0

2,646.0

2,589.0

15,371.0

7,438.3

10,096.0

2,942.1

29,899.2

21,100.0

Power /kW

50.0

3.3

24.0

27.4

6.1

12.7

14.7

51.6

14.8

52.2

Power dissipation/W

3.2 Basic Technologies 85

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Gordon Bell Prize, the international highest award in the field of supercomputing application. The latest research (SWQSIM) completes near-real time quantum simulation and proves that the random quantum circuit sampling task demonstrated by Google in 2019 cannot really actualize “quantum supremacy”. Vis-à-vis Google’s Sycamore that finishes a million-time sampling task with a fidelity of 0.2% in 200 s, SWQSIM can obtain millions of related samples with higher fidelity in 304 s and complete quantum circuit simulation over 1,000 times more complex than Sycamore in 60 h. Noticeably, SWQSIM realizes single-amplitude and multi-amplitude simulations of 100–400-bit quantum circuit algorithms and provides solid simulation support for the development of quantum computing in the future.

3.2.2 Integrated Circuit Technologies and Products Keep Changing As a basic, strategic and leading industry, integrated circuit means the cornerstone for the development of modern industry and information society. Nowadays, the world sees the historical transition of new-round scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation, which intensifies the effect of the development of the integrated circuit industry. Major economies around the world attach close attention to scientific & technological innovation based on integrated circuit technology. The industrial division and competition pattern of integrated circuit industry quickly mature. 1. Chip Products (1) Computing Chip According to the category of product, computing chips can be generally divided into general-purpose chips and special-purpose chips. General-purpose chip mainly includes Central Processing Unit (CPU), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Digital Signal Processor (DSP), etc. In general, there is a monopolistic pattern in computing chips, in which international giants occupy a dominant position in chip R&D. (1) In terms of CPU chips, in 2021, the scale of global CPU chip market reached 70.36 billion U.S. dollars, with a year-on-year growth of 10.1%.1 X86architecture CPU plays an absolutely monopolistic role in the desktop computer, supercomputer and server markets. The products of Intel and AMD take up more than 95% of the market share. The 12th-generation core Alder Lake launched by Intel in 2021 uses 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin (Intel 7) process. The nextgeneration Raptor Lake, which continues to use the Intel 7 process, would be officially launched in the second half of 2022. In terms of server CPU, Sapphire 1

Data Source: Marker Share: Semiconductors by End Market, Worldwide, 2021 published by Gartner, April 2022.

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Rapids, Intel’s next-generation Xeon processor, uses Golden Cove architecture and adopts Intel 7 process. Sapphire Rapids improves the performance of a wide range of workloads and achieves up-to-30-times-rise in AI performance. In May 2022, AMD launched Ryzen7000 series processor based on Zen4- architecture. In June 2022, Apple introduced an independently-developed processor Apple Silicon M2 based on ARM architecture, which comprehensively updated the process and performance compared with Apple Silicon M1 chip. (2) In terms of GPU chips, in 2021, the scale of global GPU chip market realized 16.18 billion U.S. dollars, up by 56.9% year on year. The global GPU chip market is basically monopolized by Nvidia (86.3%), AMD (12.6%) and other corporations. Presently, advanced GPU products have adopted 5 nm and below 5 nm processes. Nvidia holds a monopolistic position in the accelerated-deeplearning algorithm-chip market, and uses the tremendous computing power of GPU in numerous fields, such as AI, intelligent driving and high-performance platform. With the help of CUDA platform, a software development framework, Nvidia builds rigorous software & hardware ecosystem. In March 2022, Nvidia announced the new-generation “Hopper” architecture and data-center-oriented GPU H100 at its annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC). GPU H100 core adopts tsmc’s 4 nm process and CoWoS 2.5D wafer-level package, and integrates up to 80 billion transistors on a single chip. GPU H100 has been applied to newly-launched AI computing system DGX H100 by Nvidia. Mobile GPU market is majorly dominated by three manufacturers, i.e. Qualcomm, ARM and Imagination. Qualcomm’s GPU is integrated on Snapdragon chip. ARM and Imagination authorize GPU IP to chip design enterprises to make profits. (3) In terms of FPGA chips, in 2021, the scale of global FPGA/PLD chip market achieved 6.42 billion U.S. dollars, up by 14.9% year on year. In 2021, the global FPGA chip market was shared by Xilinx (54.3%), Intel (29.2%), Microchip (6.4%), Lattice (6.3%) and other corporations. In February 2022, AMD officially completed the acquisition of Xilinx with 35 billion U.S. dollars. Xilinx’s extensive computing engine brings diverse solutions to AMD. AMD announced that it would integrate AI inference engine driven by Xilinx’s FPGA in CPU and launch the first products in 2023. In 2022, Intel introduced Agilex M-series highbandwidth FPGA product line that focused on the mining of cryptocurrency, stating that it would promote ASIC/FPGA multi-architecture development path by 2024. (4) In terms of DSP chip, in 2021, the scale of global DSP chip market totaled 1.46 billion U.S. dollars, up by 21.9% year on year. In 2021, the global DSP chip market was monopolized by three corporations, i.e. Texas Instruments (35.7%), NXP (29.7%) and ADI (22.9%). (2) Memory Chip The memory chip industry mainly consists of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and NAND Flash, which account for 96% of the total market scale of memory industry. In 2021, five memory-chip corporations, i.e. Samsung (37.5%), Hynix (21.5%), Micron (17.3%), Kioxia (7.3%) and Western Digital (5.4%), took

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up c. 90% of the total market share. In 2021, the market scale of DRAM reached 92.865 billion U.S. dollars, up by 40.9% year on year. The market scale of NAND Flash realized 65.911 billion U.S. dollars, up by 24.0% year on year. In terms of DRAM, three original DRAM manufacturers, i.e. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micro, enter the era of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and the fourth-generation 10 nm technological competition. 1z nm-process DRAM products become mainstream products of the three original manufacturers, and 1a nmprocess DRAM products come to mass-production stage successively. In October 2021, Samsung declared that it had developed next-generation 14 nm-process mobile DRAM (LPDDR5X) with EUV technology, which achieved five EUV layers and saved power consumption by around 20% compared with the last-generation products. In July 2021, SK Hynix started the mass production of the fourth-generation 10 nm (1a)-process 8 Gb LPDDR4 mobile-end DRAM products based on EUV technology, which supported the highest transmission rate of 4,266 Mb/s and reduced power consumption by around 20% compared with the last-generation products. The idea of in-memory computing in DRAM emerges. In AI applications, memory access determines the running speed of many models. Running computing directly in memory can save the cost of memory access. DRAM-based memory computing proves very suitable for cloud & edge-end AI algorithms. SK Hynix uses the architecture that integrates computing cell into DRAM memory chip and develops 4 GB AiM chip, which can serve as both memory computing and ordinary DRAM. As the test results suggest, 4 GB AiM chip can improve the performance by up-to-10 times in common machine learning models. After entering the 3D stack, NAND Flash is rapidly updated, with its capacity growing significantly. Some manufacturers have developed NAND Flash with more than 200 stacks. In July 2022, Micron announced the mass production of NAND Flash with 232 layers of stacks, with an I/O transmission rate of 2.4 GB/s, a 100% increase in write bandwidth, and a 75% increase in read bandwidth. The product also supports NV-LP DDR4, which saves more than 30% energy consumption per bit transmission. In August 2022, SK Hynix claimed that it had developed NAND Flash with a 238-layer stack, whose data transmission rate rose by 50% and reduced energy consumption for reading data by 21% compared with last-generation products. As planned, the product will achieve mass production in the first half of 2023. NAND Flash manufacturers Kioxia and Western Digital started the mass production of the sixth-generation BiCS NAND of 162 layers heap vertebrate in 2022. (3) Communication Chip In December 2021, Qualcomm officially released Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, which adopted 4 nm process and signaled Qualcomm’s first chip using the latest ARM v9 architecture of ARM. In December 2021, MediaTek launched 5G flagship chip Dimensity 9000, which used “1 + 3 + 4” three-cluster Arm v9 architecture, carried the fifth-generation APU (APU 590) and 18-bit HDR-ISP image signal processor Imagiq 790, and supported 320 million-pixel camera. Equipped with R16 5G modem, Mali-G710 GPU chip (10 cores) used tsmc’s 4 nm process.

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2. Supporting Process and Industrial Chain (1) Manufacturing Process In 2021, the foundry capacity of wafer remained inadequate, and the price in the chip market continuously rose, which buffeted all industries from consumer electronics to automobiles. In the trend of technological development, the integration of manufacturing and package signals an important direction to break the bottleneck of advanced processes and forge differentiated technological advantages. In the mainstream market direction, 7 nm process and more advanced processes become the main growth point of global semiconductor OEM market. In the changes of industrial pattern, the increasingly-open industrial organizational model of integrated circuit intensifies market competition. In national scientific & technological competition, the adjustment of national semiconductor strategies further highlights the importance of integrated circuits. The integrated circuit industry sees diminishing key sizes, and new device structure as well as lithography equipment & material drive the development of process nodes toward small sizes. Simultaneously, as capital investment in advanced manufacturing production lines jumps significantly, higher process costs dramatically slashes the number of enterprises that use advanced processes. UMC and Global Foundries successively announce to abandon the research and development of 10 nm process and below. In the future, advanced process development will continue to be dominated by three manufacturers, i.e. tsmc, Samsung and Intel. In 2021, tsmc further improved the production capacity of the 5 nm-process chip. In the third quarter of 2021, tsmc started the trial production of 4 nm (N4P)-process chip and continued the risk trial production of 3 nm FinFET chip. Samsung adopts more advanced Gate-All-Around EFTs (GAAFET) in the large iterative process of less than 7 nm process. In July 2022, Samsung announced the mass production by using 3GAE (3 nm level, GAAFET) technology. As two most advanced wafer foundries, Samsung and tsmc display big differences in technological evolution from 5 nm process. Samsung adopts more revolutionary technology, and tsmc possesses considerable advantages in transistor density and actual performance. In July 2021, Intel released its process roadmap for the next four years, including the upcoming Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 3 and Intel 20A processes. Noticeably, the previous 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin process would change to Intel 7 and start mass production. Intel 4 (formerly called Intel 7 nm) would be put into production in the second half of 2022 and shipped in 2023. Intel 3 enlarges the use of EUV in processes, and starts to launch related products in the second half of 2023. Predictably, Intel 20A would be released in 2024, which uses two breakthrough technologies PowerVia and RibbonFET. (2) Package Test In the global semiconductor industry, traditional and advanced package test technologies parallel. In particular, major package technologies, such as Flip-Chip, QFN (quad flat non-leaded) package and BGA (ball grid array) package, are used for mass

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production. In the future, advanced package technology develops in three directions. The first one is the wafer level package (WLP). WLP includes Fan-In WLP and FanOut WLP, which can accommodate more pins in smaller package area. The second one is the system in package (SiP). During the package, SiP integrates multiple functional chips to achieve the compression of module volume and improve the overall functionality and flexibility of the System on Chip. The third one is the 3D package (2.5D/3D), which realizes heterogeneous integration and 3D integration at the 3D level. Breakthroughs are made in silicon carbide ingot slicing technology. With the advantages of high voltage resistance, high frequency, good heat dissipation and low energy consumption, silicon carbide materials are widely used in smart grid, photovoltaic energy storage, rail transit, electric vehicles, industrial electromechanical, data center, consumer electronics and other fields. In terms of the silicon carbide device-manufacturing process, silicon carbide ingot slicing is now facing such industrial pain points as high material consumption (200 µm), slow efficiency (45 min/pcs), large-size ingot processing (8 inches) and wafer slicing thickness (450–500 µm). In May 2022, HSET released QCB technology and launched the third-generation new semiconductor equipment, silicon carbide ingot laser slicer and silicon carbide ultrathin wafer laser slicer. Laser slicing has prominent advantages in notch loss, grinding loss, slicing, unit ingot, processing efficiency, etc. (3) Equipment and Materials Globally, the technological innovation and development of special equipment for integrated circuits accompanies advanced processes. In the research and development of integrated circuits, various countries place a high premium on the reduction of transistor feature size and the improvement of transistor density. The development of equipment for corresponding key processes, e.g. lithography, etching, ion implantation and deposition, plays a crucial role. In the field of lithography technology, ASML (Holland), the only corporation that realizes the mass production of EUV lithography machines, has monopolized the high-end lithography machine market. In 2021, ASML shipped 145 high-end lithography machines, including 42 EUV lithography machines. In the field of etching technology, to meet the needs of wafer manufacturers that increase the equipment size vertically and shorten key size horizontally to reduce costs, improving the etching depth-width ratio becomes the goal of the optimization of etching-equipment development. In 2022, Lam Research announced to launch a series of new selective etching products, which enabled chip manufacturers to etch and modify films with ultrahigh selectivity and Angstrom-level precision, so as to achieve the most advanced integrated circuit performance and accelerate its 3D roadmap. In 2021, the demand for semiconductors exceeded the supply, and the price soared. Against such a backdrop, the shipment volume of semiconductor materials continued to increase, and the market scales of manufacturing materials and package materials both remarkably grew. In 2021, the global semiconductor material market increased by 15.8% and achieved 64.27 billion U.S. dollars. Specifically, the market scale of semiconductor manufacturing materials reached 40.42 billion U.S. dollars, and the

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market scale of semiconductor package materials realized 23.85 billion U.S. dollars. In 2021, the silicon wafer was the first bulk material among major semiconductor manufacturing materials, with a market scale of 12.62 billion U.S. dollars. Five corporations, i.e. Shin-Etsu Chemical, SUMCO, Global Wafers, Shichuang Electronics and SK Siltron, took up more than 90% of the global market share in silicon wafer. The market scale of electron gas and mask reticle ranked 2nd, reaching 4.99 billion U.S. dollars. The market scale of target material grew fastest and realized 990 million U.S. dollars, with a growth rate of 35.9%. In 2021, among major semiconductor package materials, package substrate was the first bulk material, with a market scale of 8.95 billion U.S. dollars. The representative corporations include IBIDEN, Unimicron, SEMCO, NOUYA and Shinkoh Electronics. The market scale of the lead frame also grew rapidly, with a growth rate of 20.3%, reaching 3.82 billion U.S. dollars. (4) The Rise of Chiplet Model In recent years, Chiplet model, with the advantages of modularization and customization, emerges, which promotes the development of wafer-level package technology, reduces the costs of chip design, manufacturing and package, and becomes a popular direction. Chiplet is manufactured in several steps. Firstly, in the design stage, the original complex SoC chip is decomposed according to different computing units or functional units. Then, each unit is manufactured separately after choosing the most suitable semiconductor process. Finally, each unit is interconnected with advanced package technology and integrated into System on Chipset. Presently, Marvell, AMD, Intel, tsmc and other semiconductor corporations have launched Chiplet products. In March 2022, Intel, Qualcomm and ASE Group established the industrial alliance UCIe (Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express) to boost the standardization of Chiplet interface. 3. Open Source Hardware Thorny problems, such as limited intellectual property rights, high technological threshold, expensive R&D costs, monopoly on chip ecosystem and complex market demand, have been stumbling blocks to the R&D and production of chips. On the one hand, the existing monopolized ecosystem raises the design threshold of chips, and only a few corporations can afford the massive investment of capital and manpower in medium & high-end chips, which seriously restricts the innovation in the chip field. On the other hand, the evolution of Moore’s Law slows down, and chip manufacturing with advanced process will encounter higher technological and financial barriers in the future. Yet, open source hardware breeds new possibilities. Open source hardware tremendously lowers the development threshold, strengthens efficient collaboration among developers, promotes healthy competition and innovation, and injects new momentum into the entire chip industry. Spurred by RISC-V Open Source Foundation, RISC-V instruction set develops fast. In basic research, RISC-V-based cutting-edge research continues to deepen, which trains and delivers many technological talents for the open source community and makes a contribution to innovation. In the control field and IoT case, a

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number of RISC-V-based excellent products and use cases come forth and build developers’ confidence. In software open source community, the adaptation and optimization solutions for RISC-V increase and create a healthy ecological foundation. In capital market, RISC-V arouses wider attention and attracts more investment from international giants and investment institutions. Numerous scientific & technological enterprises facilitate the growth of RISCV. Scientific & technological corporations (e.g. Western Digital, Qualcomm, NXP, Google, Microsemi, Nvidia, Samsung, IBM and Amazon), as well as research institutions (e.g. UC Berkeley, Princeton University, MIT, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Singapore Nanyang Technological University and Indian Institute of Technology), all take part in the development of RISC-V. In March 2022, SiFive, a representative corporation in RISC-V industry, announced that it had obtained an F-round financing of 175 million U.S. dollars, which would be used to accelerate the development of RISC-V core products, future roadmaps and ecosystems. Besides, in February 2022, Intel joined RISC-V International Foundation as a premier member. Simultaneously, the senior executives of Intel Foundry Services joined Board of Directors and Technological Steering Committee of RISC-V International Foundation, and launched a 10-USD fund to establish the OEM innovation ecosystem. In April 2022, the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) declared to be a premier member of RISC-V International Foundation, and published the development plan for Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) Program, demonstrating India’s high attention to open source RISC-V technology.

3.2.3 Software-Technology Innovation Diversifies Currently, operating systems are basically divided into the desktop operating systems represented by Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS, and the mobile operating system represented by Google Android and Apple iOS. Notably, as more enterprises partake in global OS industrial-market competition, new changes may occur in market pattern. In the field of industrial software, traditional enterprises like Dassault, Autodesk and Siemens dominate the market. With continuous innovation on newtype intelligent and cloud native database, the idea of data fabric turns to reality, and no-code & low-code platforms lower the threshold of digital transformation of traditional enterprises. 1. The OS Ecosystem Changes Steadily Operating systems vary greatly in different platform ecosystems, and many enterprises develop cross-platform and cross-terminal operating systems. As the data of StatCounter suggest, five major operating systems, i.e. Windows, Android, iOS, macOS and Linux, tussle in global OS market competition. In recent years, as the market demand for mobile terminals quickly enlarges, the total market share of Android system swells. Grounded in “WinTel” + “software payment” model and

3.2 Basic Technologies

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“Android + ARM” + “free traffic + added-value services” respectively, Microsoft and Google become giants in the global OS field. Global desktop OS products mainly cover Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, etc. As the data of StatCounter indicate, by July 2022, Windows took up 76.33% of the global desktop OS market share, much higher than other operating systems. Apple’s macOS ranked the 2nd, with a market share of 14.64%. Linux and ChromeOS accounted for 2.42% and 1.71% respectively. In the trend of OS development, albeit Windows enjoys a monopolistic position, the competition pattern in the desktop OS market keeps changing. Since 2015, the market share of Windows has declined by c. 12%, while that of Apple’s OS has increased by c. 7%. In mobile OS, Google’s Android comes out first. Global mobile OS market products mainly cover Android and iOS. As the data of StatCounter suggest, by January 2022, in the global mobile OS market, Android’s market share reached 69.74%, much higher than other operating systems. Apple’s iOS ranked 2nd, with a market share of 29.49%. Other operating systems took up 0.77%. In the trend of mobile OS development, in recent years, Android and iOS hold a safe lead in the global mobile OS market competition. Particularly, in 2020, Android’s market share slipped slightly, whilst iOS’s market share climbed continuously. Other mobile operating systems withdrew from the market. 2. Industrial-Software Innovation Remains Active (1) Traditional Industrial Software Enterprises Maintain a Dominant Market Position In 2021, the top ten technological buzzwords in global industrial software were CAD (Computer Aided Design), AI, automation, construction site, analysis method, detection device, big data, absorbability, control system and building construction. More specifically, the buzzwords extended to ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software, embedded software, cloud platform, control device, etc. By December 2021, in the patent application of the global industrial software industry, the top ten applicants were Dassault Systèmes, Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc., Autodesk, Siemens, Synopsys, General Electric, Honeywell International, Boeing, Oracle and Huawei respectively. Among them, Dassault Systèmes owned the largest number of industrial-software patent applications (456). Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. ranked 2nd (more than 250). (2) The Intelligent and Cloud & Platform-Based Development of Industrial Software With distinctive industrial characteristics, industrial software involves the business and technological processes of industrial enterprises. As industrial software contains numerous algorithms and various demands and types, its cloud & platformbased and service-oriented development trend becomes prominent. In their products, Autodesk (the United States), Dassault Systèmes (France), PTC (the United States) and Siemens (Germany) continuously integrate intelligent toolkits and expand

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multiple services and application portfolios, which cover various links of industrial production like design, manufacturing and management. Overall architecture shifts from tight coupling to loose coupling, and develops in a component-platformservice-oriented way. In combination with cloud and industrial apps, a number of platform-based products with strong compatibility are launched in the market. 3. New-Type Database and Data Fabric Come to Rise (1) Intelligent and Cloud Native-Based New Database Develops Vigorously Database serves as basic software for data storage and calculation. Almost all application software stores, manages and processes data based on database. The performance of database directly affects the operation efficiency, scalability, flexibility and reliability of application software. According to the database rankings released by DBEngines in December 2021, traditional databases Oracle, MySQL and Microsoft’s SQL Server ranked top three. Open source databases PostgreSQL and MongoDB kept rising in recent years. Snowflake, a data warehouse built on SaaS platform, whose ranking jumped from 37 to 17th, won the DB Engineers Annual Database Award. As a corporate-level SaaS data-warehouse product, Snowflake is constructed completely based on cloud and cloud characteristics. Its elastic on-demand data storage and analysis service is also called DWaaS. (2) The Idea of Data Fabric Turns into Reality Data fabric denotes a corporate-level unified, trusted and comprehensive view of customer and business data by arranging various data sources in a self-service, intelligent and secure way and using data platforms like data lake, data warehouse, NoSQL and Translytical. With the help of data fabric, enterprises can manage fast-growing data volume and complex processing data and provide business-oriented data to deeply acquire business data and improve industrial competitiveness. Data fabric reduces integration design time by 30%, deployment time by 30% and maintenance time by 70%. As Gartner predicts, by 2024, enterprises that use active metadata to enrich and deliver dynamic data fabric can save one half of the time for integrated data delivery, and increase the productivity of data teams by 20%. Presently, technological giants, data-platform-construction enterprises, integration enterprises and start-ups have launched corresponding data fabric solutions, such as IBM Cloud Park for Data, Talend, K2View, Denodo, Informatica, Aloudata NoETL, etc. 4. No-Code & Low-Code Platforms Explore New Models of Corporate Software Development No-code & low-code development platform means a visual software development environment that creates more editing applications in the form of drag and drop components. The modularization method lowers the programming threshold and enables developers to devote more time to service logic and construct products faster. These platforms usually meet the functions of experimental prototype production, test and deployment, and have strong appeal to software developers who lack

3.3 Cutting-Edge Technologies

95

experience and many enterprises that need to shorten the time for software development. Therefore, no-code & low-code platforms grow quickly. As Gartner estimates, by 2024, low-code application development will account for 65% of all application-development activities. A variety of no-code & low-code platforms are successively staged. Representative products come from traditional giants Microsoft (Power Apps), Siemens (Xcelerator) and Oracle (APEX). Additionally, products of some start-ups, such as OutSystems, ServiceNow, Pegasystems, Appian, AgilePoint and Unqork, gain a foothold. Vis-à-vis traditional code model, no-code & low-code platforms achieve a new balance in both flexibility and service logic. With unique advantages of fast development, short delivery cycle and quick operation, no-code & low-code platforms hedge against market fluctuation with minimum viable products (MVP), at the costs of performance and functional flexibility. Diverse no-code & low-code platforms coexist with traditional code development models, becoming a new model for corporate software development. 5. Open Source Software Develops Swiftly and Maintains Active Innovation Over the past year, open source software developed by leaps and bounds, and showed no signs of slow growth. According to the 2021 annual report released by GitHub, the largest open source hosting platform in the world, the number of developers on GitHub totaled 73 million, with an increase of around 16 million over 2020 (including three million first-time contributors). In 2021, GitHub created 61 million projects and executed 170 million project updates. According to the statistical data of Linux Foundation, more than 70% of the codes in the global software industry now come from open source software. Open source technology becomes an important understructure that promotes the digital transformation of enterprises and backs the rapid development of digital economy, playing a leading role in the development and innovation of software technological standards. In the light of 2021 Best Open Source Software List (Table 3.2) published by InfoWorld (a scientific & technological medium), software development, tool software, cloud native computing, machine learning and other fields remain popular fields in open source innovation.

3.3 Cutting-Edge Technologies In the past year, the AI engineering degree deepened, and Transformer series models presented great advantages in natural language, vision and sound fields. Global quantum information research showed a trend of fast development. Quantum computers with higher quantum bits and quantum communication network with more practical prospects came forth successively.

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Table 3.2 Best 2021 Open Source Software List published by InfoWorld Open source project

Brief introduction

Svelte, SvelteKit

A JavaScript framework with Compile-time strategy for building real-time Web applications

Minikube

Tool easy to run Kubernetes locally, easy to try Kubernetes or use Kubernetes for daily development

Pixie

The visualization tool provided by Kubernetes, used to see the advanced status of the cluster and a more detailed view

FastAPI

High-performance Web framework that can easily, directly and quickly construct API

Crystal

A programming language with both the speed of C language and the expressiveness of Ruby language

Windows terminal

Command prompt terminal tool, including multi-Tab support, rich text, multi-language support, configurability, theme and style, supporting emoji, GPU-based text rendering and other new features

OBS studio

Real-time streaming media and screen-recording tool, which can efficiently capture, synthesize, encode, record and stream video content

Shotcut

Easily used cross-platform video editing tool

Weave GitOps core

CI/CD tool based on Git distributed-version control system, deployed by using containers and Kubernetes

Apache solr

Corporate-level search engine based on Lucene full-text search server

MLflow

Machine learning platform for tracking, managing and maintaining various machine learning models, experiments and their deployment

Orange

A data mining tool that performs various machine learning, analysis, and visualization functions by establishing data-analysis workflow

Flutter

Mobile-application development platform for creating high-performance, cross- platform mobile applications

Apache superset Data analysis tool, featuring visualization, usability and interaction Presto

Distributed SQL engine for online analysis and processing as well as running in the cluster

Apache arrow

Language-independent columnar memory format for efficient analysis and operation on modern CPU and GPU

InterpretML

Explaining machine-learning toolkit, containing many most advanced machine learning interpretability technologies

Lime

post-hoc technology, which interprets the prediction of any machine learning classifier by disturbing the characteristics of the input and checking the prediction results

Dask

A tool for parallel computing acceleration, which can extend Python packages to multiple machines

BlazingSQL

GPU accelerated SQL engine for loading, connecting, aggregating, filtering and manipulating data

Rapids

GPU data processing tool, used to perform end-to-end data scientific calculation and analysis on GPU (continued)

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Table 3.2 (continued) Open source project

Brief introduction

PostHog

Event analysis platform, which automatically collects every event on the website or application developed, and provides event-based analysis

LakeFS

Data management tool, which adds a version-control method similar to Git for object storage

Meltano

DataOps tool, used to replace traditional ELT (extract, load, transform) tool chain

Trino

Distributed SQL analysis engine, which can be used for fast queries of large distributed data sources

StreamNative

Message and event stream platform, which can simplify the data pipeline laying of real-time reports, analysis tools and corporate application stream

Hugging face

Deep learning resource library, including data sets, pre-training models, courses, documents, etc

EleutherAI

A cooperative group composed of machine learning researchers that continuously launches open-source large-scale deep learning pre-training models

Colab notebooks for generative art

Generated AI component, which automatically generates artworks based on CLIP and other open source models (e.g. BigGAN and VQGAN)

3.3.1 AI Accelerates Innovative Iteration In recent years, the rapid development of AI technology has had a significant impact on the development of economy & society and the transformation of production & lifestyle. The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, China and other countries and regions actively deploy the AI industry and continuously implement relevant emerging applications. 1. The Commonality of AI Algorithm Is Continually Enhanced Transformer series algorithmic models significantly surpass previously-dominant convolutional neural networks in many important tasks in the text, vision and sound fields, marking a step for computers toward AGI. Transformer series algorithmic models with high commonality and linear scalability expedite the maturity of largescale self-monitoring learning and learn the characteristics of multi-task commonality. Pre-training is carried out on a large amount of unlabeled data by designing auxiliary tasks to obtain a multi-task commonality model. Then, slight adjustment with a small amount of labeled data can produce very good results. Large-scale model based on the two-stage training model constantly breaks various academic algorithmic competition records and becomes a model training & optimization paradigm in the industry. Researchers from Facebook, Amazon, Google and Microsoft have successively proposed large-scale pre-training models, such as Wav2vec, HuBERT, DecoAR, BigSSL and WavLM.

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Generative AI signals a trend of technological development. Generative AI refers to learning content or objects from data and using the data to generate new and completely original actual artifacts. People adopt AI to create new things, such as creating content, writing software code and assisting drug R&D. On many video platforms, AI is extensively applied to the production and creation of audio and video content, e.g. AI-aided video production, intelligent caption generation, intelligent translation, special effect generation, etc. As Gartner predicts, by 2025, generative AI will account for 10% of all generated data (now less than 1%). Notwithstanding, the use of generative AI remains controversial. For example, people worry that it is easily misused for fraud, cheat, political rumormongering, identity forgery, etc. The research on interpretable algorithm heats up. Presently, the academia attaches more attention to problems caused by the black box of AI technology and proposes a series of interpretable algorithms to better present the interpretable results via the in-depth understanding of the model mechanism. Interpretable methods, e.g. GLOM, LIME, Grad-CAM and Integrated Gradients, can analyze the interpretability of AI in the neural network model, random forest, NLP model, dialogue generation, image representation and other fields at multiple levels like before & after-the-event. Some international giants voluntarily explore interpretable AI in practice. For instance, Google releases a model card mechanism to provide visual explanation documents for algorithmic operation through scenario hypothesis analysis. IBM introduces an AI fact list, which automatically presents the important features of the algorithmic model. Microsoft starts a data list of data set to reduce the adverse consequences of the data set’s “bias” by interpreting the deep features of the training data set. Besides, mainstream machine learning framework successively integrates the latest interpretable algorithm and toolkit to support interpretable demand, such as PyTorch’s Captum, TensorFlow’s tf-explain, PaddlePaddle’s InterpretDL and MindSpore’s XAI toolkit. With the turn from simply improving the recognition rate and accuracy rate to stressing the real reasons underneath the validity of the model, relevant technologies continue to advance, decode the “black box” of AI technology, and help people understand and trust AI. 2. The R&D of Super-Large-Scale Pre-training Model Comes to the Stage of Fierce Competition Over the past year, influential scientific research institutions and corporations, including OpenAI, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Nvidia, invested a huge amount of computing power in research and development, which pushed the scale of computing power to trillion-times scale and constantly expanded the parameter, performance and general-task-capability boundary of the model. In October 2021, Microsoft, in collaboration with Nvidia, launched Megatron-Turing (MT-NLP) pretraining model. As the next-generation combination of Microsoft’s T-NLG (TuringNLG) and Nvidia’s Megatron LM models, Megatron-Turing contains 530 billion parameters and achieves the best performance on eight tasks in five fields. In December 2021, Google introduced a colossal BERT model with 481 billion training parameters, with the results published on MLPerf v1.1 training list. Additionally,

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Google proposed a generalist sparse language model GLaM with 1.2 trillion parameters, which outperforms GPT-3 in the field of seven small sample learning. In December 2021, DeepMind released the pre-training language model Gopher, with a parameter scale of 280 billion. Gopher uses 4,096 TPU v3 acceleration chips for training and combines multiple parallel acceleration strategies. It is majorly used to explore the advantages and disadvantages of models with different parameter scales, and understand which field can get better performance after the scale of model parameter increases. As evinced, the growth of parameter scale of the model helps to improve the task-processing capabilities of reading comprehension, fact checking, and poisonous-speech identification, yet fails to significantly improve logical reasoning and common-sense-task processing capability. 3. AI Software & Hardware Products Mature (1) Deep Learning Framework Features the Co-existence of Old and New Models TensorFlow and PyTorch are regarded as the top two mainstream deep learning frameworks. Noticeably, in recent years, PyTorch becomes more popular in the academia. By dint of ONNX’s practicality, PyTorch nibbles at the market share of TensorFlow in the industry, resulting in the decline in TensorFlow’s market share. For example, in the past five years, the statistical data of eight top-level academic journals indicated that PyTorch’s usage percentage in papers increased from 7% to c. 80%.2 Simultaneously, popular AI models in recent years are almost all based on PyTorch or PyTorch and TensorFlow, and models using TensorFlow alone are rarely seen. (2) AI Chip Competition Turns White-Hot and New Products Continuously Challenge the Performance Limit As the underlying driver of AI technology, the chip achieves sustainable development. Over the past year, more large semiconductor corporations, Internet giants and start-ups started to deploy the chip industry. In March 2022, Nvidia launched the next-generation Hopper architecture for high-performance computing (HPC) and data center. The H100 chip of Hopper architecture contains 80 billion transistors, possesses 4 PFlop/s computing power, and integrates Transformer Engine to optimize the dynamic processing capabilities of Tensor Core and Transformer neural networks, and reduce the training time of such machine learning models from several weeks to a few days. In May 2022, Intel introduced new cloud AI special chips Habana Gaudi 2 and Greco, which can be used for AI training and AI reasoning respectively. Developed through Synapse AI software stack and based on tsmc’s 7 nm process, Habana Gaudi 2 and Greco support diversified architectures and own advantages of low cost and high performance. In terms of start-ups, according to the statistical data of PitchBook Data, an American market research institution, in 2021, AI chip start-ups worldwide completed 170 transactions and obtained c. 9.9 billion U.S. dollars of venture capital. The appraisal value of AI chip unicorns, e.g. SambaNova Systems, Cerebras Systems, Graphcore, Groq, Tenstorrent and Hailo Technologies, 2

Data Source: https://www.assemblyai.com/blog/pytorch-vs-tensorflow-in-2022/.

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continues to increase. Related products are continuously introduced with distinctive characteristics. (3) AI Engineering Continues to Deepen AI engineering denotes the large-scale and full-procedure implementation process of AI in enterprises. The engineering methods of AI large-scale implementation include DataOps, ModelOps and DevOps. A complete system of AI engineering takes shape after combining these methods. AI engineering can help enterprises to improve efficiency, accelerate technological maturity, and reduce costs. In this way, enterprises achieve higher efficiency and wider scope in the application of AI. As Gartner forecasts, by 2025, 10% of enterprises that have implemented AI engineering will generate at least three times more value in AI work than the remaining 90% of enterprises that have not implemented AI engineering.

3.3.2 Quantum Information Experiment and Theory Develop Synchronously In recent years, global quantum information research displays a trend of rapid development. This, on the one hand, owes to the exploration of random circuit sampling and Boson sampling quantum supremacy experiment; on the other hand, means the achievements made in the field of quantum information after dozens-of-year technological accumulation, or a critical point when the development of quantum information breeds new productivity. 1. Quantum Computing Progresses Toward Practical Quantum Supremacy In the past year, on the one hand, quantum computing research continuously optimized experimental technology, developed error correction theory, and moved toward universal fault-tolerant quantum computing; on the other hand, it highlighted tapping the computing potential of NISQ (noisy intermediate-scale quantum) devices, and maximumly realized quantum computing tasks with practical value on the basis of the existing technological conditions. In terms of the technological route of hardware, different physical systems present a trend of competition-oriented parallel development, and forge advantages respectively. (1) Superconducting Quantum System The superconducting quantum system has been esteemed as the best physical platform to realize quantum computing on account of its good scalability and controllability. Now, most research institutions take the superconducting quantum system as a major technological route. The University of Maryland has achieved 99.99% of single bit gate on the Fluxonium bit and made a breakthrough in this regard. In May 2022, IBM announced the realization of 512 quantum volume superconducting processors, which further increased the number of superconducting quantum bit.

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(2) Ion Trap Quantum System Compared with the superconducting quantum system, the ion trap quantum system has longer decoherence time and higher operating accuracy. Owing to more difficulty in achieving large-scale expansion and longer gate operation time, the ion trap quantum system is considered another major alternative physical platform for quantum computing, slightly inferior to the superconducting quantum system. In the ion trap quantum system, breakthroughs are as follows. In September 2021, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States achieved measurement readout with an average fidelity of 99.91 (1)%. In the same month, the NIST realized a laser-free high-fidelity universal quantum gate in the ion trap quantum system, which provided an idea to reduce the difficulty of integrating the system. In April 2022, the team from Honeywell announced that 4,096 quantum volumes were realized on its system model H1-2, with the average fidelity of single bit gate reaching 99.994 (3)%, the average fidelity of double bit gates reaching 99.81 (3)%, and the measurement fidelity reaching 99.72 (5)%. In May 2022, the team from Universität Innsbruck actualized fault-tolerant operation on two logical quantum bits. (3) Other Fields In May 2022, the team from the University of Chicago realized a two-dimensional array of 512 qubits on the rubidium cesium diatomic system. In the same month, Atom Computing, a startup, realized an ultra-long coherence time with an almost infinite relaxation time T1 and a lifetime T2 of 40 s on its Phoenix system, which laid a foundation for further performing more complex quantum operations on the system. Compared with superconducting quantum system, semiconductor quantum system has the advantage of deep integration with existing processes, yet has the disadvantages of weak inter-bit entanglement and poor scalability. The latest breakthroughs in the field are as follows. In January 2022, the team from the University of New South Wales, the team from Technische Universiteit Delft and the team from Japanese RIKEN independently improved the accuracy of the double bit gate of the system by more than 99%. In November 2021, the team from the University of Science and Technology of China succeeded in programmable Gaussian Boson sampling of 144 models, achieved the latest breakthrough in the light quantum system, and significantly developed the integration & control technology of the light quantum system. In the development of the computing power of NISQ device, research institutions actively advance theoretical analysis and experimental solutions. In 2021, the team from IBM analyzed the relationship between the classical simulation complexity of shallow quantum circuit and the interactional configuration among quantum bits under noise, affirming that on the local two-dimensional quantum bit array, the average value output of fixed depth quantum circuits can be effectively simulated by classical method (under linear complexity). This has a directional effect on the subsequent idea of realizing practical quantum supremacy based on NISQ. In March 2022, Google completed a high-precision chemical simulation on 16 qubits by using the classical shadow tomography method to calculate the quantum state inner product of the projected quantum Monte Carlo simulation process.

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2. Quantum Communication Develops Towards Engineering Application According to use cases, quantum communication has various protocols. Specifically, there are quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol combined with classical channels to achieve “one-time pad”, quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocol for directly transmitting information via quantum channels, quantum secret sharing (QSS) protocol for multi-party secure communication, quantum teleportation (QT) protocol for transmitting unknown quantum states between nodes, etc. Akin to quantum computing, quantum communication technology signifies a highly-complex system engineering. As a whole, it provides a quantum communication solution with a high code rate, high capacity and long-distance communication and hinges on key technologies such as a high-quality photon generator, high sensitivity detector and high-performance quantum relay. In quantum key distribution, in June 2022, Toshiba (Japan) and Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE, the United States) established a quantum key distribution network with a total length of c. 200 km. The network uses Toshiba multiplexing QKD units to distribute quantum keys at a speed of more than 80,000 qubits per second. In June 2022, Quantropi, a Canadian quantum security company, launched a quantum security encryption product SEQUR SynQK, which simultaneously provides at least five quantum key streams at a speed of 130-190 Mb/s over a distance of 4,000– 15,000 km. In the quantum-state transmission and quantum-network construction, in May 2022, Brookhaven National Laboratory of the United States announced to build an around 141 km-long quantum network, providing services for scholars around the world who research quantum network technology. In the research on important components of quantum communication, quantum relay plays a vital role. It basically comprises three elements: entanglement exchange, entanglement purification and quantum storage. In March 2022, the team from Université de Genève realized the high-fidelity storage of timestamped optical qubits up to 20 ms in rare earth-doped yttrium silicate crystal through the dynamic decoupling method. 3. Quantum Precision Measurement Technology Develops Quickly and Probably Comes into Service Quantum precision measurement means the high-precision measurement of important physical quantities like frequency, position, magnetic field, gravity, pressure, etc., by using the quantum interaction between the probe and the object to be measured. The measurement precision often exceeds the standard quantum noise limit or even approaches the Heisenberg limit, with important applications in time service, positioning, imaging, navigation and other fields. Vis-à-vis fault-tolerant quantum computing, quantum precision measurement raises lower requirements for quantum systems and their manipulation technologies. In the era of NISQ device, with the development of experimental technology, quantum precision measurement produces practical value earlier than quantum computing, and arouses more attention. In recent years, major breakthroughs made in quantum precision measurement technology are as follows.

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In terms of time & frequency measurement, in December 2021, the team from Universität Innsbruck developed Ramsey interferometer based on variational quantum optimization, which reached a measurement sensitivity close to the Heisenberg limit. In March 2022, the team combined quantum information processing methods with the idea of metrology to design a programmable quantum sensor whose performance approaches the limit of quantum mechanics. In terms of gravity measurement, in February 2022, the team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States used a onedimensional optical lattice structure that contained c. 100,000 strontium-87 atoms and cooled to 100 nK as an atomic clock to measure the frequency red-shift caused by gravity. Simultaneously, the uncertainty of fractional frequency was increased to 7.6 × 10–21 , which can be used for the experimental verification of General Relativity and the compatibility with quantum mechanics and other basic scientific research. In terms of magnetic field measurement, in April 2021, the team from Harvard University in the United States used the diamond nitrogen-vacancy color-center system to construct a double-quantum 4-Ramsey-type measurement solution that can be used for wide area magnetic imaging, which improved the non-uniformity problem in the single quantum measurement technology. The experiment demonstrated that at magnetic field measurement within the 125 nm × 125 nm field of view, detection sensitivity reached 34 nT/Hz½ µm3/2 . In November 2021, the joint team from the University of Science and Technology of China and Helmholtz Institute of Germany pre-amplified the dark matter field to more than 100 times by using the hyperpolarized long-lived nucleus spin, and realized the ultra-high sensitivity detection of 18 fT/Hz1/2 . In terms of imaging, in May 2021, the team from Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (the Netherlands) detected the biological activity of macrophages via the fluorescent labeling of nanometer-level diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color-center, and achieved the precise measurement of subatomic resolution of free radicals produced by a single mitochondrion in living cells or isolated mitochondria. In terms of composite measurement of multiple physical quantities and measurement of other physical quantities, in July 2021, the team from Universität Würzburg (Germany) examined the vacancy color-center structure of hexagonal boron nitride, revealing that its ground state stayed in a high-spin triplet state, and its photoluminescence characteristic embodied spin dependence. Additionally, its frequency shift during optical magnetic resonance measurement was sensitive to not only static magnetic field, but also temperature and pressure. This means that the structure can be used for quantum measurement of magnetic field, temperature and pressure simultaneously.

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3.4 New Technologies and Applications Presently, the applications of new intelligent and digital technologies expand rapidly worldwide, with major breakthroughs made in the field of biology. In 2021, the idea of metaverse was proposed, evoking widespread attention from various circles. With the idea interpreted in a more diverse way, relevant enterprises actively promote theoretical and practical research on the metaverse.

3.4.1 Continuous Achievements Are Attained in the Combination or Integration of IT and Biotechnology (BT) IT and BT are hot technological fields in the twenty-first century. IT application and development can effectively solve practical problems in biology and medicine. From the early Human Genome Project to the recent Brain Science Program and Human Cell Atlas Project and the latest Alphafold2 project, achievements in crossfiled integration are continuously made. IT-BT integration and development form a mutually supportive relationship and become an important driving force for newround industrial transformation. 1. Artificial Neuron Model Makes Positive Breakthroughs in Memory Mechanism and Signal Control In August 2021, the team from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) constructed a computational model of artificial neuron. On the basis of the internal ion channel of neuron as well as the opening-closing mechanism determined by the received stimulus signal, the model designs artificial neuron with a single layer of water molecules and extremely thin graphene slit. Under the action of electric field, ions in water can aggregate into long and thin clusters, produce a feature called the memristor effect, and reproduce ion channel, cluster and ion flow after passing through the graphene slit. Researchers showed how to assemble these clusters and simulate the physical mechanism of action potential emission, so as to simulate the transmission and memory of information. In February 2022, the team from Linköpings Universitet (Sweden) developed a kind of organic electrochemical neuron. Based on organic electro chemical transistors (OECTs), artificial neurons with high biocompatibility and very similar signal features to the biological system can be obtained via large-scale printing on plastic sheets. The team from Linköpings Universitet successfully connected the neuron with the biological cells of the flytrap to control the opening and closing of leaf petals. 2. Deep Learning Accelerates the R&D of Gene Editing Technology In May 2022, the teams from Helmholtz Institute and Universität Freiburg in Germany used deep learning to develop new algorithms and help to identify natural

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nuclease inhibitor that controlled the activity of nuclease Cas13b. Nuclease Cas13b related to CRISPR-Cas system can silence unfavorable genes and help to treat genetic diseases. Used as an antiviral drug, it targets the viral genome and makes it harmless. However, the activity of Cas13b needs to be controlled or timely curbed to improve the safety and effectiveness of treatment. Researchers develop a new algorithm DeepAcr by lumping machine learning with high-throughput screening, and then discover a new anti-CRISPR protein that can inhibit nuclease Cas13b. The millions of predictions made by DeepAcr blaze a trail for research, help to improve the safety and effectiveness of future genetic therapies and antiviral drugs, and check the targeted effect. 3. Breakthroughs Are Made in AI Prediction of Protein Structure The prediction of protein structure is a long-standing conundrum in the biological field. There are three traditional methods for protein-structure detection: X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance and cryo-electron microscopy. However, owing to the high cost and long research cycle, these methods produce limited progress. In July 2021, two AI prediction algorithms for protein structure, i.e. AlphaFold2 developed by DeepMind and RoseTTAFold developed by the University of Washington and other institutions, became open source successively. In 2021, DeepMind predicted 350,000 protein structures based on AlphaFold2, covering 98.5% of human proteome and nearly complete proteome of 20 other organisms. Chinese researchers used AlphaFold2 to chart the structure of nearly 200 DNAbinding proteins. German and American researchers adopted Alpha Fold2 and cryoelectron microscopy to map the structure of nuclear pore complexes. In July 2022, DeepMind announced that AI-system-based AlphaFold had predicted 214 million protein structures of more than one million species. The breakthrough was considered one of the most significant challenges in the biological field.

3.4.2 Blockchain is Gradually Applied to Various Fields With the deep development of digital economy, new-generation IT like blockchain increasingly penetrates into the whole process of socio-economic fields, and becomes an important force that restructures global factor resources, reshapes global economic structure and alters global competition pattern. Featuring multi-party consensus, tamper proof, transparency and traceability, blockchain technology helps to build trusted infrastructure for digital economy, form distributed trusted collaboration network among multiple parties in the industrial chain, and promote more robust, greener and more healthy global development. 1. Various Countries Continuously Shore up Blockchain Technology The EU’s “Digital Europe” plans to launch the “European Blockchain Skills Project” to promote the development of blockchain skills and meet the needs of the European blockchain industry. In the 2021 management plan, DG CNECT (DirectorateGeneral for Communications Networks, Content and Technology) proposed to highlight the development of blockchain and other technologies to ensure European

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strategic autonomy in key technologies. American congressmen successively initiated relevant acts such as Blockchain Promotion Act of 2021, Blockchain Innovation Act and Blockchain Technology Coordination Act of 2021, suggesting that the United States should conduct research and supervision on blockchain technology. Arab Monetary Fund released the guidance framework The Arab States Adoption of DLT/ Blockchain Technology Strategy, which aimed to boost the digital financial transformation of Arab States. 2. The Regional Construction of Blockchain Achieves Full Coverage and the Scale of Node Gradually Expands Presently, blockchain infrastructure includes European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), as well as China’s Blockchain-Based Service Network (BSN) and BIF-Core. In 2018, 29 European countries cooperated in the establishment of European Blockchain Services Infrastructure, which aimed to provide cross-border public services for the EU member states, including trusted secure digital identity authentication and financial transaction services. There are already 25 nodes in operation. Since the blockchain service network was officially proposed in 2019, Europe has deployed more than 100 city nodes and supported a variety of mainstream public chains. 3. Blockchain Technology Matures and Technological Applications Penetrate into Numerous Fields In a cooperation on digital economy, Australia and Singapore research the interoperability of digital verification systems through blockchain pilot projects, so as to improve the trade efficiency between them. Bank of Israel is preparing a digital-currency-issuance plan and experimenting with the application of Ethereum blockchain technology to digital currency. The United States Army C5ISR Center uses blockchain technology to achieve new tactical-level data management capabilities and ensure reliable data transmission. In order to use blockchain technology to support and protect the confidential information communication of the digital supply chain, the United States Air Force plans to research blockchain joint 3D printing technology to manufacture, test and deploy key replacement parts of the weapon system in the global forward operating base. Among the projects initiated by blockchain open source communities, Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as Hyperledger Fabric (with the highest popularization rate), have large scale and volume. By July 2022, Bitcoin Lightning Network had around 17,700 active nodes, which was also the blockchain infrastructure with the largest number of nodes. The main network of Ethereum had 5,900 nodes and ranked 2nd, with 2,812 Decentralized Applications (DApp). In order to improve the commercial performance of blockchain infrastructure, current blockchain open source communities place emphasis on engineering research. Mainstream projects transition to new versions by upgrading the main network, achieve the coordinated development of general technology and application innovation, and focus on building open source toolset and diversifying blockchain infrastructure ecology in a sustainable way.

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3.4.3 The Idea of Metaverse Sparks Market Attention The metaverse means a new social form of virtuality-reality symbiosis created by using advanced information technologies like intelligent interconnectivity and interaction, augmenting objective physical space and integrating the digital virtual world. 2021 saw the first year of the metaverse, which triggered wide attention among various circles, with the idea interpreted in a diverse way. The realization of the metaverse rides on a series of cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, VR/AR, 5G, cloud computing, big data, blockchain, Web 3.0, etc. McKinsey, a consulting agency, decomposes technological stacks related to the metaverse into four core building blocks: content & experience, platform, infrastructure, and guarantee measures. Content & experience mainly include direct experience content, specific-case-related learning, collaboration and active application, as well as the virtual world where many users gather and interact. The platform involves user platforms (e.g. content browsing, search engine and app store), as well as platforms for integrated design, game engine, AI service and creator. Infrastructure mainly covers basic software & hardware related to human–computer interface, and infrastructure such as cloud computing, AI and network. Guarantee measures mean security, identity and content-management mechanisms, as well as virtual economic systems of payment and monetization. 1. Technology Giants Step up Their Efforts to Develop Metaverse Meta, a corporation, enters the metaverse industry with a fanfare. In October 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta. Meta invests heavily in audio-visual-technology related projects, launches virtual currency, integrates the advantages in socializing network, redefines the virtuality-reality boundary, and seizes opportunities in the metaverse industry. In hardware, Meta launches a series of HMD (Head Mounted Display) devices like Oculus Quest2 based on related enterprises acquired in early years. In software, Meta introduces a series of products, such as VR socializing platform Horizon Worlds, VR home platform Horizon Home and VR work platform Horizon Workroom, on the basis of the improvement of socializing & entertainment functions and the optimization of working scenes. Besides, Meta initiates small-scale pilot projects of digital currency wallet to improve metaverse ecology. By acquiring relevant enterprises and further tapping the potential of its software & hardware platforms, Microsoft continuously deploys metaverse ecology. In content production, in January 2022, Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard with 68.7 billion U.S. dollars. In terms of business revenue, with the transaction, Microsoft becomes the world’s third largest game corporation after Tencent and Sony. In terms of hardware, Xbox, a game device owned by Microsoft, serves as a home platform to undertake the terminal application of metaverse, and HoloLens, an MR smart glasses, links users as a virtual interface. In terms of software, Microsoft starts Mesh for Microsoft Teams, which adds an MR function (called Mesh) based on the existing online conference function, allowing people at various locations to join in collaboration via the productivity tool Teams.

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Apple successively launches ARKit, RealityKit 2, AppClip and other products, and diversifies or optimizes coordinate anchoring, AR navigation and other related functions. Relatively-closed ecology constitutes Apple’s core competitiveness in the metaverse. On the basis of hundreds of millions of terminals and rich AppStores of iOS, macOS and watchOS, once the virtuality-reality-interaction technology becomes popular, Apple can build a gigantic metaverse platform. 2. The Ideas Related to Metaverse Still Stay in the Exploratory Stage With respect to metaverse industrial development, the stock market oscillates with irrational public-opinion foam hyped by capital; yet, the current scale of metaverse has not covered the whole industry and built complete ecology. Metaverse now stays in the preliminary stage of theoretical construction and scenario application, or the exploratory stage of socializing & game use cases. Conceptually, the construction of the metaverse focuses on the fields of game and socializing. The ecological & industrial chain remains immature, with a narrow scene entrance. A big gap exists between the reality and the vision of metaverse, which necessitates further improvement.

Chapter 4

World Digital Economy Development

4.1 Outline With the wide application of new-generation IT like AI, big data, blockchain and 5G, digital economy functions as an important engine to fuel economic growth in the world. In particular, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital economy becomes an important driving force and support for combating the pandemic and promoting economic recovery. Various countries energetically release policies on the development of digital economy and jostle for the dominance over digital economy. Globally, the digital industry develops steadily, and industrial digitalization deepens. Fintech and e-commerce become important fields in national development. In major countries and regions represented by the United States, the European Union, China and Japan, fintech and e-commerce develop vigorously. Simultaneously, regional development of digital economy proves imbalanced, and global digital divide widens.

4.2 The Development Trend of World Digital Economy In 2021, the global digital economy maintained steadfast growth, and major countries and regions actively released policies on digital economy. Meanwhile, with big differences in the level of information-infrastructure construction among countries and regions, the imbalanced development of digital economy remained prominent, and digital divide intensified.

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4.2.1 The Development of World Digital Economy Accelerates With the wide application of new-generation information technology, new business models and forms, e.g. telemedicine, online education and online payment, mushroom. Digital economy becomes an important engine for economic growth in the world. Particularly, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertainty and instability of global economic development have significantly increased; yet, digital economy has grown against the headwinds and promoted global economic recovery sustainably. According to the report published by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), in 2021, the scale of digital-economy added value of 47 countries in the world reached 38.1 trillion U.S. dollars, with a year-on-year growth of 15.6% in nominal terms, accounting for 45.0% of the GDP. Notably, digital economy in developed countries has a large scale and high proportion. In 2021, the mathematical economic output of developed countries achieved 27.6 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 55.7% of the GDP. Developing countries achieved faster growth in digital economy. In 2021, digital economy rose by 22.3% in developing countries. As IDC predicts, in 2023, global digital economic output will account for 62% of global GDP, which ushers in an era of digital economy.

4.2.2 Regional Digital Divide Continuously Enlarges The head effect of digital economy becomes prominent. High-income countries and developed economies dominate the scale of digital economy worldwide. According to the report published by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), in 2021, the United States, China, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and France have all reached a scale of digital economy of 1 trillion U.S. dollars, totaling 31.35 trillion U.S. dollars and accounting for 82.11% of 47 representative countries. Figure 4.1 shows the scale of digital economy of representative countries in 2021. In 2021, the scale of digital economy in developed countries was 2.98 times that of developing countries, and the proportion of digital economy to GDP in developed countries was 26.7% higher than that in developing countries. There are great differences in the construction level of regional information infrastructure. For example, in global 5G network coverage, OECD member states, the Asia Pacific Region and Latin America realize 34, 15 and 3.2% respectively. In the same region, the construction level of information infrastructure also varies remarkably. For example, among African countries, the Internet popularization rate reaches 50% in South Africa and just c. 10% in other African countries.

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Fig. 4.1 The scale of digital economy of representative countries in 2021

4.2.3 Various Countries Actively Launch Relevant Development Policies Major countries and regions in the world rush to the front in formulating and issuing strategic plans for the development of digital economy, increase the investment to digital economy, and scramble for the dominance on digital economy.

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Closely following the IT development trend, the United States implements a series of deployments such as Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD), Big Data Research and Development Initiative, A Roadmap for US Robotics: From Internet to Robotics, National Strategic Computing Initiative, National Broadband Research Agenda, National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan, and National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology from a national strategic perspective. The European Union releases a series of strategic plans, such as Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, EU Industrial Strategy, A European Strategy for Data, White Paper on Artificial Intelligence: A European Approach to Excellence and Trust, and 2030 Digital Compass: The European Way for the Digital Decade, which aim to redefine and expand EU’s digital sovereignty, establish digital space framework based on rules and standards, and solidify EU’s leading position in the field of digital economy. Japan actively promotes the orderly development of digital economy. In 2020, the Japanese government set up Digital Agency to manage policies and promote legislation, create a soft & hard environment conducive to the development of digital economy, accelerate the upgrading of infrastructure and strengthen the construction of new infrastructure, and support the upgrading & transformation of information equipment for small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan. South Korea continually boosts the development of domestic digital economy. In 2022, the Korean government plans to invest around 7.49 billion U.S. dollars (as budgeted) in “Digital Economy Execution Plan”, including 4.91 billion U.S. dollars for strengthening the construction of data, network and AI, and 670 million U.S. dollars for developing emerging industries like the metaverse. In 2022, China issued The Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Digital Government, making arrangements to actively adapt to the trend of economic and social digital transformation, fully release the dividend of digital development, and comprehensively create a new situation in the construction of digital government.

4.3 Digital Industrialization Develops Steadily Over the past year, global digital industrialization developed stably, which reshaped the value chain and supply chain of manufacturing. The 5G market advanced firmly, the scale of 5G users picked up significantly, and electronic information manufacturing expanded steadily. Software and IT services related to IoT, cloud computing and big data developed rapidly, and Internet information content services represented by online games grew quickly.

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4.3.1 Basic Telecom Industry Continuously Progresses 1. The Share of 5G Continues to Climb and the Number of 4G Users Faces the Inflection Point of Growth According to the data published by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), by June 2022, 221 network operators in 86 countries and regions had achieved 5G commercial use, and global 5G network user coverage reached 26.59%. As GSMA forecasts, the number of 5G connections in the world totaled one billion in 2022, and the number of 5G connections will account for 1/ 4 of the total number of mobile connections in 2025. The growing market of 4G mainly exists in developing countries. As Ericsson predicts, the number of 4G users reached the peak in 2022, and the proportion of global 4G connections will fall back to 55% in 2025 from the peak of 58% in 2021. As GSMA estimates, by 2025, the number of mobile users will jump from 5.3 billion to 5.7 billion, and the population coverage will rise from 67 to 70%. The proportion of 5G connection to the total connection will increase from 8% in 2021 to 25% in 2025. The business revenue of network operators will enlarge from 1.08 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021 to 1.16 trillion U.S. dollars in 2025. From 2022 to 2025, as estimated, the capital expenditure of network operators will reach 620 billion U.S. dollars, of which 85% will be used for 5G development. 2. The Number of Fixed-Broadband-Access Users Maintains Steady Growth As Statista’s data suggested, in 2021, the number of fixed-broadband-access users in the world reached 1.313 billion, with an increase of 85 million over 2020, up by 6.92% year on year. The growth mainly results from the popularization of fixed broadband in developing countries and the increase of penetration rate in developed countries. Point Topic predicts that by the end of 2030, there will be 1.6 billion fixed-broadband-access users in the world, and 75% of them will use FTTP/P/B connection, with an increase of 13% over 2021.

4.3.2 Electronic Information Manufacturing Grows Solidly 1. Consumer Electronics Market Develops Stably According to the data published by IDC, in 2021, the global smartphone shipment realized 1.355 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 5.7%. As estimated, the smartphone shipment would reach 1.44 billion in 2022. Hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the demand for teleworking soared, the global shipment of laptop leaped. In 2021, the global shipment of laptop surged to 261 million, and would reach 294 million in 2022, as estimated.

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2. The Market Scale of Telecom Equipment Continues to Rise According to the report released by Dell’Oro, in 2021, the global telecom equipment market grew by 7%, signaling the growth for four consecutive years. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the total revenue of global telecom equipment faltered in year-onyear growth, with a growth rate of 2%. The first three quarters saw year-on-year growth of 16%, 5% and 6% respectively. The growth rate of the global telecom equipment market slipped from 7% in 2021 to 4% in 2022, albeit a growing trend. 3. The Market Scale of Smart Wearable Device Continues to Expand Smart wearable devices meet people’s pursuit of life efficiency & quality and health indicator. In recent years, the market scale of smart wearable device developed rapidly. According to the data released by iFind, the global shipment of smart wearable devices proliferated from 120 million in 2017 to 530 million in 2021, with a CAGR of 45.9%. As estimated, the global shipment of smart wearable devices would reach 650 million in 2022, as shown in Fig. 4.2. 4. The Market Scale of Smart Home Products Increases Steadily With the improvement of citizens’ living standards, smart home products possess a broad market and development space. According to data published by IDC, in 2021, the global market scale of smart home products increased by 11.7% over 2020, and the shipment of relevant products exceeded 895 million. In terms of the segment of smart home, in 2021, video & entertainment smart home products accounted for 35% of the smart home market, home monitoring & security products accounted for 21%, lighting products accounted for 10%, and other products accounted for 35%. As the smart home market continues to mature, the shipment of smart home products will rise to 1.44 billion by 2026, as estimated.

Fig. 4.2 Global shipment of smart wearable devices from 2017 to 2022. Data Source iFind

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4.3.3 Software & IT Service Industry Develops Rapidly 1. IoT Market Scale Continuously Expands The number of global IoT connections keeps growing, and the penetration rate of IoT further rises. Manufacturing, government affairs, retail and public services have great demands for IoT. As the data of IoT Analytic suggested, by 2021, the number of global IoT connections reached 12.2 billion, with a year-on-year growth rate of c. 8%. Predictably, by 2025, the number of global IoT connections will approximate to 27 billion. As the data published by IDC indicated, in 2021, the scale of global corporate-level IoT expenditure totaled 690.26 billion U.S. dollars, and would reach 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2026, as predicted. In the next five years (from 2022 to 2026), the CAGR will reach 10.7%. Particularly, the scale of corporate-level IoT market in China will reach 294 billion U.S. dollars in 2026, with a CAGR of 13.2% and a global share of c. 25.7%, maintaining the largest IoT market volume in the world. 2. The Scale of Cloud Computing Market Expands Quickly According to IDC’s data, in 2021, the scale of global cloud computing IaaS market maintained a steady growth, growing to 91.35 billion U.S. dollars, with a growth rate of 35.64%. The scales of IaaS and PaaS markets accumulated to 159.6 billion U.S. dollars, up by 37.08% year on year. In 2021, the overall market pattern of global cloud computing changed slightly. In the IaaS market, the ranking of the top five countries was identical to that in 2020, whose cumulative market share jumped from 76.96% in 2020 to 77.38%. In terms of patent application, according to the data of Prospective Industrial Research Institute, by July 2021, the largest technological state-of-origin of global cloud computing was the United States, whose number of cloud computing patent applications accounted for 47.85% of the total number of the world. China followed after the United States, whose number of cloud computing patent applications took up 30.32% of the total number of the world. Japan and South Korea ranked 3rd and 4th respectively; however, they lagged far behind the United States in the number of patent applications, as shown in Fig. 4.3. 3. Big Data Service Market Possesses Huge Potential According to the data released by CCID (China Center for Information Industry Development), in 2021, the scale of global big data market increased from 182.19 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 to 213.35 billion U.S. dollars, with a CAGR of 8.2%. In the future, global big data market will maintain rapid development. As estimated, in 2024, the scale of global big data market will reach 288.12 billion U.S. dollars, with a three-year CAGR of c. 10.8%. In terms of countries, the scale of American big data market accounts for around 50.3% of global big data market, far ahead of other countries in this regard. China sees the fastest development in the scale of big data market. It accounts for about 6.3% of global scale, ranking 2nd.

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Fig. 4.3 The distribution of technological state-of-origin of global cloud computing industry by July 2021. Data Source Prospective Industrial Research Institute

4. The Scale of Blockchain Market Expands Quickly As IDC’s data suggested, in 2021, the scale of global blockchain technology realized 5.92 billion U.S. dollars, and would grow at a CAGR of 85.9% from 2022 to 2023, as estimated.

4.3.4 Internet Information Content Service Industry Grows Rapidly 1. Online Game Market Continues to Boom According to the data released by Newzoo, in 2021, the scale of global online game market reached 93.2 billion U.S. dollars, with an increase of 7.2% over 2020. In the first quarter of 2022, the global mobile games reached a revenue of 21.2 billion U.S. dollars. In terms of the proportion of global game players, in 2021, the Asia Pacific Region had the largest number of mobile game players in the world, reaching 54%. In the number of mobile game players, the Middle East and Africa ranked 2nd, and Europe ranked 3rd, accounting for 15% and 14% respectively. According to Sensor Tower’s data, in 2021, in global App Store and Google Play markets, PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings, two games launched by Tencent of China, both achieved a revenue of 2.8 billion U.S. dollars, up by 9% and 14.7% respectively over 2020. Mihoyo’s game, Genshin Impact, realized a revenue of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, ranking 3rd. Roblox and Coin Master ranked 4th and 5th respectively in revenue.

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The long-tail effect of global mobile game market becomes prominent. In 2021, the market concentration of the top five mobile games in the world approached 11%. 2. The Scale of Music Streaming Media Market Keeps Growing According to the data published by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in 2021, the global music market rose by 18.5%, with the scale of streaming media market accounting for 65% of global revenue. The total revenue of streaming media increased by 24.3%, the number of paid subscribers reached 523 million, and the revenue of paid streaming media increased by 21.9%. In 2021, the total revenue of Asian music streaming media market took up 23% of global market, with a growth rate of 16.1%, higher than 10.7% in 2020, in the music sector. 3. The Scale of Digital Advertising Market Recovers The scale of global advertising market, once buffeted by the COVID-19 pandemic, shows a sign of recovery. In 2021, the scale of digital advertising market reached 682.5 billion U.S. dollars, with a year-on-year growth of 17.05%. As estimated, in 2022, global advertising expenditure would increase by 9.16%, and the scale of global advertising market would reach 745 billion U.S. dollars. As Statista predicts, owing to the continuous penetration of digitalization in the advertising industry as well as economic growth, the scale of global digital advertising market will jump from 515.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 to 683.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2026, with a CAGR of 7.39%.

4.4 Industrial Digitalization Continues to Deepen Industrial digitalization plays a leading role in the development of global digital economy. As the product of the integration and penetration of digital economy and real economy, industrial digitalization forms an important part of the development of digital economy. Hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, more industries accelerate their digital transformation and promote the deep integration of digital technology with the real economy to obtain new development momentum.

4.4.1 The Proportion of Industrial Digitalization Continues to Increase The proportion of industrial digitalization in digital economy continues to increase. According to the data released in New Vision of Global Digital Economy 2020, in 2020, the proportion of global industrial digitalization in digital economy reached 84.3%, accounting for 35% of global GDP. Industrial digitalization in high-income countries accounted for 86.10% of digital economy, higher than the overall level of global industrial digitalization, as shown in Fig. 4.4.

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Fig. 4.4 The structure of digital economy in countries with different income levels in the world in 2020. Data Source China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)

In speed, the digital transformation of service industry proves higher than that of industry and agriculture. In 2020, the penetration rate of digital economy industry in global service industry realized 43.9%, and that in the industry reached 24.1%. Agricultural production and management rely heavily on natural conditions; therefore, more factors affect the digital transformation of agriculture. In 2020, the penetration rate of digital economy in agriculture reached only 8.0%. The penetration rate of digital economy forms a positive correlation with the national income level. In three major industries of service industry, industry and agriculture in high-income countries, the penetration rate of digital economy proves higher than that in low & middle-income countries, as shown in Fig. 4.5. The proportion of industrial digitalization in the digital economy of various countries keeps rising. According to relevant data, in 2021, the industrial digitalization level in the United States and Japan was close to 90%, and that of China was c. 80%, as shown in Fig. 4.6.

4.4.2 The Scale of Global Industrial Internet Market Keeps Growing Presently, the United States, Europe and the Asia Pacific Region become major regions for the development of industrial Internet. Among them, the group advantage of the United States proves prominent. General Electric, Microsoft, Rockwell, Amazon and other corporations actively deploy industrial Internet, and various startups highlight cutting-edge innovation, which help the United States to maintain the

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Fig. 4.5 The penetration rate of digital economy industry in three major industries of countries with different income levels in 2020. Data Source China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)

Fig. 4.6 The industrial digitalization level in the United States, China and Japan from 2018 to 2021. Data Source China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)

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Fig. 4.7 The market scale of global industrial internet from 2016 to 2022. Data Source CCID

leading position in industrial Internet. European industrial giants, such as Siemens, Bosch, ABB and SAP, make rapid progress in industrial Internet by dint of their basic advantages in manufacturing. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth of the market scale of global industrial Internet slowed down; nevertheless, the market scale of global industrial Internet would exceed one trillion in 2022 as estimated, as shown in Fig. 4.7. As Accenture forecasts, by 2030, industrial Internet will contribute an economic growth of 142,000 trillion U.S. dollars to the world. In terms of market share, the market scale of American industrial Internet gets a chunk of the global market. In 2020, the United States accounted for 23.68%, and China accounted for 15.14% (ranking 2nd). Japan and Germany followed, accounting for 8.17% and 6.62% respectively. In general, the United States, China, Japan and Germany account for more than 50% in total. These four countries jointly lead the development of global industrial Internet.

4.4.3 Industrial Digital Transformation Achieves Remarkable Results 1. The Economic Benefits of Industrial Digitalization Become Prominent As UNIDO’s report unveils, the use of advanced digital manufacturing technology improves the profit and capital utilization of enterprises. For example, in the power industry, after using the Predix industrial Internet digital platform, Bruce Power

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(Canada) has enormously raised the operating efficiency of nuclear power equipment and significantly improved the stability of equipment, with the average powergeneration price dropping by 30%. In the aviation industry, GE Aviation installs a large number of sensors on the aircraft engine and uses AI technology to conduct real-time analysis of engine data, which can provide customers with reliable maintenance and early troubleshooting services to avoid sudden engine failures. In the photovoltaic industry, POLY-GCL uses big data and AI analysis to obtain the optimal parameters when producing polycrystalline silicon chips as raw materials for photovoltaic cells with a thickness of only 0.2 mm, and then optimizes the production lines. This improves the yield of polycrystalline silicon chips by 1% and saves the cost of 100 million yuan a year. 2. Enterprises Enthusiastically Take Part in Industrial Digital Transformation According to the survey of Tencent Research Institute, the proportion of enterprises that accelerate their expectation in digital transformation reaches 60.9%. For these enterprises whose digitalization degree reach more than 80, 60–80%, 40–60%, 20– 40% and less than 20, 69.6, 67.2, 65.3, 61.6 and 49.4% of them accelerate their expectation in digital transformation respectively.

4.5 The Innovation on Fintech Continuously Advances New-generation information technologies, e.g. AI, big data, cloud computing and IoT, take the 5G network as the underlying communication foundation. The integration of new-generation information technologies with financial business expedites the continuous optimization and innovation of financial product design, business model, business process and service quality, and reinvigorates innovation-driven financial development sustainably.

4.5.1 Blockchain Finance Develops Vigorously The global capital market holds an optimistic attitude toward the development of blockchain finance. According to the statistical results of 01 Think Tank, in 2021, there were 1,786 times of investment and financing in global blockchain, with a total amount of 308.815 billion U.S. dollars. Specifically, financial-application blockchain became the hot field for major investment projects, with 1,174 times of investment and financing, accounting for 65.73%. The total amount reached 234.94 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 76.08%. In 2021, there were 21 blockchain M&A events with global disclosure of transaction amount, and the total transaction amount reached 52.487 billion U.S. dollars, including 13 transactions with more than one billion U.S. dollars. Table 4.1 shows some M&A events.

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Table 4.1 Some blockchain M&A events with global disclosure of transaction amount in 2021 No

The name of project

Financing amount

Disclosure date

Region

Acquirer

Business area

1

Bill desk

4.7 Billion U.S. Dollars

August 31, 2021

India

Prosus

Cryptocurrency transaction, payment clearing

2

Bitkub Capital

536.6 Million November U.S. Dollars 2, 2021

Thailand

SCB Group

Cryptocurrency transaction

3

Bithumb

460 Million U.S. Dollars

January 7, 2021

South Korea Nexon, Vidente

Cryptocurrency transaction

4

Bitfield

400 Million Euros

September 28, 2021

Germany

Northern Data

Cryptocurrency

5

Mir

400 Million U.S. Dollars

December 9, 2021

The United States

Polygon Network

Cryptocurrency

6

Bottlepay

300 Million U.S. Dollars

October 29, The United 2021 Kingdom

NYDIG

Cryptocurrency transaction, payment clearing

7

Hermez

250 Million U.S. Dollars

August 13, 2021

Unknown

Polygon Network

Cryptocurrency transaction

8

GK8

115 Million U.S. Dollars

November 4, 2021

Israel

Celsius Network

Data security

9

Bee computing

100 Million U.S. Dollars

April 5, 2021

China

BIT Mining Limited

Cryptocurrency

Blockchain application in the financial industry becomes the most active. According to the statistical data of the 2022 Global Blockchain Application Market Report released by Coinsay, in 2021, the number of blockchain use cases in the global financial industry reached 321, accounting for 25% of the total number of blockchain use cases (the highest proportion) and covering 49 countries and regions (the widest regional distribution). In terms of the industrial segment, the use cases of financial blockchain involved five segments, i.e. investment & transaction, financing service, institutional management, payment & settlement and insurance service. Among them, investment & transaction accounted for the highest proportion, reaching 31%. Financing service and institutional management ranked 2nd. In terms of regional distribution, China had the highest proportion of use cases, accounting for 26%, followed by the United States (19%) and Switzerland (6%).

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4.5.2 Digital Payment Has Broad Prospects Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, global demand for non-contact, digital and fast domestic and transnational payment methods keeps growing. More people accept cashless payment. Simultaneously, various industries raise higher demand for digital transformation, and the trend of digital payment becomes increasingly prominent. As Juniper Research predicts, by 2025, global payment & consumption via QR code will increase significantly, with a growth rate of 25% and the total amount exceeding three trillion U.S. dollars. In terms of the ranking of digital-payment corporations, Juniper Research ranks the top five digital-payment corporations in the world based on comprehensive analysis, i.e. Alipay, PayPal, WeChat payment, Google payment and China UnionPay. As the first platform of digital-payment technology, Alipay leads a series of technological innovations on payment products on the basis of QR code payment. For example, Pratt & Whitney launches low-threshold businessmoney-collection code and IoT payments, opens its product capabilities to the market, and serves more than 80 million businesses. By December 2021, the monthly active users of Alipay had reached 796 million, the daily active users of Alipay had reached 357 million, and the monthly average usage time reached 113.14 min.

4.5.3 Embedded Finance Comes to Rise Embedded finance refers to embedding credit services into life-scenario apps and other Internet platform apps with consumption scenarios to help financial institutions provide users with financial services in multiple scenarios. According to the 2020 Global Payment Report, the business model of “Buy Now Pay Later” is booming. Klarna (Sweden), Affirm (the United States) and Afterpay (Australia) provide consumers with flexible payment methods. According to the white paper released by Juniper Research, by 2026, the revenue from “Buy Now Pay Later” service will account for more than 50% of the embedded financial market, and the value of the embedded financial market will jump from 43 billion U.S. dollars to more than 138 billion U.S. dollars. Fintech start-ups lead the development of complex embedded financial products via BaaS (Banking-as-a-Service) platform.

4.6 E-Commerce Maintains Rapid Growth With the steady development of network technology, global e-commerce displays a trend of rapid growth. In the United States, the European Union and China, ecommerce develops by leaps and bounds, and plays an important role in the steady growth of global digital economy.

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Fig. 4.8 Top ten countries in global e-commerce sales in 2021. Data Source eMarketer

4.6.1 Global E-Commerce Realizes Sustainable Growth The scale of global e-commerce keeps growing, yet the growth rate decelerates. According to the report released by eMarketer, in 2021, global e-commerce sales reached 4,938 billion U.S. dollars. In 2022, global e-commerce sales would outnumber five trillion U.S. dollars for the first time, accounting for 1/5 of the total retail sales, and in 2025, global e-commerce sales would exceed seven trillion U.S. dollars, as estimated. In 2020, the growth rate of global e-commerce sales reached the peak of 27.6%, which tailed off to 15.37% in 2021. Predictably, the growth rate of global e-commerce sales will slow down from 2022 to 2025. The proportion of e-commerce sales to retail sales continues to rise. In 2021, global e-commerce sales accounted for 19% of the retail sales, with an increase of 1% over 2020. As estimated, the proportion would reach 20.3% in 2022 and will be on the rise year by year from 2023 to 2025. E-commerce sales grow globally, and China has the largest total e-commerce sales. In 2021, China’s e-commerce sales reached 2.779 trillion U.S. dollars, 3.3 times that of the United States (0.843 trillion U.S. dollars). Figure 4.8 shows top ten countries in global e-commerce sales in 2021.

4.6.2 Mobile E-Commerce Grows Rapidly By 2021, the number of smart phone users worldwide reached c. 6.4 billion, and the sales of mobile e-commerce grew steadily year by year. According to the data published by eMarketer, from 2017 to 2021, global mobile e-commerce sales soared. Global mobile e-commerce sales achieved 2.91 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020 and 3.56

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trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, with an increase of 22.34% over 2020. Figure 4.9 shows global mobile e-commerce sales and growth rates from 2017 to 2021. In terms of countries, in 2021, among the top five countries in global mobile ecommerce sales, three were Asian countries. In mobile e-commerce sales, China led the list with 750 billion U.S. dollars, Japan took the fourth place with 34.5 billion U.S. dollars, and South Korea ranked 5th with 28.8 billion U.S. dollars, as shown in Fig. 4.10. Regionally, in 2022, the sales of mobile e-commerce in the Asia Pacific Region accounted for 79.9% of the total e-commerce sales, with the largest proportion. The

Fig. 4.9 Global mobile e-commerce sales and growth rate from 2017 to 2021. Data Source eMarketer

Fig. 4.10 Top five countries in global mobile e-commerce sales in 2021. Data Source eMarketer

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Fig. 4.11 The proportion of mobile e-commerce sales to e-commerce sales in various regions in the world in 2022. Data Source eMarketer

Middle East & Africa and Southeast Asia ranked 2nd and 3rd, whose mobile ecommerce sales accounted for 66.40% and 64.60% of the total e-commerce sales respectively, as shown in Fig. 4.11.

4.6.3 The Transformation of Global E-Commerce Pattern Accelerates 1. E-commerce Develops Rapidly in Major Countries and Regions E-commerce in Europe and America starts early and involves wide fields. According to the report released by eMarketer, in 2022, online retail sales in the United States reached 371 billion U.S. dollars, with an increase of 8.5% over 2021, accounting for c. 8% of the total retail sales in the United States. Presently, 80% of American manufacturers have built their websites, and 60% of small enterprises, 80% of medium-sized enterprises and 90% of large enterprises have applied the model of e-commerce. In 2022, the transaction volume of B2C e-commerce in 28 EU member states realized 407.4 billion euros, with an increase of 13.4%. Among them, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy enjoyed the largest market share, accounting for 77.5% of the EU e-commerce market. The penetration rate of online shopping users in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands reached the highest level, all exceeding 70%. In Asia, e-commerce has a prominent late-mover advantage. Now, online retail sale in Asia accounts for 46% of the global market. The average annual growth rate of online retail in China, India and Malaysia all exceed 20%. In this regard, China has steadily ranked 1st in the world since 2021. 2. The M&A Among E-commerce Enterprises Occurs More Frequently In the first half of 2022, there were 15 major M&A events in e-commerce in China, with the capital reaching more than 100 billion yuan. In particular, Tencent acquired 84.3% of the stock rights of Finnish mobile game developers with 8.6 billion U.S.

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dollars. JD acquired Wal Mart’s No. 1 Store with 9.8 billion yuan. Alibaba acquired Lazada, a well-known e-commerce enterprise in Southeast Asia, with one billion U.S. dollars. These acquisition events had a far-reaching impact on industrial development. In October 2021, WPP and Snap Inc. announced to establish a new global e-commerce partnership, which would be used on the Snap chat platform. 3. Q-Commerce Thrives Q-Commerce essentially refers to the arrival of goods ordered by customers on the same day or within several hours. 2022 saw the boom of Q-Commerce. Q-Commerce has operated well in the food and grocery industries, and bred rising demands for fashion, cosmetology and small electronic products. In the next decade, the scale of Q-Commerce market will grow at a CAGR of 17%. Grocery and food distribution are major fields, with a market share of more than 80%. By 2030, the market scale of Q-Commerce in the Middle East and North Africa will reach around 47 billion U.S. dollars, as estimated. 4. The Market of Smart Express Cabinet Shows an Obvious Trend of Scale Development Presently, smart express cabinets are mainly applied in countries and regions such as China, the United States, Western Europe, Southeast Asia and some South American countries. The global smart express cabinet market stays in the stage of rapid growth. In 2020, the market scale of global smart express cabinet reached 500 billion U.S. dollars. As estimated, the market scale will grow at a CAGR of 11.6% from 2021 to 2027. In 2020, the market scale of smart express cabinets in China achieved 35.4 billion yuan, with a CAGR 40, 10% higher than the growth rate of express delivery volume.

Chapter 5

World Digital Government Development

5.1 Outline The construction of digital government means a basic and leading project to achieve digital development in an all-round way, and plays a key or fundamental role in promoting the development of digital economy, quickening the construction of digital society and improving the digital ecosystem. New-generation information technologies are speedily popularized. Under such background, major countries in the world successively accelerate the strategic layout of digital government, improve the government governance model, and comprehensively strengthen the performance efficiency and governance level of governments. Propped up by digital technologies and data elements, traditional boundaries of government governance are constantly redefined. Simultaneously, a new governance pattern that features public participation and cross-governmental collaboration is taking shape.

5.2 The Reform and Innovation on Digital-Government Strategies and Mechanisms As digital technologies mature, various countries around the world give full play to digitalization in augmenting government’s decision-making capability. They all issue macro development strategies, formulate relevant policies and regulations, accelerate digital transformation, and achieve the reform and innovation on governmental management & governance mechanisms.

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5.2.1 Relevant Development Strategies, Policies and Regulations on Digital Government Are Continuously Optimized Various countries in the world take the construction of digital government as an important national development strategy, so as to enhance the effectiveness of digital government, stimulate the vitality of digital economy, optimize the environment for digital society, and create healthy digital ecology. By September 2021, more than 170 countries around the world had released strategies for national digital transformation. Now, the number is enlarging.1 Currently, enhancing the effectiveness of digital government and accelerating the development of digital services are core issues in the construction of digital government in various countries. In June 2022, the State Council of China issued the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Digital Government, which further clarified the guiding ideology, basic principles and main objectives of strengthening the construction of digital government, proposed to “strengthen the systematic outlook, improve the scientific and standardized system in the construction of digital government, and promote the efficient sharing and orderly development & utilization of data in line with laws and regulations”, and emphasized the importance of data security.2 In May 2022, the Vietnamese government signed No. 2 Decree, which aimed to boost the transformation from e-government to digital government and quicken national digital transformation.3 In January 2022, Guyana initiated a digital transformation strategy for information infrastructure and public services, hoping to establish a more complete digital governance system by 2030 and achieve the sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations, such as reducing poverty, improving public health, raising social welfare and easing inequality.4 In February 2022, the Cambodian government announced to implement Cambodia’s Digital Government Policies 2022–2035, which aimed to build a smart government based on digital infrastructure and technology.5 Backed by new-type infrastructure, digital governance takes data resources as key elements, and forms an important measure for digital government to conduct collaborative governance. According to the statistical data of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), by February 2022, c. 80% of countries worldwide had completed the legislation on data security and privacy or drafted laws.6 In September 2021, London promulgated Emerging Technology Charter, which aimed to regulate the moral norms of urban public sectors on digital technologies like 1

https://s.cyol.com/articles/2021-09/23/content_ryVq4duR.html. http://www.cac.gov.cn/2022-06/23/c_1657599988283555.htm. 3 https://zh.vietnamplus.vn/topic/digitaltransformation/153.vnp. 4 https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/inclusivity/guyana-embarks-on-e-governance-project-to-ens ure-inclusivity. 5 http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/article/zwjg/zwsq/zwsqyz/202202/20220203278286.shtml. 6 https://unctad.org/page/data-protection-and-privacy-legislation-worldwide. 2

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AI.7 In February 2022, the European Commission officially released Data Act (The Draft).8 In May 2022, the Council of the European Union formally approved Data Governance Act, which aimed to promote data sharing within and across the EU, enhance citizen and enterprise’s control and trust in their data, provide a new European model for the data processing of major technological platforms, and help to unleash the potential of AI.9

5.2.2 The Innovation on Digital-Government-Related Mechanism Continues to Emerge To fully tap and utilize the value of data resources and ensure the operational efficiency of digital government, various countries in the world actively launch mechanism reform & innovation, by taking measures such as reforming governmental agencies based on data resources, establishing data coordination departments and appointing chief data officers. The reform of governmental agencies with data governance at the core task becomes one of the development directions for the construction of digital government in the world. In September 2021, in Digital Economy Report 2021, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development proposed to establish a new United Nations coordination body to assess and develop global data governance capabilities.10 In the same month, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom released A New Data Protection Bill: Our Planned Reforms, which proposed to reform the function and structure of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), endow ICO with more powerful action power and capacity, and promote the innovation-driven development of the United Kingdom in the field of data. The United States boasts the first country to establish the system of government chief data officer. By June 2022, more than 90 chief data officers of the U.S. Federal Chief Data Officer Council all came from major governmental agencies. The system of government chief data officer aims to boost data sharing and transparency, innovate data sharing & opening and development & utilization models, improve data-driven decision-making quality, and optimize data governance & operation capabilities. Waseda University released the 2021 International Digital Government Ranking Evaluation Report, which used the chief data officer as an important index to evaluate the level of digital-government construction in various countries for the first time. In this program, Singapore, the United States and Japan tied for the first place. Among them, Japan sets up a special digital agency to change the position of government 7

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-ai-strategy. http://www.ecas.cas.cn/xxkw/kbcd/201115_129085/ml/xxhzlyzc/202203/t20220322_4570243. html. 9 https://www.chinatradenews.com.cn/content/202205/23/c147076.html. 10 https://www.suibe.edu.cn/gfhy/2021/1014/c12038a141094/page.htm. 8

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chief data officer into a digital officer, who uses the experience of private sector to better promote the Japanese government’s digital transformation.

5.3 The Construction of Infrastructure and the Application of Digital Technology The development of digital technology means more possibilities for the digital transformation of government. Various countries zealously strengthen the construction of government infrastructure, provide governmental regional collaborative services, develop and launch digital currency, and further improve the service capacity of digital government.

5.3.1 Regional Information Infrastructure That Supports International Government Collaboration In 2021, various countries actively participated in the construction of digital government cooperation & exchange platform, and promoted the interconnectivity of regional information infrastructure such as digital identity, cross-border data verification and open-source technological standards and frameworks. Digital Government Exchange (DGX), hosted by Smart Nation Digital Government Group, is an annual global gathering of digital government & smart city CIOs and public sector leaders from many countries and cities around the world. The participants include Australia, Canada, China (Shanghai), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States (New York). DGX Joint Exchange Project comprises Cloud Working Group, Data Governance Working Group, Digital Identity Working Group and Digital Maturity Working Group.11 Presently, it is a knotty problem to achieve the interoperability between the crossborder digital identity system and infrastructure, which necessitates the equal levels of national policies, laws and technologies. Now, relevant countries have reached agreements on digital identity verification and other aspects. In May 2022, Singapore’s GovTech and Japanese digital institutions signed a memorandum of cooperation on digital government transformation. The three-year agreement focuses on strengthening experience exchanges in the fields of digital identity, AI, cybersecurity, cloud services and digital economy. In particular, in terms of national digital identity, Singapore and Japan will explore the verification credentials for digital-identity mutual recognition of their residents.12 The Nordic-Baltic eID Project (NOBID) led 11

https://www.tech.gov.sg/media/corporate-publications/digital-government-exchange-reports. https://www.tech.gov.sg/media/technews/govtech-partners-the-digital-agency-of-japan-topush-digital-government-transformation. 12

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by Nordic Council of Ministers aims to promote the mutual recognition and interoperability of eIDs among Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.13

5.3.2 The Construction of Government Infrastructure The digital identity system means an important infrastructure of digital government and a major technological means to solve the identity-verification problem. Various countries consolidate the construction and application of digital identity system. Australian digital identity system reshapes the way Australian citizens and enterprises use government services. It integrates with myGov, a main personal portal of the Australian government, to support individual access to government services. In the COVID-19 pandemic, most enterprises obtained services via the digital identity system. By December 2021, the system had been used by more than six million people, helping nearly 1.3 million enterprises to enjoy more than 80 government services.14 Singpass, Singapore’s national digital identity verification system, is one of the strategic projects of “smart nation”, which facilitates Singaporean citizens, enterprises and governments in online and face-to-face interaction. Singpass backs tracking the COVID-19 contacts, which can locate confirmed case visits and identify possible clusters. Gov.uk.verify (the United Kingdom), a government-led joint digital identity solution, actualized online access to government services in the pandemic, with its number of registrant increasing significantly. For example, registrants can access Universal Credit, a key service used to pay for low-income people, unemployed people, or people unable to work. Simultaneously, the United Kingdom develops new login and identity verification system for cross-government programs.15 New technological applications integrate into and empower the transformation of information infrastructure, strongly supporting the improvement of digital government service level and efficiency. Featuring deep learning, cross-border integration, human–computer coordination, opening collective intelligence and autonomous intelligence, AI technology can foster government-service innovation and improve operational efficiency. In August 2021, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Strategic Plan, which proposed to increase investment in research and development, and deepen the use of nextgeneration AI and machine learning technologies in safeguarding national security and building secure network infrastructure.16 With its encryption characteristic and “strong infrastructure” attribute, blockchain technology is used to establish a new

13

Digital Identity in response to COVID-19, DGX Digital Identity Working Group, 2022. Data Source: digitalidentity.gov.au. 15 Digital Identity in response to COVID-19, DGX Digital Identity Working Group, 2022. 16 https://www.essra.org.cn/view-1000-3776.aspx. 14

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trust mechanism, which breeds new changes in organizational processes and information processing for governments. The European Union builds European blockchain service infrastructure, applies blockchain technology to data protection and digital identity verification, and launches the pilot projects of regional innovation partnership. In 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) released a pilot project of digital assets using tokens on public blockchain, which involved financial institutions like J. P. Morgan.

5.3.3 The R&D, Application and Supervision of Digital Currency Presently, public demand for convenience, security, inclusiveness and privacy of retail payment increases. Therefore, central banks or monetary authorities of major countries and regions closely follow the development achievements of financial science & technology, explore the digital form of legal tender, and quicken the R&D and test. In January 2022, the Federal Reserve System released Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation to canvass public opinions on digital U.S. dollars, ushering in the era of digital change of global monetary and financial system. 1. Various Countries Actively Accelerate the research and development of Central Bank Digital Currencies Now, there are mainly three types of digital currencies in the world, i.e. private digital currency, global stablecoin and central bank digital currency. With national credit endorsement, central bank digital currency enjoys legal status and receives wide attention. It is widely recognized, because it helps to protect national currency sovereignty. According to the latest survey report of Bank for International Settlements, nearly 86% of central banks in 65 countries or economies have carried out digital currency research.17 In July 2021, the Eurozone officially started the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Project and entered a two-year investigation phase. Predictably, digital euros will be launched before 2025.18 In November 2021, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York officially staged New York Innovation Center, which focused on the future of money, carried out strategic cooperation with Bank for International Settlements Innovation Center, and strengthened the analysis and research on central bank digital currencies. In December 2021, the Treasury and Bank of England of the UK made a joint statement on digital currency, announcing that they would issue public consultation documents in 2022 to solicit feedback from stakeholders. This marked that 17

White Paper on China’s e-CNY R&D Progress published by the People’s Bank of China e-CNY R&D Working Group, July 2021. 18 Document published by the European Central Bank Governing Council on the official website of the European Union, July 2021.

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the UK central bank digital currency officially came to the development stage. In April 2021, Bank of Japan promoted the research and development of central bank digital currency in three stages.19 China actively advances the e-CNY pilot. By July 2022, the pilot had expanded to 23 regions in 15 provinces and cities, and included emerging banks as new designated operating institutions.20 Central banks in SubSaharan Africa are exploring or piloting digital currency. For example, Nigeria is the second country to introduce central bank digital currency after Bahamas.21 International cooperation on central bank digital currency continues to deepen. Bank for International Settlements establishes innovation centers in Switzerland, Singapore, China’s Hong Kong, London, Northern Europe and other countries and regions, promotes the construction of Stella, Helvetia, Multiple CBDC Bridge, Jura and other projects, and explores the technological ideas and design options for the cross-border use of central bank digital currency, which involve next-generation payment system and DeFi fields. 2. The Exploration and Development of International Regulatory Frameworks and Rules on Digital Currency The rapid development of digital currency calls for the introduction of international rules, and professional institutions and international organizations play an active role in building the governance framework for digital currency. In April 2022, International Monetary Fund released Global Financial Stability Report to assess the impact of stablecoin on the monetary sovereignty of member states. As the report suggests, regulatory agencies focus on various elements of crypto asset ecosystem that provides support for DeFi, such as the issuer of stablecoin and the centralized exchange. G20 Financial Stability Board (FSB) is responsible for offering suggestions or policies on global stablecoin regulation and cross-border payment roadmap. FSB released global regulatory rules on cryptocurrency in October 2022. G20 Financial Working Group is in charge of formulating anti-money laundering & anti-terrorism financing standards for digital currencies. Several BIS institutions participate in making digital currency rules. For example, The BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures is responsible for enacting standards for global payment and settlement infrastructure. BIS Innovation Center is responsible for leading global central banks in digital innovation. Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is responsible for managing bank crypto assets and related service risks.

19

Zhao Xueqing: “Discussion on the Opportunities, Challenges and Policies in the Development of Central Bank Digital Currency: An Analysis Based on Federal Reserve Board Digital Dollar Report”, China Money, Issue 4, 2022. 20 https://finance.eastmoney.com/a/202208052472022894.html. 21 https://3g.163.com/dy/article/HCKSS4L205198086.html.

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5.4 The Use of Open Government Data and the Governance of Cross-Border Data In the construction of digital government in various countries, it is an important goal to improve the level of data sharing & opening and development & utilization, and give full play to the value of government data resources. By establishing public-demandoriented government data opening & sharing mechanism, various countries establish and optimize government data portals, enhance the efficiency of data development and utilization, raise cross-border data-management level, effectively accelerate the digital transformation of governmental departments, and elevate the effectiveness of the construction of digital government.

5.4.1 Government Data Opening & Sharing Continuously Progresses As major producers and owners of data resources, governments hold massive data resources. Various countries further improve government portals, collect and share government information in a standardized way, provide the public, enterprises and other departments with access to government data, unleash the huge economic and social value of government data resources, enlarge government transparency, and better accept public supervision. 1. Establishing Public-Demand-Oriented Government Data Opening & Sharing Mechanism The establishment of public-demand-oriented government data opening & sharing mechanism can clarify the data rights, responsibilities and interests of governmental departments, and strengthen the flow and opening of data resources to the public and enterprises. Data opening & sharing constitute a core element in the construction of digital government. The promotion of internal sharing of government data can provide support for the efficient circulation and timely transfer of government information and data. In 2022, the Data Sharing Working Group of the U.S. Federal Chief Data Officer Council released a review report on data sharing among federal agencies.22 While particularizing the legal, policy and technological challenges to data sharing, the report proposed to accelerate the standard process of data protocols, improve data awareness, enhance data credibility, and take the Office of the Chief Data Officer as the main source of information to ameliorate the methods of accessing and sharing data within and between agencies.23 Open government data facilitates citizens, enterprises and other entities’ use of government information and data. By July 2022, 16 states of the United States had 22 23

https://www.cdo.gov/data-sharing/. https://resources.data.gov/resources/2021_DSWG%20Recommendations_and_Findings_508/.

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promulgated laws, formally requiring administrative agencies to provide information in the format of open data. Besides, four states of the United States had issued administrative orders on open data. In their legislations, most states of the United States require the use of non-proprietary, open source data or machine-readable data formats, establish or authorize the establishment of open data plans, standards or policies, develop data catalogs, encourage data opening & sharing, and approve online data portals or websites, organize open data committees, and guide and supervise the use of data. Noticeably, the laws of State of Texas encourage various institutions to publish high-value datasets, in a bid to strengthen the accountability and responsiveness of state institutions and deepen public understanding of the institution and its operation.24 The EU’s Data Governance Act (DGA) categorizes data into five types, i.e. health data, transport data, environmental data, agricultural data and public administration data, in line with the actual application of individual and corporate data, which helps enterprises to continuously reduce the costs of acquiring, integrating and processing data and shorten the time to market of new products and services.25 The transparency of government data improves the financial supervision level and anti-corruption capacity. In January 2022, the United Kingdom released the fifth National Action Plan for Open Government 2021–2023, which intended to further define data standards and improve the quality of public data, and make plans in five aspects (i.e. open contract, open justice, algorithmic transparency and accountability, medical care, anti-corruption and international illegal finance), so as to achieve transparency in government procurement and financial allocation, and solve the problems of corruption and poor financial management.26 2. Jointly Building and Sharing Government Data Portal Jointly building and sharing government data portal, as well as collecting and sharing massive data resources of governmental departments, help governments to formulate public policies more scientifically and provide high-quality public services. Meanwhile, the active participation of citizens, enterprises and other social organizations in public affairs helps to build a cleaner, more transparent and honest government. Various countries energetically build and improve government data portals to promote the whole-process access to government data of all departments. The United States founds Data.gov, a data opening platform, via which users can access the data, tools and research resources of the federal, state and local governments of the United States, and obtain resources except federal government. By June 2022, Data.gov not only collected data from 48 states, but also included databases from 53 countries to 164 international regions.27 Singapore built Data.gov.sg, an open government data 24

https://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/state-opendata-laws-and-policies.aspx#Intro. 25 https://www.secrss.com/articles/41216. 26 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-national-action-plan-for-open-government2021-2023/uk-national-action-plan-for-open-government-2021-2023#commitment-3-algori thmic-transparency-and-accountability. 27 Data Source: https://data.gov/open-gov/.

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platform, which involved open data sets of more than 100 government agencies in nine fields, i.e. economy, education, environment, finance, health, infrastructure, society, technology and transportation.28 Multiple parties take part in building and sharing portal platforms, which diversifies the data resources of data open platform. Data.gov.uk, a British open government data platform, allows the public to browse or download relevant data, or eligible institutions to open accounts on the website and disclose their data. By June 2022, Data.gov.uk had included 52,076 data sets uploaded by numerous governments and institutions.29 In terms of service strategy, the Singaporean government highlights the cooperation among the government, individuals, scientific research institutions and private sectors, attracts multiple forces with open and innovative ideas, makes concerted efforts in establishing unified standards and platforms, and jointly builds more dimensional and better public services.30

5.4.2 The Development and Utilization of Government Data Resources Continue to Deepen Governments of various countries encourage and support the collection, integration and secondary development of government data, and actively use new technological means like AI to achieve the deep development and utilization of data resources. This improves the level of governmental targeted services, and makes government services more intelligent, accurate and personalized. The support for enterprises and individuals to develop and use government data boosts more effective utilization of massive data on national economy, population and environment. By issuing licenses, the American government provides open government data to commercial organizations, the public and other social entities, and encourages social entities to use government data for app development. In September 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced to take a series of measures to facilitate more effective use of massive data on national economy, population and environment. For example, big data projects access climate-smart-community data via cloud service providers, so as to achieve the innovation on environmental service. Public–private partnerships with cloud service providers can reduce or eliminate barriers to the public use of climate-smart-community data, actualize democratic access to climate-smart-community data, and augment the community’s capability to implement recovery plans.31 Data.gov.sg, a Singaporean open government data

28

Data Source: https://data.gov.sg/about. Data Source: https://data.gov.uk/search. 30 Data Source: 2021 Smart City Index. 31 https://www.amtvusa.com/2021/09/20/TheU.S.DepartmentofCommerceAnnouncesNewData StrategytoPromoteEconomicGrowthandHigh-WageWork/. 29

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platform, is available to the public for creating relevant apps. By June 2022, about 100 apps had been created.32

5.4.3 Cross-Border Data Management is Affected by Regional Factors Presently, no consensus has been reached among countries on the supervision of cross-border data flow. Under the influence of multiple factors, e.g. national sovereignty, privacy protection, industrial development and geopolitics, various countries build distinctive cross-border data-supervision systems to safeguard their own interests. The supervision of cross-border data flow varies worldwide. According to the data of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), by July 2022, 71% of countries had regulated data flow in the form of legislation, c. 15% of countries had not legislatively protected or regulated data flow, and 9% of countries had started drafting bills on data-flow regulation.33 The rules on cross-border data flow are restricted by regional factors. Many countries tend to reach regional trade agreements (RTA) bilaterally and multilaterally to regulate cross-border data flow. By January 2022, more than 300 RTAs had officially taken effect. In March 2022, the European Commission and the United States reached an agreement on Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework. The implementation of the framework promotes the transatlantic data flow and solves the problem that Privacy Shield, an agreement for the Europe-US data transmission, was ruled invalid in July 2020.34

5.4.4 The Security of Government Data and the Protection of Personal Privacy Receive Wider Attention In government services, the security of government data and the protection of personal privacy play an important part in the construction of digital government. In recent years, various countries in the world have strengthened data security and personal-privacy protection in government services by introducing legislation and establishing the data-protection-officer system. In the process of actively promoting free data flow, various countries generally pass laws to underline data security and personal-privacy protection in the use of public data and foreground the protection of personal data in the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) issued European Data 32

https://data.gov.sg/about.. https://unctad.org/page/data-protection-and-privacy-legislation-worldwide. 34 https://www.sohu.com/a/533555745_161795. 33

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Protection Strategy 2020–2024, which proposed to evaluate the measures taken by the European Union in the COVID-19 pandemic, with the proposition that measures taken to monitor citizens under special circumstances should be timely abolished after the crisis was lifted. The Strategy called on to establish an effective supervisory mechanism to ensure that the technologies and tools for combating the COVID-19 pandemic helped to protect citizens’ rights and interests rather than control, suppress or humiliate citizens. As stated, the European Union would develop e-health services and formulate uniform and targeted strategies with all stakeholders to combat the pandemic and handle the issues of data protection.35 Various countries commonly take new measures such as appointing data protection officers (DPO) and strengthening data-security protection. According to incomplete statistics, at least 50 countries in the world have raised the requirement of setting up data protection officers in public or private sectors in relevant laws & regulations on personal data protection.36 Different from the existing positions of chief information officer (CIO) and chief information security officer (CISO) in many institutions, data protection officers are expected to consider and solve problems from the perspective of the privacy interests of customers. They should not only determine whether data conform to the laws and regulations in the entire lifecycle, but also undertake the responsibilities for the behaviors of affiliated institutions that violate the data laws and regulations. In Personal Data Protection Law, Serbia requires relevant agencies to appoint data protection officers, who supervise the implementation of personaldata-protection laws and regulations in organizations and hold responsibility for the confidentiality of personal data. In Data Protection Law, Ukraine orders national and local governments to designate departments or individuals to take charge of the organization of personal data protection.

5.5 Online Government Services and Collaborative Governance Capabilities With the development of digital technology, many countries in the world bolster the services of digital government by improving the online government-service level and expanding the use cases of new technology-based government services.

5.5.1 Online Government-Service Level Continuously Rises The construction of information infrastructure advances, and the number and structure of global Internet user change, which raise higher requirements for governments 35

https://edps.europa.eu/data-protection/our-work/publications/strategy/edps-strategy-20202024-shaping-safer-digital-future_en. 36 https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/468874642.

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in the world in accelerating the construction of integrated government service platforms and providing better digital and online services. Featuring integration, mobility, personalization, interactivity, immediacy and responsiveness, online government services can provide citizens with efficient, comprehensive and government-public coordinated digital services. Online government service capacity is continually strengthened. The online service (OS) function is one of the important indexes to evaluate the level of digital government, and a “one-stop portal” is a typical strategy to improve the level of online government services. Presently, various countries in the world provide onestop and multilingual services on the basis of governmental portals, optimize the design of mobile-end government-service platforms, improve hotline-based government services, and promote the mobility, universality, usefulness and access of online government services. Estonian government takes the realization of all-round e-government services as a major goal. By August 2021, more than 99% of Estonian government services can be handled online.37 In May 2022, Vietnam issued ordinary passports via an online government-service platform on a pilot basis. Vietnamese citizens can apply and pay online anytime and anywhere through computers, smartphones, tablet computers and other communication devices connected to Internet.38 The levels of differentiated government services, instant response and human– computer interaction continuously improve, and the degree of public participation constantly deepens. In July 2022, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation signed a contract to expand the functions of its national government-service platform before the next election, which aimed to promote the digitalization of government services and citizen’s participation in cyberdemocracy.39 Connotationally, human–computer interaction turns from the interaction between people and computers to the interaction between people and robots. Simultaneously, technologies like AI and big data provide important support for improving the levels of instant responsiveness and interactivity of online government services. The integration of government services is further augmented. Governmental departments enhance the integration of resources, give full play to their advantages, and launch collaborative governance, which further improve the efficiency of handling affairs and cover a wider range of online government services. Japan continues to promote the “My Number” system, integrate resident-informationmanagement service, and facilitate citizens’ application for various materials and certificates at any time. In June 2022, the Japanese government initiated the connection between “My Number” card and medical insurance card, and took incentive measures to stimulate citizens’ willingness to use them.40 Additionally, Greece and 37

https://blog.csdn.net/sinat_41698914/article/details/119040257. https://zh.vietnamplus.vn/vietnampilotstheissuanceofordinarypassportsviaonlinegovernments ervicesplatform/165581.vnp. 39 http://www.suifenhe.gov.cn/contents/120/126536.html. 40 http://www.jpchinapress.com/static/content/SH/2022-06-30/991995485173071872.html. 38

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other countries also accelerate the process of e-government and continuously expand the scope of online services.41

5.5.2 The Development of Digital Technology Sustainably Improves the Capability of Collaborative Governance From “technological adoption” to “reform empowerment”, the current development and application of digital technology play an important role in reinforcing the governance capacities of governments in the world, and serve as an important strategy for the expansion of government governance scenarios. The development of emerging technologies represented by AI, blockchain and metaverse conduces to the improvement of governance capabilities in various countries. In global governance, it is a new direction to use AI technology to improve the governance capability of governments. From all aspects of government functions, AI technology is applied to regulatory practices in many countries, which frees human resources from combing and analyzing massive data, and plays an important role in raising governance effectiveness. In March 2022, Internal Revenue Service of the United States set up a new office and introduced the voice-robot service and online-chat-robot service for two free tax assistance hotlines.42 In September 2021, the Seoul municipal government of South Korea announced that it planned to expand the function of AI-advisor robot on “Seoul Talk”, an urban public service app operated by Seoul, so as to better realize its role as “secretary for all”. By interacting with the AI-advisor robot, citizens can get automatic replies on 420 types of administrative services 24 h a day. Once the public appeal is received, the AI-advisor robot will automatically locate the source of the message and send the order to the relevant jurisdiction for processing in real time.43 The goal of “improving quality and efficiency” can be achieved by using blockchain technology to promote cross-departmental government-service coordination and data sharing, optimizing the government-service experience and enhancing citizens’ trust in governments. Since January 2022, South Korea has piloted the issuance of electronic driving licenses with the same legal effect as physical driving licenses, which uses multiple security-protection technologies like dynamic anticounterfeiting, blockchain and encryption algorithm.44 The Italian government also attaches great importance to the development of blockchain technology. In July 2022, Italian Ministry of Economic Development announced to provide up to 46

41

http://www.52hrtt.com/za/n/w/info/A1648537013977. http://cc.ctiforum.com/jishu/hujiao/hujiaozhongxinjishu/ics/jishudongti/598859.html. 43 https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/news/seoul-expands-ai-chatbot-messaging-service-forpublic-inquiries-6901. 44 http://auto.ce.cn/auto/gundong/202202/09/t20220209_37315447.shtml. 42

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million U.S. dollars of governmental subsidies for some blockchain projects from September.45 The development and application of metaverse broaden online governmentservice channels for governments of various countries and expand the supply scenarios of digital public services. In January 2022, Barbados Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade opened “digital embassy” on Decentraland, a virtual reality platform driven by blockchain, becoming the first country in the world to recognize “digital sovereign land”. Barbados uses the “digital embassy” as a new means of “technological diplomacy” to further open the door to cultural exchanges with other countries.46 In December 2021, Seoul municipal government of South Korea released the five-year “Basic Plan for Metaverse Seoul”, stating that Seoul would establish its own metaverse platform “Metaverse Seoul” to provide new-era public services via online virtual worlds.47

5.6 The Development of Digital Society and the Digital Literacy of Citizens Under the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction of digital government receives more attention than ever before. It plays a significant role in promoting the digital transformation of society and economy, bridging the digital divide, improving digital literacy, building smart cities and boosting sustainable development. It can effectively raise the effectiveness of governmental governance and expedite the innovation-driven development of society and economy.

5.6.1 Under the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Various Countries Quickly Enhance the Capacity in the Construction of Digital Government The pandemic urges governments in the world to quicken digital transformation. Various countries serve socioeconomic development with the constriction of digital government, provide contactless services via online government-service channels, and actively develop digital apps to effectively curb the spread of the pandemic. Affected by the pandemic, many governments provide online services such as contactless subsidies, relief funds and interest-free loans. To hedge against the impact of the pandemic, the United States directly transfers corresponding subsidies to personal bank accounts through social security numbers, and uses chatterbot 45

https://www.cls.cn/detail/1062987. http://henan.china.com.cn/m/2021-11/17/content_41793429.html. 47 https://www.cdstm.cn/theme/khsj/khzx/khqx/202111/t20211125_1060237.html. 46

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to respond to the surge in response needs of call centers. South Korea also launches a variety of contactless government services. South Korean citizens can download certificates from portals or apps to their “digital wallets” and directly submit them to the third parties without printing.48 In the pandemic, tracking software, health-pass codes, vaccine passports and other apps for infected people developed by governments make positive contributions to blocking the infection chain. For example, inspired by Danish digital certificate “Corona Pass”,49 the European Union launched “EU Digital COVID Certificate” in July 2021,50 and Romania introduced “EU Digital COVID Certificate” in August 2021.51 Meanwhile, various governments actively develop online platforms to release the latest news of the pandemic in a timely manner. In March 2022, the United States announced the launch of covid.gov, a new one-stop COVID-19 service website, which aimed to help Americans to obtain free COVID-19 vaccines, test kits, treatments and masks.52

5.6.2 Bridging the Digital Divide and Improving Citizen’s Digital Literacy Arouse Great Attention After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens rely on digital technologies more heavily, posing an urgent task to bridge the digital divide and improve citizen’s digital literacy.53 In recent years, various countries attach more attention to training the digitaltechnology-application capabilities of the elderly and other vulnerable groups, and comprehensively raising the level of social digital skills, so as to bridge the social digital divide. By September 2021, Singapore’s SG Digital Office (SDO) had provided more than 250,000 digital-skill training services for more than 100,000 elderly people, including how to use smart phones to make video calls, access government digital services and finish electronic payments.54 In April 2022, the European Commission approved Bulgaria’s “Recovery and Resilience Plan”, which will allocate 26% of the total plan to promote digital transformation, deploy broadband infrastructure nationwide, and conduct digital-skill training to improve the use experience of online services.55 In March 2022, UNESCO, in cooperation with InterAmerican Development Bank and Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation, released 48

https://www.mois.go.kr/eng/sub/a03/digitalGovInnovation/screen.do. http://legalinfo.moj.gov.cn/pub/sfbzhfx/zhfxfzwh/fzwhhqfz/202104/t20210407_351621.html. 50 http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index/content/2021-05/31/content_8518842.htm. 51 http://www.hunnan.gov.cn/html/HNQZF/157466017823128/157466017823128/163003574981 629/1782312827408145.html. 52 https://wallstreetcn.com/livenews/2159043. 53 https://networkreadinessindex.org/. 54 http://www.cac.gov.cn/2022-08/11/c_1661844747392538.htm. 55 http://ies.cssn.cn/chinacee/zdo_cbw/zdo_zb/202205/P020220505419624618671.pdf. 49

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Report: The Effects of AI on the Working Lives of Women, which confirmed that the gap in digital literacy manifested itself in the labor market in the AI field with regional differences.56 Various countries strengthen digital-skill training, enhance citizens’ digital literacy, and help all citizens to integrate into digital economy and social development. In February 2022, the Irish government released The Digital Ireland Framework, which aimed to promote and realize the digital transformation of Irish economy and society, and put forward measures to help improve the digital skills of all people from two dimensions of digital-skill development and inclusive-society construction.57 In July 2022, the headquarters of Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment National Innovation Centre (NIC) officially launched strategic cooperation with Google, including digital talent development support program “Google Career Certificates” and technological enterprise entrepreneurship support program “Google for Startups: Startup Academy”.58

5.6.3 Various Countries Vigorously Build Smart Cities and Promote Sustainable Development It means an important measure to foster sustainable development by promoting urban–rural development and governance-model innovation with digitalization, accelerating the construction of new-type smart cities, and comprehensively improving the efficiency of governmental operation and urban livability. Digitalization & low-carbon-based sustainable development plays a key role in promoting the construction of new-type smart cities. In June 2022, the Ministry of Transport of Malaysia stated that Malaysia would vigorously promote digital transformation59 and implement a number of reform measures to reduce the burden of public travel, improve the efficiency and integrity of the government, and progress toward smart city. Meanwhile, digital twin technology evolves from a technological idea into a new practical path or a force for reform. In April 2022, Seoul (South Korea) declared to use digital twin technology to create a virtual test area for autonomous vehicle.60 The boost of urban–rural development means an important measure to promote sustainable development, and digital transformation constitutes a key factor to achieve sustainable development. In March 2022, Kominfo (Indonesia) proposed that the process of digital transformation must be grounded in the values of inclusion, 56

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380861. https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/3a922-online-launch-of-harnessing-digital-the-digital-ire land-framework/. 58 https://zh.vietnamplus.vn/GoogleAssistsVietnaminPromotingDigitalTransformation/169 832.vnp. 59 http://www.techweb.com.cn/cloud/2022-06-24/2895618.shtml. 60 http://www.its114.com/html/news/international/2022_07_119634.html. 57

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empowerment and sustainability.61 In September 2021, the World Bank approved to provide funds for Cameroon’s digital-transformation-acceleration project, in order to expand the coverage and scope of high-speed network in rural areas, create a better environment for safe and sustainable development, and help local farmers to apply digital solutions to solve agricultural problems.62 In December 2021, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand proposed to use digital technology to transform the organizational development model into a sustainable development model, and actively explore how to apply digital technology to public facility services in the industrial estate.63

61

http://id.mofcom.gov.cn/article/gccb/202203/20220303285638.shtml. http://cm.mofcom.gov.cn/article/jmxw/202204/20220403303715.shtml. 63 https://hea.china.com/article/20220105/012022_976292.html. 62

Chapter 6

World Internet Media Development

6.1 Outline 2022 saw the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic continues to reconstruct human life and global pattern. In the post-pandemic era that essentially features VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), driven by Internet and digital media, globalization deepens. The restriction on global mobility transforms Internet into a core infrastructure that meets the increasingly urgent needs of individuals, organizations and even countries for contacts and exchanges. In the past year, global Internet media bore witness to the change of “war and peace”. On the one hand, with the help of Internet technology, Tokyo Olympic Games and Expo 2020 Dubai were successfully staged after a one-year postponement, injecting vitality and hope into the world deeply trapped in the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital transformation of Beijing Winter Olympics, the first Olympic event to achieve full cloud live broadcasting in the 100-year history of Olympics, aroused the widest attention from global Internet in an unprecedented way. On the other hand, the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict not only posed new challenges to the international community geopolitically, but also made the conflict an “algorithm cognitive warfare” dominated by Internet social media to a certain degree. Different from traditional warfare, the algorithm-driven cognitive warfare directly instigated public emotion. Besides, strategic issues were set to guide public cognitive tendency. Simultaneously, new problems and trends that arise from Internet technology continue to emerge. In the governance of cross-border data flow among social media, Western countries enter the deep-water zone. Various countries explore new models on the cooperative governance of data-privacy security and cyber sovereignty. In a way, the acquisition of Twitter alters the strength ratio of Western Internet giants and the landscape of global social media. Generation Z, who grew up in the era of Internet, become main producers and consumers in the industrial chain of global Internet media. Their consumption habits and discourse styles may redefine the links and elements of Internet media.

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6.2 The Development Pattern of Global Internet Media Over the past year, the global digital media field continually expanded. The transformation of traditional platforms and the emergence of new media advanced side by side, which diversified the development pattern of Internet media. The acceleration of video turn and the rise of Generation Z jointly shaped the new content structure of social media platforms. In the field of media consumption, the consumption on digital entertainment continued to grow. Streaming media market matured, with more market segments. Advertising-backed free video services sprang up. The global game market also maintained fast growth, and Chinese game products increasingly enlarged overseas influence. In the field of communication technology, the vision of metaverse attracted global attention. The rapid development of related industries and communication forms not only entailed new momentum for economic innovation, but also triggered people’s concern and reflection on foam growth. These had an important impact on the future development pattern of global Internet media.

6.2.1 Global Digital Media Field Keeps Expanding By April 2022, there were 5.32 billion mobile terminal users, accounting for 67% of the total population in the world. The number of Internet users rose to more than five billion, accounting for 63% of the total population in the world. The number of people having no access to Internet dwindled to less than three billion, marking an important milestone in the process of “digital equality” of global Internet connectivity. In more than five billion Internet users, the number of active social media user reached 4.65 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 7.5% over 2021, accounting for 58.7% of the total population in the world. Nine out of every ten Internet users visit social media platforms, as shown in Fig. 6.1.1 Therefore, albeit the growth rate slows down, global coverage potential of social media remains robust. In terms of the development pattern of digital media platform, in 2021, the dualtrack parallel development trend of traditional and emerging global social media platforms deepened. Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp still ranked top three in active Internet users in the world. Meanwhile, according to the latest data of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), by June 2022, the number of instant messaging user in China had exceeded 1.027 billion for the first time.2 The solid user foundation and the overseas layout of Internet enterprises lift the rankings of Chinese platforms in global social media field. In the number of daily active users, among the top ten social media platforms in the world, China exclusively takes up six. WeChat and TikTok outnumber Facebook’s FB Messenger in daily active users and rank 5th and 6th in the world respectively. The numbers of daily active users 1

Data Source: Wearesocial Digital2022: April global statshot report, https://datareportal.com/rep orts/digital-2022-april-global-statshot. 2 Data Source: The 50th Statistical Report on China Internet Development published by CNNIC.

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Fig. 6.1 The user scale of global internet and social media by april 2022 (Unit: One Billion People)

of Douyin, QQ and Sina Weibo rank 8th, 9th and 10th respectively. The number of daily active users of Kuaishou surpasses SnapChat and Telegram, ranking 10th (see Fig. 6.2). Evidently, short video social media display an upward trend. Structurally, in 2021, the trend of video turn of global social media platforms continued to deepen. Vis-à-vis mainstream social media, emerging short video platforms can provide continuous video streams tailored for users, which are popular with young users. On short video platforms, users can understand the changing trend of hot topics and experience a sense of community by watching how other users interact with the content. The algorithm can accurately match users and content, which enhances users’ viscosity and participation. TikTok has successfully activated the product form of short video. In 2022, it became the hot platform with the highest number of visits and the longest usage time per capita in the world. The number of active users and user consumption expenditure both reached a new record. TikTok catches up from behind, which impels traditional giants Facebook and YouTube to accelerate the transformation to short

Fig. 6.2 The ranking list of daily active users of global social media in 2021

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video. In general, video streams on mainstream social media platforms show new features of vertical screen, silence and interaction. Firstly, vertical-screen short-video images well match the screen of mobile phone. The mobile aesthetic experience from finger browsing continuously captures the user’s attention, and becomes a mainstream form of video presentation on major social media platforms. In addition to Reels, an independent short video plug-in, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, embeds SnapChat’s vertical-video publishing-function Story into the content structure of the subsidiaries Facebook and Instagram platforms. Secondly, compared with TikTok’s multi-modal audio-visual experience, the mute playback of video becomes the default setting of mainstream social media platforms. 85% of short videos on Facebook are played in the form of silent film. The setting adapts to the complex content patterns of Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to the maximum, avoids reducing the user experience owing to the interference of noisy voice, lowers the threshold for content acquisition, and improves the applicability of cross-language communication. Finally, backed by technological giants, mainstream social media develop interactive videos to strengthen their user’s participation and create differentiated competitive advantages. Compared with traditional linear video narration, interactive video highlights the subjectivity of the user’s choices in cultural products, so that the user’s experience is no longer limited to only “watching”. Users can choose to view the angle and content style as they like to create a personalized interactive narrative experience. Interactive video becomes a popular content model on YouTube platform. On the first day of its launch, an interesting interactive video under the theme of matching the singer’s mouth shape in singing classic songs was viewed by more than one million people.3 Simultaneously, Generation Z deeply participate in and redefine the whole process of content production, consumption and sharing of Internet media, which further promotes the reform on content structure of various platforms. Games become the most popular content form among Generation Z, whose major game consumption accounts for more than half of global social media consumption (see Fig. 6.3). Gamification content is regarded as a “new track” for traditional and emerging platforms to vie for Generation Z users. On the one hand, game IP (e.g. game livestreaming and skill tutorial sharing) and user-generated content (UGC) frequently lead the list in hot searches of various platforms, signaling an important direction for content layout. On the other hand, games have a spillover effect on other themes or content. The game-based logic reshapes the production of multi-theme content and attracts Generation Z to “play” videos. This means a goal for various platforms to achieve. News apps fully reflect the convergence of the video & youth trend of global social media platforms. In recent years, the news app pattern of social media underwent revolutionary changes. Visual social media platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, have replaced Facebook and Twitter, becoming the preferred news source for digital natives or Generation Z. As a new force, TikTok plays an important role in the global news ecosystem. In the past two years, the number of Generation Z users 3

Data Source: Samantha Ferguson. 8 Best Interactive Videos of All Time. https://www.wyzowl. com/best-interactive-videos/.

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Fig. 6.3 The consumption on global digital media (Unit: One Billion U.S. Dollars)

who got news via TikTok increased five times (3%-15%). The YouTube platform becomes more popular among young people in Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific Region and Latin America. Compared with text-form news, the informal, personalized and entertaining style of news content on visual (online video in particular) platforms means a key factor that attracts the attention of Generation Z group.4

6.2.2 Streaming Media and Digital Entertainment Develop Rapidly Driven by the repeated outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as media events like Olympic Games, global digital entertainment keeps rising. The streaming media market sees a blowout. Predictably, the market will maintain a CAGR of 18.5% in the next decade, with the market scale increasing from 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 to 17.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2026.5 In terms of channel platform, Tokyo Olympic Games, which was postponed for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, became the first global sports event with its opening ceremony staged without spectators and completely dependent on media communication. National Broadcasting Company (NBC) of the United States seized the opportunity to effectively popularize its streaming media platform Peacock. Olympic Games bred more than 20 million monthly active users for Peacock. On this basis, NBC further expanded its digital business and added 200 new streaming media jobs. NBC stepped up efforts to news reporting and livestreaming. Twitch, a streaming media livestreaming platform, contributed to global interaction in Olympic Games 4

Data Source: Nic Newman.et al. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022. https://reutersinsti tute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022–06/Digital_News-Report_2022.pdf. 5 Data Source: Research and Markets. Global Video Streaming Software Market Research Report 2021–2026. https://www.wfmz.com/news/pr_newswire/pr_newswire_entertainment/global-videostreaming-software-market-research-report-2021-2026-solutions-cloud-deployment-academiaeducation-and/article_da3aedc2-ad37-5ae4-be80-8dbee1184941.html.

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Fig. 6.4 Top six global digital streaming media platforms

and World Expo. The first livestreaming of Beijing Winter Olympics on Twitch attracted 720,000 viewers worldwide.6 The competition among content-based platforms heats up. Netflix and YouTube, two giants in digital streaming media market, occupy most of the market share. Netflix still ranks 1st with an 81% of content-user reach rate. In 2021, Netflix launched many popular online dramas, ranking 1st in the rating list of streaming media platforms in many countries worldwide.7 Meanwhile, other platforms endeavor to gain the upper hand. HBO Max, a streaming media platform of Warner, robustly emerges with a content-user reach rate of 39%, catapulting itself to the top six global digital streaming media platforms (see Fig. 6.4). Disney’s self-run platform “Disney+” also successfully plans and completes such events as sports marketing, IP building and the acquisition of Hulu, achieving a 37% increase in subscribers, with the total number of subscribers exceeding 130 million.8 As predicted, in 2022, the uncertainty that arose from the repeated pandemic continued to change user’s media-consumption habits, and digital streaming media services would grow sustainably. Various platforms would strive to build differentiated popular content and exclusive IP to maintain user’s viscosity and attract new viewers. Noticeably, with the diversified segment of digital streaming media platform and the exponential growth of content, the paid-subscription revenue model aggravates the economic pressure on users. Free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service becomes a prominent growth point in the field of streaming media. Algorithm-based FAST service provides more personalized and attractive native advertising placement according to the audience data, which minimizes the “advertising fatigue” caused by traditional TV advertising, and optimizes the user’s viewing experience and achieves a better advertising effect. 6

Data Source: International Olympic Committee. Beijing 2022: Historic Olympic Winter Games on and off the field—Olympic News. https://olympics.com/ioc/news/beijing-2022-historic-olympicwinter-games-on-and-off-the-field. 7 Data Source: Pallotta, Kang. Squid Game is Netflix’s ‘biggest ever’ series launch. https://edition. cnn.com/2021/10/12/media/squid-game-netflix-viewership/index.html. 8 Data Source: Todd Spangler, Brent Lang. Disney Plus Ends 2021 With Nearly 130 Million Subscribers, Smashing Growth Forecasts. https://variety.com/2022/biz/news/disney-plus-subscr ibers-2021-earnings-1235175715/.

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The global game market continues to grow. The total revenue of global game market reached 180.3 billion U.S. dollars, with an increase of 1.4% over 2020. Games on mobile terminals like mobile phones realized a revenue of 92.3 billion U.S. dollars and accounted for 52% of the total revenue, playing a leading role in driving the growth of game market. Accordingly, cloud gaming supported by 5G grows robustly. The total revenue in 2021 (1.571 billion U.S. dollars) was over double that in 2020 (669 million U.S. dollars).9 China accelerates its paces in the going-global of game entertainment industry. In 2021, more than 4,000 Chinese game enterprises made a foray into overseas market, and the overseas market revenue of China’s independently-developed games reached 18.013 billion U.S. dollars, maintaining a growth rate of more than 15% for eight consecutive years. The 2.1 version of RPG mobile game Genshin Impact developed by Mihoyo, a Chinese game corporation, ranked 1st in the revenue of iOS mobile game platform in 56 countries, with the largest number of downloads on App Store in mobile game markets like the United States and Japan. The international versions of mobile games “Game For Peace” and “Honor of Kings” produced by Tencent also gave eye-catching performance. By the end of 2021, the revenue of 42 Chinese mobile games in overseas market had exceeded 100 million U.S. dollars, and the total revenue of the top 30 mobile game products in overseas market on App Store and Google Play had reached 11.5 billion U.S. dollars, with an increase of 24% over 2020, or 1.8 times that of 2019. The United States contributed 3.6 billion U.S. dollars to the top 30 mobile games, with an increase of 53% over 2020. The United States replaced Japan as the largest overseas market for Chinese mobile games.10

6.2.3 The Vision of Metaverse Attracts Global Attention The parent company of Facebook was renamed Meta, marking the most newsworthy event in news media industry in recent years. It not only mirrors the change in business direction of the most influential Internet corporation, but also publicizes the idea of metaverse. In early 2021, game platform Roblox wrote metaverse into the prospectus and successfully came into the market, which made global digital Internet media nuts about the metaverse. The metaverse does not refer to a specific technology, but a virtual world form connected with real world via technological means. Technologically, technologies such as NFT (Non-Fungible Token), VR/AR, AI and DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) jointly support the form of metaverse.11 The research on 9

Data Source: Newzoo. The Games Market and Beyond in 2021: The Year in Numbers. https://new zoo.com/insights/articles/the-games-market-in-2021-the-year-in-numbers-esports-cloud-gaming. 10 Data Source: Sensor Tower. 2021 Annual Inventory of China Mobile Games. https://sensortower. com/zh-CN/blog/2021-42-1-cny-CN/. 11 Wang Peinan and Shi Anbin: “New Trends of Global News Communication in 2022: An Analysis Based on Six Hot Topics”, Journalism Review, 2022 (01): 57–65. https://doi.org/10.16057/j.cnki. 31-1171/g2.2022.01.004.

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metaverse follows up, and relevant start-ups come to rise, pushing the technological vision of metaverse into a stage of rapid development. NFT (Non-Fungible Token) technology, as the infrastructure of metaverse, saw a blowout in 2021, and various mainstream media and digital platforms successively deployed in NFT market. In March 2021, the Associated Press sold a digital artwork entitled “The General Election: A Perspective from Outer Space” at a price of 180,000 U.S. dollars to commemorate the first coverage of the US presidential election in the blockchain field. A column about NFT by Kevin Rose, a technology columnist of The New York Times, was also auctioned in the form of NFT, and finally sold at a high price of 560,000 U.S. dollars. In addition to traditional media, social media platforms with scientific and technological attributes play their roles. Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, sold the first five-word electronic-version Twitter published in 2006 for 2.9 million U.S. dollars in the form of NFT. The blowout of NFT technology in the early stage materializes the recognition and expectation of global media field on the technological potential of metaverse. Noteworthily, the current technological development of metaverse still stays in the “chaotic” stage, and various parties continuously explore the metaverse. Technologically, the digital infrastructure of metaverse has great potential, such as physical layer, software layer, data layer, rule layer and application layer, with imbalanced development of virtual interactive devices for different senses. Simultaneously, users’ willingness to use, psychological acceptance and adaptability may affect the application and expansion of metaverse technology. Presently, clear commercial use cases and sustainable profit models for metaverse technology have not been established. Against such a backdrop, it means a common challenge for global Internet media in the future to guard against the foam and speculative trend in the development of metaverse, promote the standardization of NFT application, and effectively actualize the technological vision of metaverse.

6.3 Multiple Governance of Western Internet Media The technological hegemony, data & information monopoly, capital appreciation and social-shaping capability of Western Internet media continue to increase. Meanwhile, relevant issues of governance of Internet media are put on the agenda. No matter in the regulation and governance of cross-border data flow, in the process control of content generated by relevant platforms, or in the algorithm-based supervision of Internet media, Internet media need to continuously improve governance policies and regulations and raise platform’s governance capability and level, and users need to take part in the “bottom-to-up” innovation, so as to form an effective path for multiple-party collaborative governance of Internet media. Now, the governance of Western Internet media enters the deep-water zone, which is mainly demonstrated in three aspects, i.e. cross-border data governance, content governance and algorithm governance.

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6.3.1 Cross-Border Data Governance of Internet Media Data security risks become increasingly grim and international political pattern becomes more complex. With the combination of them, cross-border data flow plays a key role in promoting the digital anti-monopoly process and quickening the healthy operation of global digital economy and trade. In recent years, the policies and rules of Western countries to control cross-border data flow on Internet platforms become more complex, and transnational and regional cooperation on data governance deepen. Cross-border data flow evolves from the protection of technology and privacy of enterprises and individuals to a comprehensive issue concerning national cybersecurity and data sovereignty. Firstly, various countries take cross-border-data governance into national strategic consideration, and strive to construct governance framework that meets local practical needs, so as to maintain national and regional internal data security. In early 2022, Australia announced the drafting of The Online Privacy Protection Act, which required that the privacy policies of Apple, Google, Facebook and other digital platforms must be concise and understandable, and introduced the “right to be forgotten” of personal information for the first time, in order to enhance the protection of information privacy of Australian citizens overseas. In line with social needs, Facebook and other Internet media make corresponding modifications to privacy policies and user terms. Additionally, in the COVID-19 pandemic, with the exponential growth of online activities, various countries generally worry about data security risks. Both General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of the United States attempt to restrict the collection and sharing of private data with the third parties.12 Various countries generally observe that the compatibility of Internet policies should be the basis of new Western “digital alliance”, rather than identity.13 Secondly, the development of Internet media is more restricted by national legislation. Now, the United States shows deep concern about how EU’s Digital Markets Act signed in July 2022 affects its own interests, and deepens the cooperation with Canada and Mexico in privacy system, digital trade and cross-border data.14 Besides, in January 2022, the United States and Australia signed the new Clarify Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (Cloud Act). Under the legal framework, the user data of Facebook and Twitter in Australia are also under the jurisdiction of the United States, thus expanding the scope of data resources available to the American government. Cloud Act is questioned by Facebook and other platforms, believing that long-arm jurisdiction of the American government affects the privacy security of platform

12

Data Source: Brookings Institution, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2022/01/13/howthe-pandemic-has-exacerbated-online-privacy-threats/. 13 Data Source: Brookings Institution, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2022/03/29/u-sregulatory-inaction-opened-the-doors-for-the-eu-to-step-up-on-internet/. 14 Data Source: Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/essay/usmca-forward-buildinga-more-competitive-inclusive-and-sustainable-north-american-economy-digital/.

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user data. However, in the long run, the government-Internet media multilateralgovernance cooperation has great potential in establishing a synchronic rule system for cross-border data flow.

6.3.2 Content Governance of Internet Media In addition to the challenges of cross-border-data governance, the content presentation, dissemination and diffusion of related to Internet media need to be further supervised. The information rights of scientific & technological giants expand in a disorderly manner, and their content production and push follow the model of “power without responsibility”. Content-generation mechanisms like user-generated content (UGC) and professional-user-generated content (PUGC) keep evolving; yet, Internet media content proves a motley crowd and lacks supervision. For example, Telegram, a Russian Internet medium, attracts many users to use it anonymously due to its unique content-confidentiality setting. As Telegram enters the core area of global digital news communication industry, it becomes a cyber warfare front for the United States and other Western countries to oppose the “blockade” and “lockdown” policies in the COVID-19 pandemic. This exacerbates the spread and harm of infodemic,15 posing a severe test to the governance of Internet media content. Additionally, indigenous Western media like Facebook and Twitter tighten their grip on content (e.g. more than 14,000 bad content accounts banned on Facebook since 2021, dozens of accounts involving teenagers); nevertheless, harmful content such as pornography, violence and vulgarity frequently appears. According to media statistics, Facebook only deletes 18% of the pornographic pictures bad for teenagers.16 On streaming media platforms like YouTube, some links with pornography and fraud occupy more than one fifth of the comment area. These undoubtedly aggravate the difficulty in the supervision and governance of relevant content.17

15

Data Source: Reuters Institute, https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/how-journalists-can-add ress-misinformation-telegram. 16 Data Source: The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/22/facebookflooded-with-sextortion-and-revenge-porn-files-reveal?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_cli pboard. 17 Data Source: inews, https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/youtube-comments-spam-porn-scams1571639.

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6.3.3 The Algorithm Governance of Internet Media Spurred by algorithm technology, confidentiality protocol, trade secret law and general opaque culture, there are obvious discrimination and prejudice in advertising recommendation and information screening of Internet media.18 For instance, the native advertising system of Facebook has “algorithmic discrimination”, which copies gender bias in real world to advertising-recommendation system and disqualifies candidates with similar qualifications from recruitment-information recommendations with equal probability owing to their gender. This further aggravates users’ concern about algorithmic discrimination and bias. Besides, platform giants, e.g. Instagram, Twitter and Amazon, use specific machine language and algorithmic technology to screen biased content (e.g. race and gender issues) intentionally or unintentionally in information selection.19 This forms Shadow Banning that results from algorithmic bias on social media platform and Internet space,20 and blurs the visibility of algorithm governance and related issues in Internet media. The governance of algorithms hinges not only on laws, policies and industrial standards, but also on the continuous improvement and maturity of platform’s algorithmic mechanism. For example, Facebook and Instagram update their algorithmic designs and relevant functions to ensure users’ basic rights and interests. In 2022, Facebook and Instagram strengthened the connectivity between their platforms and other platforms, so as to unclog originally-unbreakable barriers between platforms.21 Additionally, in terms of users’ “daily algorithm audit”, users can question, resist and challenge Internet media algorithms in a bottom-to-up way. For instance, Twitter cut relevant pictures pushed by users, exposing the problem of racial discrimination. Users noticed the problem and spontaneously gathered to conduct algorithm audit and investigation by tweeting and forwarding, which effectively boosted the development and justice of Internet media algorithms.22 In brief, Internet-media-governance issues, including cross-border data flow, Internet media content and intelligent algorithm technology, cannot rely solely on a single party. Be it the reconstruction of internal boundaries, or the formation of transnational consensus, numerous challenges to platform regulation and Internet media indicate that global Internet governance has moved from legislation alone that restricts Internet enterprises to deep-water zone that reconstructs the rules in 18

Wang Peinan and Sam Bider. “Algorithmic Discrimination and Regulation of Social Media” [J]. Youth Journalist, 2021, (09): 97–98. 19 Data Source: VOX. Why algorithms can be racist and sexist. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/ 2/18/ 21,121,286/algorithms-bias-discrimination-facial-recognition-transparency. 20 Data Source: Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/anniebrown/2021/10/27/understanding-thetechnical-and-societal-relationship-between-shadowbanning-and-algorithmic-bias/?sh=4ae1a6 496296. 21 Data Source: LXA, https://www.martechalliance.com/stories/the-instagram-and-facebook-alg orithm-updates-for-2022. 22 SHEN, H., DEVOS, A., ESLAMI, M., et al. (2021). Everyday algorithm auditing: Understanding the power of everyday users in surfacing harmful algorithmic behaviors. Proceedings of the ACM on Human–Computer Interaction, 5 (CSCW2), 1–29.

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cyberspace. Meanwhile, data flow, content presentation and algorithmic recommendation are interdependent and complementary. As anti-monopoly legislation and platform governance deepen, various governments will further evaluate the role of Internet enterprises and their digital platforms in national and global governance, and delineate a clear rule boundary for cyberspace, once an unsupervised realm, in the future.

6.4 Hot Topics of Global Internet Media In the past year, global Internet media attached continuous attention to a series of hot topics. The digital transformation and mobile short-video-led communication of Beijing Winter Olympics set off a heated discussion among global Internet media. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict foregrounds “short video warfare” in global communication, changing international “public opinion warfare” to short video-driven algorithm cognitive warfare in digital context. The Generation Z group plays a key role in Internet development, and their habits and demands continuously shape global Internet media culture. As the trend of global connectivity of social platforms intensifies, cross-border data governance becomes a central issue, and Western countries deepen the cooperation on media governance. The acquisition and restructuring of Western digital-media giants will have a far-reaching impact on global social media and international relations in the future.

6.4.1 Beijing Winter Olympics Arouses a Heated Discussion Among Global Internet Media In early 2022, China upheld the idea of hosting a “green, inclusive, open and corruption-free Olympics”, presented a “streamlined, safe and splendid” Olympics to the world, and won high praise from the international community. Beijing Winter Olympics aroused wide attention from global Internet media and bred an opportunity for the rise of national image from “open China” to “global China”. In terms of global Internet communication, Beijing Winter Olympics displayed the features as follows. The popularity among overseas public opinion remained high, “cloud communication” and social media communication became increasingly important, digital video platforms served as the main international communication front, KOL (key opinion leader) effect of star athletes proved prominent, and the multi-perspective and participatory third-party communication achieved significant results. Firstly, with the highest digital audience rating and widest Internet attention, the international communication of Beijing Winter Olympics typified digital transformation, provided the global audience with more authentic audio-visual experience and instant interaction opportunity, and formed a hot topic of overseas public opinion.

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Cloud communication and social media communication that scored a great success at Tokyo Olympic Games functioned as the leading model of international communication of Beijing Winter Olympics. Within a week after its opening, more than 45 million viewers worldwide watched Beijing Winter Olympics via the cloud, higher than the total number of online audiences of 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.23 AliCloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services jointly launched OBS Cloud, which produced 11,000-h content in the whole process of Tokyo Olympic Games. Only one week after the opening of Beijing Winter Olympics, the production of digital content exceeded 6,000 h.24 Additionally, Internet media broadened the scope of communication. In Beijing Winter Olympics, there were 2.8 billion times of interaction on relevant issues on global social media, tenfold that of Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Beijing Winter Olympics boasted the highest level of digital participation in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.25 Secondly, under the background of the continuous audio-visual turn of Internet, short-video digital platforms became the main front of the international communication of Beijing Winter Olympics. In Beijing Winter Olympics, the total number of viewers of videos under the “Olympic Spirit” themed tag on the TikTok platform exceeded 2.1 billion. The subscription audience of YouTube’s Olympics Channel increased by 58% vis-à-vis Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.26 Simultaneously, the communication media of Beijing Winter Olympics further diversified. Key opinion leaders represented by athletes from various countries carried out multi-perspective and participatory third-party communication via short video platforms, forming a unique media landscape of the international communication of Beijing Winter Olympics. In the form of short video, the daily expression and sharing of participants (including athletes) represented more comprehensive, authentic and detailed Beijing Winter Olympics from a more down-to-earth, influential and credible perspective (ordinary-man perspective), which further enhanced the global influence of Beijing Winter Olympics. In light of the opening ceremony of Beijing Winter Olympics, from February 4 to 5, 2022, among top 100 short videos related to the opening ceremony of Beijing Winter Olympics on the TikTok platform, 21 short videos were published by athletes from various countries via their personal accounts on TikTok, viewed by 9.43 million people and liked or commented by more than 1.5 million people in

23

Data Source: International Olympic Committee. Fans embracing new ways to consume the Olympic Winter Games at Beijing 2022—Olympic News. https://olympics.com/ioc/news/fans-emb racing-new-ways-to-consume-the-olympic-winter-games-at-beijing-2022. 24 Data Source: Alizila. Beijing 2022 Taps Cloud for Live Broadcast and Remote Production. https:// www.alizila.com/beijing-2022-taps-cloud-for-live-broadcast-and-remote-production/. 25 Data Source: International Olympic Committee. Beijing 2022: Historic Olympic Winter Games on and off the field—Olympic News. https://olympics.com/ioc/news/beijing-2022-historic-oly mpic-winter-games-on-and-off-the-field. 26 Data Source: International Olympic Committee. Beijing 2022: Historic Olympic Winter Games on and off the field—Olympic News. https://olympics.com/ioc/news/beijing-2022-historic-oly mpic-winter-games-on-and-off-the-field.

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total.27 Tessa Maud, an American snowboarder, recorded the scene that the volunteers of Beijing Winter Olympics enthusiastically exclaimed “Welcome to China” to her, receiving 140,000 views and nearly 100,000 likes. International audience gave positive comments like “This expresses more united Olympic spirit” and “The volunteers are so admirable; they show the friendliness of China”. These effectively refuted the political smear of the opening ceremony of Beijing Winter Olympics from some Western media. In the VUCA era, Beijing Winter Olympics indicates an eastward turn of global media in international communication, and creates a new model of cross-cultural communication. In the post-pandemic era, it is a practical path to augment crossregional, cross-field and cross-cultural exchanges by taking Beijing Winter Olympics as an opportunity, building digital-sports public diplomacy with digital science and technology, and implementing the communication based on the ideas of cultural symbiosis, sharing and prosperity.

6.4.2 The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Catalyzes the Vision-Led “Cyber Cognitive Warfare” On February 24, 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict escalated into a full-scale hot war, which further complicated the global geopolitical pattern. In the conflict, TikTok, Instagram and other visual social media platforms became the new battlefield. Key opinion leaders, who personally experienced the conflict or concerned themselves with the hot topic, shared the latest progress of the conflict via short videos. In Ukrainian crisis, media spectacle possessed great value for understanding Internetmedia communication in global public crisis event under the background of “video turn”. As the Russian-Ukrainian conflict intensified, the publishing of multi-perspective and multi-dimensional conflict pictures on short video platforms turned entertainment platforms to the “first scenes” for the global public to understand the progress of the conflict, becoming an “expressway” for the production and dissemination of relevant information for multiple subjects of both sides. In terms of international communication, the “short video warfare” in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict essentially signifies the fact that various parties compete for a broader “marketplace of emotions” in addition to traditional international public opinion or “marketplace of ideas”, in order to arouse emotional resonance and guide cognitive tendencies of global audience with intuitive and perceptual video images. Russian and Ukrainian key opinion leaders took the place of traditional institutional media. With the help of social media, key opinion leaders communicated with global audience, created a communication effect of highly-emotional “sense of presence”, completed emotional media marketing, and achieved communication demands. In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, political leaders of relevant countries continuously used social media to deliver short-video 27

Data Source: TikTok platform.

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speeches, and conveyed their positions and views to global audience by “appealing to emotions” rather than “appealing to facts”. Compared with traditional news release models and diplomatic means, “short-video-image marketing” was widely adopted by various parties, with more affinity and appeal. Simultaneously, relevant parties need to critically reflect on the possible negative effects of the “decentralized crisis-communication model” in the empowerment of short video social media. In a substantial number of video streams about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, misleading videos that mixed true and false information extensively spread. For example, in a widely-circulated video, Ukrainian men, who were summoned to the battlefield, said goodbye to their wives and daughters with tears. Indeed, the scene happened in Ukraine; yet, the background information was deliberately and wrongly applied to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. False information like this was fabricated based on factual background and widely spread on Internet, which made it harder for the public to obtain information and easily caused confusion of public opinion. Besides, social media and platforms played an increasingly prominent role in the global crisis as information hubs and infrastructure. Countries and regions that forged dominant advantages in information infrastructure like social media and platforms had more control over the communication-discourse field than ever before. Western countries, which owned global social media and platforms like Facebook and Twitter, took the lead in international public opinion war by dint of their dominance over platform channels. Several countries led by the United States banned major traditional Russian news media like Russia Today (RT) International News Agency, and silenced pro-Russian voices on social media. Since Russia did not control mainstream international communication platforms on Internet, it was reduced to a passive position in public opinion war on Internet. To sum up, the short video warfare in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict signals that the core factor of public opinion warfare turns from “information dissemination” to “cognitive construction”. New forms of social media that comprise algorithmic recommendation and video-content production have a direct and deep impact on user’s cognition. Traditional Internet public opinion warfare develops toward “cyber cognitive war”. Short video-based social media communication forms a core trend of international public opinion game in the future.

6.4.3 The Rise of Generation Z Reshapes Global Internet Media Culture The population base and consumption capacity of Generation Z continue to increase. As a result, their ideas and behavior characteristics have an important impact on the global political pattern, economic development, social change and cultural trend in the future. Compared with other groups, Generation Z, as Internet natives, are more open-minded and action-oriented. With proficiency in and deep understanding of

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digital technology, their cognition of the world largely relies on Internet. In terms of media communication, Generation Z has grown into a new force in the field of media culture with social media and platforms as the core. In a way, they have a mania for social media and platforms, and lead the fashion of media culture trend and the virtuous cycle of political & social ecology.28 In regard to their habits, Generation Z group use social media more frequently and diversely. They keep high-frequency of “every-moment online” on traditional global or regional social media (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, WeChat, Weibo and QQ), as well as emerging Internet platforms (e.g. TikTok, Instagram and SnapChat). The popularity of different Internet media also varies with countries and cultures. Facebook becomes most popular in France, the United Kingdom and North America. WhatsApp widely spreads in non-Western regions. In South American countries (e.g. Brazil and Argentina), Asian countries (e.g. Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia), as well as African countries (South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria), WhatsApp is well received. In China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, WeChat, LINE, VKontakte and other local social media are most commonly used.29 The Generation Z group have diverse and complex needs in their use of social media. Social needs are the main reason for them to use social media. As a global survey on the user needs of social media among different generations suggests, 46% of Generation Z respondents use social media to maintain stable contact with strong- connected people such as friends or family members and Internet platforms to broaden their social circle. Additionally, leisure and entertainment (42%), content search (37%), chasing social fashion (33%) and mastering new knowledge (32%) also reflect major needs for the use of social media among the Generation Z group.30 In their use of social media, the Generation Z group, who prefer to personal presence on-site experience, become the “producer and consumer” of new media content. In the United States, in order to resist conspiracy theories and false information that prevail on social media, Generation Z group launch a campaign under the theme of “Birds Aren’t Real”. By fabricating the gimmick “Birds are all CIA monitors”, they make fun of the proliferation of false information on social media. The campaign grows rapidly in North America, and rallies under the theme of “Birds Aren’t Real” spring up. On the streets of major American cities like Los Angeles, there are a large number of billboards with the slogan “Birds Aren’t Real”. Simultaneously, the campaign attracts many fans on social media. In the form of parodying conspiracy theories, the Generation Z group achieve the goal of “deconstructing” and “restructuring” conspiracy theories. Essentially, they integrate into mainstream culture with the identity of active participants. Compared with the destructiveness of traditional

28

Shi Anbin and Yang Chenxi. “Suppressing Conspiracy Theory in the Digital Era: A Glimpse of New Trends of Generation Z Media Culture” [J]. Youth Journalist, 2022 (11): 96–100. 29 Data Source: The latest trends in social media (2021), Global Web Index, http://www.199it.com/ archives/1242993.html. 30 Data Source: GWI. Social media by generation. https://www.gwi.com/reports/social-media-acr oss-generations.

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youth subcultures, what the Generation Z group expresses on social media proves more constructive and creative.

6.4.4 The Acquisition of Twitter May Affect the Pattern of Global Social Media Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, large-scale social media and platforms, e.g. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, become critical infrastructure and key nodes of information & service circulation in the global Internet field, with an ever-growing influence on all aspects of social reality. Amid such a background, in April 2022, Elon Musk, president of Tesla, announced to spend 40 billion U.S. dollars to acquire Twitter. The major event that affects global communication not only mirrors Musk’s intention to officially enter social media and Internet industry, but also reshapes the pattern of global social media to some extent. However, in July 2022, Musk claimed to give up the acquisition because Twitter had too many “zombie or robot accounts”, which triggered strong dissatisfaction and protest of the Twitter board of directors, and left wild cards to this global social-media acquisition. The acquisition of Twitter arouses widespread attention in global Internet media, and the discussion among various circles on its final outcome and purpose heats up. Some people observe that social media means the final link of Musk’s business ecology, who aims not only to expand business landscape, but also to forge an allround monopoly over both real and digital industries more essentially. Other people argue that the acquisition signals the expansion of “military industrial complex” in the media field, intending to influence public opinion and then serve the political and military groups. Musk has stated his move to change the platform management system after the acquisition of Twitter. The conservatives esteem that a victory for freedom of speech, whilst the liberals express concern about Musk’s practices in content control.31 In the future, the acquisition may revise and reconstruct various rules and regulations related to freedom of speech and content review, and publicize the algorithm behind Twitter’s recommendation system to enhance public trust, verify the identity of real users, and eliminate robot accounts more strictly. Many people who worry about the negative impact of social media on national and global discourse hold thumbs at these measures, yet others are afraid that these measures may accomplish the very opposite. Examples are depriving content review in the name of freedom of speech, undermining accountability via corporate privatization, manipulating public discussion and election discourse, etc.32

31

Data Source: Brookings Institution, https://www.brookings.edu/research/elonmusk-and-twitterthe-problem-with-social-media-is-misaligned-recommendation-systems-not-free-speech/. 32 Data Source: Brookings Institution, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2022/04/26/fiveways-elon-musk-can-transform-twitter/.

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In general, the acquisition of Twitter is viewed as an important step for Musk to enhance his influence with the help of social media and public opinion. In the future, more global social media may be acquired by traditional business giants as a tool to steer public opinion. Given the influence of Twitter in public policies, after the acquisition of Twitter, the changes on its content review and management model will not only profoundly alter the operation logic of Twitter, but also revise the rules of the game of social media and platforms, thus generating a series of chain reactions and catalyzing new changes in the landscape of global social media. Simultaneously, the acquirer keeps a wary eye on many “zombie fans” on Twitter, which may affect its actual commercial value. The uncertainties in the acquisition of Twitter testify to the complexity of the ecology of global social media as well as the obstruction to similar acquisition and restructuring.

Chapter 7

World Cybersecurity Development

7.1 Outline Presently, global cybersecurity faces a complex and unstable situation. The RussianUkrainian conflict became a major factor that affected the development of cyberspace in 2022. The two countries and relevant parties took part in a multi-field and complex game in cyberspace, which further highlighted the important role of cyber warfare in modern warfare, and intensified the militarization and fragmentation of global cyberspace. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recession and geopolitical factors, the threats to cybersecurity continue to evolve. Threats and risks to cyberspace, e.g. harmful APT, ransomware, high-risk vulnerability, DDoS, phishing and e-mail attack, remain prominent. The protection of cloud security proves weak, cyberattack on IoV keeps growing, the frequency of attack on software supply chain shoots up, and global cybersecurity stays at risk. Various countries and regions in the world successively release strategic plans for cybersecurity, enhance the strategic position of cybersecurity in a more systematic and targeted way, and make relevant arrangements. Governments and enterprises jointly build cybersecurity guarantee systems. With concerted efforts among multiple parties, phased progress is made in the development of cybersecurity industry and talent cultivation.

7.2 The Development of Global Cybersecurity Encounters a New Situation of Militarization Cyberspace serves as an increasingly important stage for the geopolitical game. The trend of militarization in cyberspace foregrounds the risk of geopolitical conflict. In particular, traditional geopolitical pattern complicates the struggles in cyberspace. © Publishing House of Electronics Industry 2024 World Internet Development Report 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5386-8_7

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The intense competition among big countries mingles with the impact of the COVID19 pandemic. Under such a circumstance, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict became the biggest unforeseen factor that affected the situation of global cybersecurity in 2022, helping to scrutinize the role play, technological evolution and tactic in modern warfare in cybersecurity.

7.2.1 The Attack-Defense Confrontation in Cyberspace Plays an Increasingly Important Role in Modern Warfare Amid the background of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the attack-defense confrontation in cyberspace kicks off. Relevant forces launch the whole-process and multi-dimensional attack-defense confrontation in cyberspace. In terms of attack time, the confrontation runs through the Russian-Ukrainian conflict (before and after the outbreak). Microsoft released Special Report: An Overview of Russia’s Cyberattack Activity in Ukraine. As stated, pro-Russian forces carried out extensive cyberspace espionage activities against Ukraine’s main targets before the conflict. After the outbreak of the conflict, the attack-defense confrontation in cyberspace escalated, and cyberattacks occurred frequently. In terms of attack means, both parties comprehensively used multiple means like DDoS, data erasure, watering hole attack, phishing fraud, vulnerability utilization and supply chain attack to achieve the goals of intelligence acquisition, information blocking, information tampering & destruction and system control. In terms of the attack targets, both sides mainly launched attacks on governmental agencies, military-command systems, news media, financial institutions and other core sectors concerning national security and social stability, paralyzing the normal access to key network services of both sides. Figure 7.1 shows the timeline of cybersecurity incidents in the conflict.

7.2.2 Frequent Supply Chain Security Incidents Highlight the Importance of Supply Chain Security Management Again In recent years, supply-chain security crises with widespread influence, such as Log4j2 vulnerability and SolarWinds, sounded the alarm bell of global supply chain risk or threats. In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a large number of well-known open-source components and dependent libraries on GitHub were polluted. Users whose IP addresses were exposed in Russia were attacked or attached with anti-war information. Particularly, “node-ipc package supply-chain poisoning event” in the name of anti-war occurred, which abominably affected the ecology of open-sourcesoftware supply chain. Faced with the increasingly severe and complex situation of supply chain security, various countries took frequent measures in the field of

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Fig. 7.1 The timeline of cybersecurity incidents in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict

supply chain security and endeavored to build secure and reliable supply chain security systems. Since the conflict, the United States and Europe and other countries and regions successively announced the implementation of supply-chain sanctions against Russia. Technological giants like Intel, AMD, TSMC and Microsoft declared the “suspension of service and supply” to Russia in chip, basic software & hardware, product services and other aspects. Seven Russian banks were removed from the SWIFT system. Apple, Samsung and Google successively stopped their mobile payment services in Russia. Internet backbone providers like Cogent Communications cut off customer services in Russia, and Sectigo stopped issuing SSL certificates to Russia. To counteract the pressure, Russia continuously strengthened the

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construction of its supply-chain security system. In March 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree, prohibiting all state institutions and semi-governmental entities from purchasing foreign software for critical information infrastructure projects without authorization, and determining to further the localization of software and build independent basic framework for information security. Before that, Russia issued The Sovereign Internet Law, and successfully tested RuNet (the disconnection test run without accessing global DNS system and external Internet), which prepared for breaking the network blocking against Russia. Box 7.1 Open-Source Software Security Summit Staged in the United States to Strengthen Open-Source Software Supply-Chain Security After Biden signed Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity in May 2021 to emphasize strengthening software supply-chain security, the United States held Open-Source Software Security Summit twice in January and May 2022, both of which were attended by 37 U.S. technological giants, open source communities, as well as U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Office of the National Cyber and other cybersecurity departments. The Summit discussed three issues, i.e. ensuring the security of open-source software production, improving vulnerability finding and repairing, and shortening the repair & response time of the entire ecosystem. The second summit also released the white paper The Open Source Software Security Mobilization Plan, which stressed effectively participating in and supporting the development of open source community and improving the security of open source software. “The Open Source Software Security Mobilization Plan” focused on ten major problems, i.e. promoting securitysoftware development-level education, establishing open source software riskassessment map, boosting the use of digital signature to enhance trust, quickening the use of memory-security program language, establishing OpenSSF open-source-security-incident response team, accelerating the excavation and repair of new vulnerabilities, implementing the third-party inspection and verification, program code review and repair, and data sharing to determine key projects, the list of software materials and strengthen the construction of open source software systems. Besides, a two-year investment plan with a total amount of nearly 150 million U.S. dollars was proposed to reinforce the security of open source in the United States.

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7.2.3 That Various Countries Augment the Construction of Cyber Forces Intensifies the Militarization Trend in Global Cyberspace In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the two sides frequently goaded each other in cyberspace, with confrontation becoming extremely fierce. Yet, this did not spark events that would reverse the trend of the conflict. One major reason was that both sides forged strong power reserves in cyberspace. In particular, cyber forces with attack-defense capabilities played a vital role. As cyberspace security situation remains grimmer and geopolitical pattern become complex and capricious in the future, many countries strengthen the construction of cyber forces. In 2021, the United States Coast Guard and Marine Corps enlarged cyber teams and established the United States Army Cyber Military Intelligence Group (CMIG). In February 2022, Poland formally announced the establishment of “Cyberspace Defense Force”, marking that Poland became one of the few countries to build cyber forces. In March 2022, Singapore said that it was preparing to establish a new Digital Intelligence Service in Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), which took charge of the digital defense of SAF (officially established in August 2022). In March 2022, Japan set up Cyber Defense Command that comprised 540 staff. Its responsibility was to protect and control the military information and communication networks of Japan Self-Defense Force.

7.2.4 The Game in Cyberspace Accelerates the Pace of Fragmentation in Global Cyberspace Affected by geopolitical factors, global cyberspace displayed a trend of fragmentation in recent years. As the Russian-Ukrainian conflict escalated, multilateral parties, including national governments, scientific & technological enterprises and hacker organizations, took sides with either Russia or Ukraine, and two major cyberspace forces instantly emerged in the field of cybersecurity. To support the physical battlefield, pro-Ukrainian forces carried out large-scale “de-Russification” measures in cyberspace in finance, science & technology and other fields. Noticeably, Internet basic resource corporations and scientific & technological corporations sanctioned Russia in many fields, and suspended the service and supply of Russian global Internet resources. Simultaneously, to address the risks of multi-field sanctions, Russia stepped up efforts to build a more independent network system. This further split the interconnected global network system.

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7.2.5 Hacker Organizations Play a More Important Role in the Attack-Defense Confrontation in Cyberspace As technological groups, hackers played an important part in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict from national, political, humanitarian, liberal and democratic standpoints. On the second day of Russia’s military action against Ukraine, “Anonymous”, the largest hacker organization in the world, announced a cyber warfare against Russia and launched cyberattacks on websites of the Kremlin, the Government of the Russian Federation and Russian Ministry of Defense. In May 2022, KillNet, a Russian hacker organization, published a video on social media, formally “declaring war” on ten governments, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. According to the statistics, by June 19, 2022, more than 84 hacker organizations in the world had participated in the attack-defense confrontation in cyberspace between Russia and Ukraine, of which 27 unequivocally backed Russia and 47 supported Ukraine. Military-level hacker organizations initiated organized, premeditated and preplanned cyberattacks, which added more complexity to the conflict in physical space.

7.3 The Risks and Threats to Cybersecurity Remain Prominent Global cybersecurity threats continue to evolve. The risks and threats to cybersecurity remain prominent, such as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), ransomware, high-risk vulnerability, DDoS, phishing and e-mail attack. The protection of cloud computing security proves unsatisfactory. Now, cyberattacks on IoV keep growing, and the industrial-control environment become the target of cyber criminals. The attack frequency on software supply chain rises sharply, and the situation of global cybersecurity presents a grim picture.

7.3.1 Typical Risks and Threats to Cybersecurity Continue to Evolve 1. APT APT occurs frequently in key industries. According to the 2021 Annual Report of Global Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) released by Qi’anxin, in 2021, 41% of global APT events involved governments and health care industry, followed by science & technology, national defense, manufacturing, energy and other fields. Biopharmaceutical, aviation, blockchain and other industries become la proie of APT activities. In November 2021, Kaspersky Lab released The Forecast of APT Threat

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Trend in 2022. On the basis of the current situation of APT threats in 2021, Kaspersky Lab predicted eight major trends of APT to cybersecurity in 2022,1 including the influx of new APT participants supported by private sectors, the intensification of the attack on supply chain, the increase of APT intrusion attack in the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa, the surge of attack on cloud security and outsourcing service, and the return of low-level attack. APT embodies obvious geographic color. According to The APT Trend Report in the First Quarter of 2022 released by Kaspersky Lab, APT attackers remain active, with a large number of attacks in the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis. Simultaneously, researchers from Kaspersky Lab detected three attacks related to the threat of Konni, an APT organization. The threat mainly centered on Russian diplomatic entities and warmed up in the middle of 2021. In the middle of March 2022, at least three APT organizations launched harpoon phishing activities, which used the ongoing RussianUkrainian conflict as bait to distribute malware and steal sensitive information. Box 7.2 China as One of the Hot Targets Attacked by APT Organizations2 In July 2021, ANTIY’s CERT disclosed that since April, “Huan Shu”, an APT organization, had used Telegram, Internet Archive, Blogger and other platforms to distribute Raccoon Stealer trojan program to launch attacks on Chinese chemical enterprises. In November 2021, Darkhotel, an APT organization targeting China, was disclosed, whose attack scope covered Northern China, coastal areas and other regions, upon governments, educational institutions, news media, large state-owned enterprises, foreign trade enterprises, etc. In December 2021, APT-C-59 organization launched an attack by using zero-day vulnerability, private-cloud poisoning and other means, targeting East and Southeast Asian countries like China, and involving governments, think tanks, media, medical and other industries. Additionally, APT organizations attacking China included “Bitter Elephant”, TA406, Sidewinder, etc. These organizations conducted targeted attacks on Chinese governmental, military, educational, scientific, medical, energy, media and other industries to collect and steal important information.

2. Ransomware Ransomware remains the biggest malware threat. As Threat Intelligence Index 2022 released by IBM Security X-Force team suggested, in the past three years, the ransomware attack was the No. 1 attack. In Datto’s 2021 Global State of the Channel 1

Data Source: The Forecast of APT Threat Trend in 2022 published by Kaspersky Lab, November 2021, https://www.kaspersky.com/about/press-releases/2021_advanced-persistent-thr eats-in-2022-what-to-look-out-for-next-year. 2 Data Source: Report on Major Global APT Attacks in the First Half of 2021 published by Tianji Partners Gemini Laboratory, August 2021.

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Ransomware Report, ransomware was listed as the top malware threat. According to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report,3 ransomware leaped by 13% year on year in 2022, more than the sum of the past five years. According to Veeam’s 2022 Ransomware Trends Report,4 76% of network victims chose to pay ransom to end the attack and restore data, 52% of extorted organizations paid ransom to restore data, and 24% of extorted organizations paid ransom yet could not restore data. The time required for ransomware attacks drops remarkably. Researchers from IBM Security X-Force team revealed that from initial network access to payload deployment, the average time required for ransomware attacks was 92.5 h in 2021, the average time spent for ransomware attacks was 230 h in 2020, and the average time spent for ransomware attacks was 1,637 h in 2019. In April 2022, in the case of IcedID malware infection, Quantum ransomware was deployed in just three hours and 44 min, demonstrating the faster action of hacker organizations. Box 7.3 Ransomware Attack on Politics Costa Rican security officials claimed that from mid-April to early May 2022, ransomware organizations attempted to invade different governmental organizations almost every day, and 27 governmental agencies in Costa Rica became the targets of the first-wave ransomware attack, paralyzing its international trade. In the end of May, the second-wave ransomware attack put its health care system in a turmoil, and millions of Costa Ricans suffered heavy losses as a result. On May 8, president of Costa Rica announced the “state of emergency” owing to ransomware attack, calling the attackers “cyber terrorists” and declaring war on whoever responsible for the ransomware attacks. Costa Rica was politically entangled in a ransomware attack. Conti, a ransomware attack organization, asserted that: “We are determined to overturn Costa Rican government through cyberattacks.” The attack on Costa Rican government signals that ransomware organizations have purposively aimed at national governments, which goes far beyond purely economic motives and evolves into geopolitical events.

3. Vulnerability The number of vulnerability reports hits a record high. According to Vulnerability and Threat Trends Report 2022 released by Skybox Security, 20,175 new vulnerabilities were disclosed in 2021. The number of vulnerabilities in operational technology (OT) skyrocketed from 690 in 2020 to 1,295 in 2021, up by 88%. The threat of zeroday vulnerability comes to rise. In April 2022, Google’s Project Zero team reported 3

Data Source: 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, Verizon, 2022.06, https://www.verizon. com/business/resources/reports/dbir/. 4 Data Source: 2022 Ransomware Trends Report, Veeam, https://go.veeam.com/wp-ransomwaretrends-report-2022.

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that hackers had used 58 zero-day vulnerabilities to harass major software providers in 2021, the largest number of zero-day vulnerability detected and disclosed since 2015. Of the 58 zero-day vulnerabilities, there were only two new cases, and the other 56 were replicas of public vulnerabilities. The threats to open-source software vulnerability remain extremely severe. Apache Log4j2, an open-source software vulnerability exposed in December 2021, is considered one of the most serious software vulnerabilities in recent years. Globally, Apache Log4j2 has undermined numerous technological corporations, and various countries have attached more attention to the security vulnerabilities of open-source software supply chain. In the report 2022 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis, it was confirmed that 81% of 2,097 code bases scanned in 2022 contained at least one known open source vulnerability, and up to 49% contained at least one high-risk open source vulnerability. Box 7.4 Apache Log4j2, an Open Source Software Vulnerability with Extensive Impact On November 24, 2021, AliCloud security team reported Apache Log4j2 remote code execution vulnerability to Apache authority. The vulnerability was identified as CVE-2021–44,228. The vulnerability allows attackers to execute any codes on the target servers. The severity of Apache Log4j2 reaches level 10, almost one of the most vicious vulnerabilities in the entire software history, even more serious than SQL injection. Apache Log4j2 serves as a Java-based logging tool, whose logging framework is widely used in business system development to record log information. As a basic log component, Apache Log4j2 is applied in a large number of basic services. Google open-source software team has scanned Maven central repository, the most important repository for Java software packages, unveiling that the version of Apache Log4j library used by 35,863 software packages remains vulnerable to related vulnerabilities. Google releases a report, claiming that the number of Java software package affected accounts for 8% of Maven central repository. Apache Log4j has affected more than 60,000 popular open source software, involving more than 320,000 software packages of relevant versions and disturbing more than 70% of corporate online business systems. This evidently means a fatal blow to open source software.

4. DDoS The peak traffic of DDoS attacks reaches the highest level in history. On May 19, 2022, Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, revealed on its official website that it successfully repelled the largest DDoS attack in history on May 6, with a peak traffic of 450 GB/s. In June 2022, Cloudflare, an Internet infrastructure corporation, stated that it mitigated DDoS attacks on 26 million requests per second targeted at its customers, which was the largest HTTPS DDoS attack detected so

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far. The industrial analysis observed that the attack originated from cloud service providers, and the threat actors behind it probably used hijacked servers and virtual machines. According to Cloudflare, the attackers also used a botnet composed of more than 5,000 devices, and each device could generate c. 5,200 requests per second when the attack reached its peak. The botnet used in the newly-set record of DDoS attacks of 26 million requests per second generated more than 212 million HTTPS requests in 30 s via the requests from more than 1,500 networks in 121 countries and regions in the world. Notably, the capacity attack executed through HTTPS used huge garbage requests to exhaust the resources (CPU and RAM) of target servers, making it more costly for attackers to launch attacks and victims to mitigate attacks. Box 7.5 DDoS Attack as Main Attack Means in Cyberspace Actions in the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the number of DDoS attacks reached a record high. In April 2022, an investigation report by Kaspersky Lab indicated that since February 2022, DDoS attacks in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict realized an unprecedented scale, with the number of DDoS attack exceeding the highest level in history. Vis-à-vis the fourth quarter of 2021, DDoS attacks in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 46%. Meanwhile, the duration of DDoS attacks proved longer than 2021, almost 80 times that at the end of 2021. In April 2022, Kaspersky Lab announced that the number of DDoS attacks on websites of Russian enterprises and governmental departments in March rose nearly seven times year on year, and the attack time lengthened significantly. As Kaspersky Lab noticed, in February 2022, the average attack time reached seven hours, and the maximum attack time outnumbered nine hours, whereas the average attack time in March humped to 29.5 h, and the maximum attack time reached 145 h. DDoS attacks are directed against the websites of governmental departments. DDoS attacks on Ukraine started on February 12, 2022, and the number and intensity of DDoS attacks continuously increased, reaching the peak on February 16. DDoS attacks on Russia commenced on February 7, 2022, and continue to this day, with an increasing number. According to the data of Cloudflare, an American corporation, DDoS attacks on Russian media, Internet service providers, cryptocurrency websites and retail websites showed an upward trend in the first quarter of 2022, and Russia became one of main targets of DDoS attacks. In February 2022, Russian state media RT TV stated that around 100 million devices suffered DDoS attacks, which made TV stations inaccessible for some time. As Sputnik News Agency of Russia reported, hacker organization “Anonymous” launched a large-scale DDoS attack, which crippled the Kremlin, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other governmental websites, causing the offline of many websites, including the Kremlin, the Government of the Russian Federation and Ministry of Defense.

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1. Phishing Phishing attacks keep rising. According to Global Phishing Activity Trends Report released by Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), in 2021, global phishing activities presented an upward trend, eight times that in 2020. In particular, the number of phishing activity in December 2021 reached 317,000, the highest monthly value since the report was released. In 2021, Microsoft intercepted 35.7 billion phishing emails. In February 2022, Proofpoint, an e-mail security provider, published 2022 State of the Phish Report. As evinced, compared with 2020, the number of global e-mail-based cyberattacks proliferated in 2021, and more than three quarters of organizations became targets of e-mail-based ransomware attacks, of which 77% faced commercial e-mail phishing attacks, up by 18% year on year. Under the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-mail falls prey to phishing. Teleworking model makes enterprises rely on e-mail in an unprecedented way, and e-mail becomes the target of cyber criminals, who steal sensitive data and spread malware by various means. Capgemini Research Institute released the report Challenges and Opportunities of the Future Remote Hybrid Working Model 2021,5 pointing out that the total number of global e-mail threat increased by 4.4% in 2020 and by 56.3% in 2019. Box 7.6 QR Code as a New Carrier of Phishing Having been scanned and decoded by an intelligent device, QR code becomes an accessible Uniform Resource Locator (URL). URL probably leads users to phishing websites or malware posing as apps. QR code provides attackers with a new and diversified phishing strategy. In October 2021, attackers used a stolen Microsoft 365 account and sent e-mails with voice messages to employees of the same company. In order to listen to the voice messages, employees scanned the QR code as prompted and entered a login page. Attackers can obtain employees’ login credentials on Microsoft 365 via the page. Attackers also adopted the strategy to invade higher-level accounts to gain more authorities. In December 2021, hackers disguised as German financial institutions made valid emails, which contained logos and information in alignment with the emails sent by these financial institutions earlier, attached with QR codes, as well as instructions agreeing to change data privacy for non-urgent actions. QR codes in these emails were linked to a malicious URL, on which unsuspecting users entered their banking login credentials.

5

Capgemini Research Institute: Challenges and Opportunities of the Future Remote Hybrid Working Model 2021, https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Future-of-Work1.pdf.

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7.3.2 Risks and Challenges in Key Industries of Cybersecurity Continue to Emerge 1. The Protection of Cloud Computing Security Calls for Strong Team and Tool Support As the 2022 Cybersecurity Report 6 released by Check Point suggested, the rate of the migration and deployment of cloud platform went beyond the protection capabilities of security teams. More than 80% of organizations viewed that traditional security solutions either completely disaccord with the status quo, or provided very limited protection in the cloud environment. This gave opportunities for attackers. According to 2022 State of Cloud Native Security Report 7 published by Palo Alto Networks, in the COVID-19 pandemic, overall utilization rate of cloud by organizations rose by more than 25%, yet the budget for cloud amounted to less than ten million U.S. dollars. 55% of organizations failed to take effective measures on cloud security. Among these organizations that mainly relied on open-source security tools, 80% of them performed poorly in security. In 2021, nearly three quarters of organizations used ten or less than ten security tools. The number of organization that used security tools increased significantly over 2020. 2. The Cyberattacks on IoV Continually Grow IoV serves as an important critical information infrastructure in the field of transportation. The risks and threats to IoV cybersecurity arouse great attention. In Automotive Cybersecurity Management System released by the U. N. World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP29), the threats to IoV cybersecurity are categorized into six types, i.e. communication security threat, data (code) security threat, potential vulnerability-exploitation threat, external connection security threat, background server security threat and security threats caused by user’s behaviors. As the research data from Upstream, a cybersecurity service provider in the automobile industry, show, cybersecurity threat in the automotive ecology proves worrisome. The cyberattack on global IoV displays a growing trend. From 2018 to 2021, the frequency of cyberattack on IoV increased by 225%. In cybersecurity incidents in automobile industry publicly reported in 2020 and 2021, communication security threat and data (code) security threat were two cybersecurity risks that occurred most frequently.8 In 2021, Iranian transport sectors suffered from continuous cyberattacks. The railway system was invaded, and Iran’s IoV data was sold on dark web. In Israel, two major public transport companies were attacked by ransomware, which caused data leakage on dark web, with the websites closed. 6

Data Source: 2022 Cybersecurity Report published by Check Point, https://pages.checkpoint.com/ cyber-security-report-2022. 7 Data Source: 2022 State of Cloud Native Security Report published by Palo Alto Networks, https:// www.paloaltonetworks.com/state-of-cloud-native-security. 8 Data Source: 2022 Global Internet of Vehicles Cybersecurity Report published by Upstream.

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3. Industrial Control Environment Becomes the Target of Cyber Criminals With the digital development of industrial control, OT (operational technology) and IT (information technology) networks are deeply integrated. Now, with OT system connected to the Internet, the number of cyberattack on OT system grows. In June 2022, Fortinet published the 2022 State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity Report.9 As stated, in the past 12 months, 93% of OT systems experienced hacker’s invasion, and 78% of OT systems suffered more than three times of invasion. Specifically, 90% of the invasion cost several hours or more to restore services. These invasions interrupted the production and operation of c. 50% of OT systems. Additionally, one third of respondents ascertained that corporate revenue, data loss, compliance and brand value were also impaired by cyberattacks. The report argued that the lack of centralized visibility of OT activities induced a significant increase in cybersecurity risks, and that only 13% of respondents achieved centralized visibility of all OT activities. 4. The Frequency of Cyberattacks on Software Supply Chain Rises Sharply According to the 2022 Cyber Security Report 10 released by Check Point, in 2021, cyberattacks on the software supply chain featured high frequency and large scale, with an increase of more than 650%. In 2021, represented by SolarWind, a cyberattack incident in supply chain, the number of cyberattack on software supply chain showed an upward trend, nearly six times that of 2020. According to the latest research data of British NCC Group, in the second half of 2021, the number of cyberattack on software supply chain increased by 51%. 36% of enterprises said that they should bear more responsibilities for the prevention, monitoring and treatment of the attacks on supply chain, and 53% of enterprises believed that enterprises and suppliers should bear equal responsibilities. Besides, integrating suppliers into the enterprise’s infrastructure intensified cyber risks. The security gap in supply chain caused the leakage of customer data and became the source of ransomware attacks. Attackers also tended to focus on the enterprise’s suppliers. 5. Data Security in Metaverse Becomes a Hot Research Topic In 2021, the idea of metaverse swept across the globe, and its security received wide attention in the academic circle. Amazon released the report From Cognition to Practice: The Application of Metaverse 2022,11 noting that various behaviors of individuals in the metaverse were monitored in real time, which continuously generated private data of individuals. Yet, the ownership, use right and storage right 9 Data Source: 2022 State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity Report published by Fortinet, June 2022, https://www.fortinet.com/resources-campaign/research-papers/2022-the-stateof-operational-technology-and-cybersecurity. 10 Data Source: 2022 Cyber Security Report published by Check Point, https://pages.checkpoint. com/cyber-security-report-2022. 11 Data Source: From Cognition to Practice: The Application of Metaverse 2022 published by Amazon, https://aws.amazon.com/cn/campaigns/ps-goglobal/ps-metaverse-application/?sc_cha nnel=ps&sc_campaign=acquisition_CN&sc_country=cn&sc_geo=chna&sc_category=pc&trk Campaign=metaverse-application-ps&trk=metaversepage-meta-app.

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of data were separated from each other, which produces the risk of privacy leakage. In June 2022, European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) published the report Metaverse: Opportunities, Risks and Policy Implications.12 As mentioned, currently, cybersecurity challenges, such as phishing, malware and hacker attacks, continued to exist and would extend to software & hardware devices that supported metaverse. The flow of massive data in the metaverse as well as the way they were used posed greater risks to users.

7.4 Various Countries Constantly Strengthen Strategic Planning and Deploy Major Tasks in the Field of Cybersecurity Nowadays, the wave of digital development is interwoven with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitics. Various countries and regions in the world boost the development of information technology, attach more importance to cybersecurity, constantly enhance the strategic position of cybersecurity, sustainably strengthen the strategic layout of cybersecurity, and build more secure and reliable cybersecurity guarantee systems to cope with the situation of cybersecurity that becomes increasingly complex and severe.

7.4.1 Solidifying the Strategic Position of Cybersecurity In order to address the threats and challenges to cybersecurity, various countries and regions in the world continuously improve strategic plans for cybersecurity, enhance the dominant role of governments in cybersecurity work, and actively augment their influences and voices in the field of cybersecurity. In July 2021, Russia approved the new-edition National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, which clarified cybersecurity as new national strategic priority. In September 2021, German Bundeskabinett approved The Strategy for Cybersecurity 2021, which functioned as Germany’s cybersecurity framework in the next five years, delineated the basic and long-term direction of cybersecurity policies of Bundeskabinett, and set new cybersecurity priorities. In October 2021, Singaporean government released newedition Cyber Security Strategy, which established main actions to be taken in the field of cybersecurity in the next five years, including building elastic infrastructure, creating secure cyberspace, strengthening international cyberspace cooperation, constructing vibrant cybersecurity ecology, and forging effective cybersecurity talent-training channel. In January 2022, the United Kingdom published Government 12

Data Source: Metaverse: Opportunities, Risks and Policy Implications published by European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), June 2022, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/ document/EPRS_BRI(2022)733557.

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Cyber Security Strategy: 2022 to 2030, which aimed to augment the authority of the United Kingdom as a cyber power. Its core goal is to significantly strengthen the key functions of the government in case of cyberattacks by 2025, and to ensure all governmental agencies in public sectors can resist known vulnerabilities and attack methods by 2030. In February 2022, State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (DSSZZI) announced to adopt The Plan on the Implementation of Ukraine’s Cyber Security Strategy. The priorities included introducing effective cyber defense, combating subversive activities in cyberspace, and ensuring the security of digital services. In March 2022, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) of France released 2022–2024 Strategic Plan, which established three key topics: facilitating the control and respect of individual rights, promoting General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as a trusted asset of organizations, and giving priority to taking targeted regulatory actions against high-risk privacy issues. In May 2022, Italy released Italian National Cyber Security Strategy 2022–2026 and Italian National Cyber Security Strategy Implementation Plan 2022–2026, which proposed five countermeasures for cybersecurity threats: ensuring the cyber resilience for public sectors and industrial digital transformation, achieving national and European digital strategic autonomy, predicting the evolution of cybersecurity threats, establishing effectual cybersecurity crisis management mechanism, and tackling online false information related to mixed threats.

7.4.2 Optimizing Cybersecurity Management and Guaranteeing Organizational Structure Various countries and regions continuously explore and promote the construction of cybersecurity guarantee capability, and pool the efforts of governments in cybersecurity management and guarantee to cope with the complex and unstable cybersecurity situation in the future, by adjusting and optimizing cybersecurity management and guaranteeing organizational structure. The United States, Europe and other countries and regions constantly optimize institutional adjustment and mechanism reform, hoping to establish efficient cybersecurity response systems to address challenges to national cybersecurity. In June 2021, the European Commission announced the establishment of a multi-party cyber department to coordinate joint response to large-scale cyberattacks on the EU member states. In August 2021, the Brazilian government announced to set up National Council for the Protection of Personal Data and Privacy (CNPD), which was responsible for formulating the application guidelines for dataprotection rules. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the United States declared the founding of Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), which sought to promote cooperation among federal agencies, private sectors and state & local governments prior to cyberattacks. JCDC would coordinate national cyber defense, share the research and judgment on threats, and participate in joint exercises. In February 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced

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to establish Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), which was in charge of reviewing and evaluating major cybersecurity incidents and making strategic recommendations to the president and the secretary of DHS. Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation sets up industrial cybersecurity center, which will investigate the organizers of cyberattacks and disclose cybercriminal groups, so as to protect the national information system from cyberattacks. In March 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States established Virtual Assets Unit (VAU) to collaborate with newly-founded National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) of Department of Justice on combating criminal acts of illegal misuse of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, especially cyberattacks and ransomware attacks. In April 2022, the U.S. Department of State formally established Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP) to address the challenges to national security from cyberspace, digital technologies and digital policies. In May 2022, Russian president Putin signed The Presidential Decree on Additional Measures to Ensure the Information Security of Russia, which required the establishment of information security departments in governmental departments, institutions and backbone organizations to ensure the information security of Russia.

7.5 Cybersecurity Industry Maintains a Trend of Healthy Development In recent years, cybersecurity incidents occur frequently, which objectively drives the development of global cybersecurity industry. The market scale of cybersecurity industry keeps growing. Particularly, cybersecurity insurance industry maintains a high compound annual growth rate and becomes a new hot field in cybersecurity industry. Cybersecurity investment and financing remain active. In the future, cybersecurity industry has good prospects.

7.5.1 The Market Scale of Cybersecurity Industry Continues to Grow According to IDC Worldwide Security Spending Guide (2022, v1),13 in 2021, the total investment in cybersecurity-related hardware, software and services in the world exceeded 150 billion U.S. dollars, which would rise to 223.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, with a five-year CAGR of 10.4%, as estimated. According to the data released by Gartner, in 2021, global cybersecurity expenditure increased by 13%, reaching 172 billion U.S. dollars. As Gartner predicts, from 2022 to 2023, global demand for cybersecurity industry will grow by 11%. In 2022, enterprises spend 77 billion U.S. 13

Data Source: IDC Worldwide Security Spending Guide (2022, v1) published by IDC, March 2022, https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prCHC48961122.

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dollars on cybersecurity. Additionally, according to SkyQuest’s statistics, in 2020, the market scale of global cybersecurity realized 149.67 billion U.S. dollars, which would reach 304.91 billion U.S. dollars in 2027, as predicted.

7.5.2 Cybersecurity Insurance Industry Becomes a New Hot Field in Cybersecurity Industry In recent years, frequent cybersecurity incidents cause huge losses to enterprises and organizations, and objectively stimulate the growth of expenditure on cybersecurity of global enterprises. Besides, the demand for cybersecurity insurance substantially increases, which triggers the rapid development of related industries. According to the survey of Pricewaterhouse Coopers,14 69% of organizations considered that the expenditure on cybersecurity would increase in 2022, while the proportion reached 55% in 2021. 26% of respondents forecasted that the expenditure on cybersecurity would increase by 10% or more. As McKinsey estimated, global expenditure on cybersecurity insurance would soar from 12.47 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 to 37.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2030, with a CAGR of 21.8%. As Munich Re Group predicts,15 by 2025, the market scale of global cybersecurity insurance will reach c. 20 billion U.S. dollars. Additionally, the increase of the expenditure on cybersecurity insurance boosts the continuous rise of the premium of cybersecurity insurance. Marsh, an insurance broker and risk management corporation, released global insurance market index. As the index suggested, in the United States, the premium price of cybersecurity insurance rose by 96% in the third quarter of 2021, and grew significantly in the fourth quarter of the year. The premium prices of cybersecurity insurance jumped by 130% and 92% in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively.

7.5.3 Cybersecurity Investment and Financing Remain Active In 2022, the number of cybersecurity financing increased remarkably over 2021. According to relevant data, after a short-time fluctuation in 2020, there were 1,042 financing events in the global digital security industry, up by 43% over 2020. The United States has the bigger number of capital activities in the field of global digital security. In 2021, there were 567 financing events in the field of digital security in the United States, followed by China (160), Israel (135) and the United Kingdom (84). In 2021, there were around 553 M&A events in the field of global digital security, with a total amount of 77.5 billion U.S. dollars, up by 295% over 2020, which hit a new 14

Data Source: 2022 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey published by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/cybersecurity/global-digital-trust-insights.html. 15 Data Source: Cybersecurity Insurance: Risks and Development Trends in 2020 published by Munich Re Group.

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record in history. In the segments, the numbers of M&A transactions in data security governance & compliance, managed security service, threat detection & response, zero trust and other fields rank the top. In terms of the investment scale to cybersecurity, the growth rate of maintains a high level. According to the statistical data of CrunchBase, barring China, in 2021, the scale of global venture investment in cybersecurity reached 21.8 billion U.S. dollars, with an increase of 144.94% over 2020 and a three-year CAGR of 54.60%. Wedbush Securities, a wealth management company, observes that as the level of cyberattack improves significantly, science & technology investors should turn to cybersecurity providers that develop fast and lead the market. In 2021, cybersecurity industry seized the opportunity to accelerate growth and would increase by c. 25% in 2022.

7.6 Phased Breakthroughs Are Made in Cybersecurity-Technology Innovation Backed by governments, enterprises and other forces, new breakthroughs are made in cybersecurity-technology innovation. In cutting-edge technologies like metaverse and privacy computing, research findings continue to appear. 5G-security test advances in an orderly manner. The significant progress in the field of post-quantum cryptography better guarantees the cybersecurity of secure communication and data protection, as estimated.

7.6.1 5G Cybersecurity Evaluation Makes Headway In November 2021, Verizon and Lockheed Martin signed a cooperation agreement on 5G.MIL-technology development, to jointly develop automation test cases, evaluate the cybersecurity and vulnerability of all 5G components and interfaces, determine the cyber resilience of its 5G solution in the entire lifecycle, and ensure the secure and reliable connection of the U.S. Department of Defense. In December 2021, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL) of Brazil and Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG) cooperated in relevant research on 5G cybersecurity. In January 2022, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) of the United States announced to launch STB, a security test and verification platform dedicated to commercial 5G network. STB was jointly constructed by CTIA, wireless, technological and academic organizations, and applied to corporate 5G network, autonomous vehicle and other fields.

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7.6.2 Major Breakthroughs Are Achieved in the Cybersecurity of Post-quantum Cryptography In the era of feasible quantum computer, cybersecurity attracts the widest attention. The computing power of the quantum computer is powerful enough to break traditional algorithms and access sensitive data. In August 2021, researchers from Technische Universität München designed and commissioned the production of chips that aimed to realize post-quantum cryptography, so as to prevent hackers from using quantum computers to decrypt communications. In February 2022, Infineon, a German semiconductor corporation, launched the first chip that used post-quantum encryption technology to update firmware. In April 2022, IBM released IBM z16, the first post-quantum security system in the industry, which protected data and systems from the current and future threats. LG U + , a South Korean mobile operator, launches the first dedicated-line service in post-quantum cryptography in the world. When customers transmit or receive data via the dedicated line, they can use the post-quantum cryptography to encrypt or decrypt the data to prevent hackers from using quantum computers to launch attacks. In July 2022, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States announced the first series of anti-quantum computer algorithms, or four algorithms (i.e. Crystals-Kyber, CrystalsDilithium, Falcon and SPHINCS + ), to stop future hackers from using quantum computers to launch attacks. This marks a major progress in protecting digital information in the post-quantum world and an important milestone in protecting sensitive data from possible cyberattacks on quantum computer in the future.

7.6.3 Privacy Computing Develops Toward Technological Security and Platform Interconnectivity As an important technology to effectively mitigate the threats to current data security and personal privacy disclosure, privacy computing developed rapidly in recent years. In May 2022, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard Association (IEEE SA) formally approved the project of international standard P3169 “Privacy Computing Security Requirements”, which aimed to clarify the security risks, requirements for security capability classification and use cases of different privacy-computing technologies, and guide the application and implementation of privacy- computing security. In June 2022, the first compiling group for international standard IEEE P3117 for privacy computing interconnectivity in the world was formally established to formulate the standards. The formulation of IEEE P3117

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provides technological standards for cross-platform interconnectivity, accelerates the consensus on interconnectivity in the industrial circle, effectively reduces the cost of multi-party collaboration, and sweeps the barriers to the development of private computing industry owing to the uneven technological standards, which enables data value to be released safely and efficiently in privacy computing and crossplatform collaborative computing, and forms the network for global data intelligent circulation.

7.7 Remarkable Results Are Achieved in the Training of Talents and the Improvement of Skills in the Field of Cybersecurity In recent years, the shortage of cybersecurity talents evokes global attention, and the problem of the lack of human resources and talent supply in corporate security teams remains unsolved. Governments of various countries take major measures such as accelerating the training of cybersecurity talents, offsetting current cybersecurity risks, and providing human resources. The trend that governments dominate the training of cybersecurity talents becomes more prominent. Enterprises play an important role in promoting the training of cybersecurity talents. The innovation on training model and the improvement of training intensity solve the existing problem of insufficient talents and unsatisfactory skills to some degree.

7.7.1 Global Gap in Cybersecurity Talents Remains Huge According to the 2021 Cybersecurity Workforce Study16 released by (ISC)2 , the largest non-profit information security membership organization in the world, in 2021, the global gap in cybersecurity talent dropped to 2.72 million in 2021, from 3.12 million in 2020. In terms of posts related to cybersecurity, more than 199,000 professional talents were wanted in Europe, 1.42 million were wanted in the Asia Pacific Region, 701,000 were wanted in Latin America, and 402,000 were wanted in North America. In June 2022, U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission released Workforce Development Agenda for the National Cyber Director, stating that more than 600,000 cybersecurity vacancies in the United States would continuously pose a potential threat to national security. According to the data released by Cybersecurity Ventures,17 in the past eight years, the number of global cybersecurity vacancies increased by 350%, from one million in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021. In 2022 The 16

Data Source: 2021 Cybersecurity Workforce Study published by (ISC)2 , November 2021, https:// www.isc2.org/Research/Workforce-Study. 17 Data Source: Global Cybersecurity Talents Report published by Cybersecurity Ventures, November 2021.

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State of Cyber Assets Report, Jupiter One asserted that the enterprise’s security team was understaffed, with an average of 0.106 cybersecurity professional per American corporate entity, and each security team was responsible for guaranteeing more than 165,000 cyber assets. Figure 7.2 shows the gap in global cybersecurity talent from 2018 to 2021, and Table 7.1 shows the gap in cybersecurity talent in some countries in 2020 and 2021. Fig. 7.2 The gap in global cybersecurity talent from 2018 to 2021

Table 7.1 The gap in cybersecurity talent in some countries in 2020 and 2021. Unit: 10,000 People

Country Australia

2020

2021

2.7

2.5

Brazil

33.2

44.1

Canada

1.7

2.5

France

2.8

2.8

The Netherlands

2.0

2.2

Germany

6.2

6.8

19.6

26.0

Japan

9.2

4.0

Singapore

1.8

1.6

South Korea

4.4

3.5

Spain

2.9

3.8

Ireland

0.2

1.0

The United Kingdom

2.7

3.3

35.9

37.7

Mexico

The United States Data Source (ISC)2

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7.7.2 The Trend that Governments Play a Leading Role in Cybersecurity Talents Training Becomes More Obvious In order to enhance public awareness of cybersecurity and cultivate talents in cybersecurity, the America Competes Act of 2022 proposes to formulate and implement cybersecurity capability enhancement plan, popularize the knowledge on cybersecurity, augment public awareness of cybersecurity, and reduce cybersecurity risks. The Act provides corresponding resources for research institutions to strengthen cybersecurity, implement national cybersecurity awareness & education plan, and prevent competitors from stealing technological secrets with cyber technologies. The United States consolidates the education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM for short), coordinates educational plans for various types of cybersecurity talents, draws up Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act, continually strengthens the training of cybersecurity talents, and further improves the capabilities of cybersecurity talents. In December 2021, British government released 2022 National Cyber Strategy, which proposed to significantly increase the number of cyber-technology experts by 2025 to ensure that the polices on education and skill meet the actual needs. In order to implement 2022 National Cyber Strategy, the United Kingdom launches “Cyber Explorer Program”, which gives free training of cyber skills for middle school students. Its purpose is to provide 30,000 young people aged 11 to 14 with a series of education of the idea cybersecurity, such as open-source intelligence, digital forensics and social engineering. In this way, student can learn the knowledge on cybersecurity in advance and have diverse options in computer courses. In August 2022, Jen Easterly, director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the United States, claimed that the newly-founded Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) would help federal employees improve their cybersecurity skills and develop career plan focusing on the cyber field.

7.7.3 The Training of Cybersecurity Talents Continuously Improves The training of cybersecurity talents in universities and enterprises plays an important role. In universities, in July 2021, Lewis-Clark State College opened the secondround free cybersecurity training courses to improve the skills of veterans, current IT workers and those to be engaged in IT. In this way, they can meet skill requirements. In August 2021, the University of Texas (UT) of the United States announced that it would develop new short-term certificates in the cyber fields to strengthen the skills of cybersecurity talents in the United States. Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) at the University of Texas at San Antonio would provide elementary cyber education and training and improve the cybersecurity skills of more than one million workers nationwide. Simultaneously, Whatcom Community

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College declared that, designated as the National Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Technology Education of the National Science Foundation of the United States, it would provide cybersecurity education and training for teachers in the United States and support student’s employment-related projects. In August 2021, American scientific & technological enterprises successively introduced policies on the training of cybersecurity talents. Google promised to train 100,000 staff engaged in data analysis, privacy and security via Google Career Certificate Program. IBM admitted that it would train 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills in the next three years, and cooperate with more than 20 community colleges in establishing cybersecurity leadership centers. Amazon announced that it would provide free training on public awareness of cybersecurity. Code.org, a public welfare organization for computer science popularization, proclaimed that it would popularize the idea of cybersecurity to more than three million students in three years, including two million students from kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12), and launch new series of video for teaching cybersecurity for one million students of all ages. In October 2021, Microsoft decided to invest tens of millions of U.S. dollars to train around 250,000 cybersecurity workers in the next four years. It would provide free cybersecurity courses to community colleges nationwide, and cooperate with 150 universities in providing scholarships, assistance and training materials. Additionally, NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence organized 2022 “Locked Shields” Cyber Attack-Defense Exercise, Pwn2Own Hacker Competition and other important events in the field of cybersecurity, which played an important role in the training of cybersecurity talents. Box 7.7 More Than 2,000 Security Experts Participating in 2022 “Locked Shields” Cyber Attack-Defense Exercise In April 2022, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) organized 2022 “Locked Shields” Cyber Attack-Defense Exercise in Tallinn, in which more than 2,000 security experts from 32 countries participated. 2022 “Locked Shields” boasted the largest exercise of its kind. Since 2010, CCDCOE has staged annual “Locked Shields” exercise, which aims to test the capabilities of cyber defense personnel to protect cyber information systems and critical information infrastructure in case of cyberattacks. 2022 “Locked Shields” exercise involved 27 NATO member states, five non-member states (e.g. Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Finland and Sweden), as well as enterprises and cooperation organizations like Siemens, Microsoft, TalTech, SpaceIT, Fortinet, Arctic Security and CR14. 2022 “Locked Shields” Cyber Attack-Defense Exercise adopted the confrontation model of red and blue teams, which comprised cybersecurity experts from CCDCCOE member states and partners. In 2022, 24 blue teams partook in “Locked Shields” Cyber Attack-Defense Exercise, which played the role of national cyber rapid response teams to help the “virtual countries” to tackle cyber events, so as to protect important IT systems and critical information infrastructure of the “virtual countries”. Red teams consisted of NATO

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Cybersecurity Center, allies and industrial experts, which were responsible for conducting multiple complex cyberattacks on the targets. In the exercise, the participant teams not only protected huge and complex cyber physical systems, but also practiced tactical and strategic decision-making, cooperation and command systems in the time of crisis. In the whole process, they must address legal problems and face the challenges posed by information operations.

Chapter 8

World Rule-of-Law Construction in Cyberspace

8.1 Outline In 2022, under the dual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, global economic growth remained sluggish, and supply chain faced the risk of rupture. Major countries strengthened the legislation in cyberspace, expanded the power and scope of governmental regulation, solidified the crackdown on cybercrime, the implementation of anti-monopoly and the protection of intellectual property rights, actively explored the legal regulatory path in emerging science & technology fields, and adapted to new situation of cyberspace development. Over the past year, in terms of rule-of-law construction in major countries in the world, there were four features of overall situation. Firstly, major countries attached great importance to the sovereign security in cyberspace, and relevant legislations mushroomed. The United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia and other countries and regions actively promoted national cybersecurity strategies and the legislative process of critical information infrastructure security, and commonly regarded cyber warfare and information warfare as important policy objectives to maintain the sovereign security in cyberspace. Simultaneously, major countries successively boosted domestic legislation on data security and review mechanism of cross-border data security, and removed institutional barriers to cross-border transmission of regional and bilateral data, on the premise of protecting citizen’s personal privacy & information and achieving national security. Secondly, in order to cope with the development of cybercrimes, various countries generally made new regulatory sanctions by legislative means. In the legislation of cyberspace governance, various countries focused on combating group-based and international cybercrimes, strengthening the regulatory obligations of cyber platforms, and improving the protection of special groups. It formed a global trend for cyber platforms to undertake responsibilities for users’ behaviors. In various countries, national legislation clarified that enterprises must cooperate with governments in bolstering Internet content management to achieve the protection of special groups.

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Thirdly, anti-monopoly and IP protection played a major role in maintaining the order of cyber economy. While serving as quasi-critical infrastructure, super-large Internet platforms saw the monopoly risk in restricting healthy market competition and infringing the legitimate rights & interests of consumers. Therefore, legislators in various countries accelerated the legislation on anti-monopoly among platforms. Meanwhile, in the process of product R&D and commercial competition, scientific & technological enterprises encountered frequent disputes over IPs, and various countries attempted to strike new balance between obligees and users. Besides, ITFIN developed rapidly, and various countries voluntarily explored the regulatory model of ITFIN. Fourthly, with the fast development of science and technology, the legislative response to new fields like digital assets and AI proved inadequate. IT industries like blockchain and AI aroused wide attention, and the demand for institutional supply of emerging industries kept growing. The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Singapore placed a high premium on the formulation of technological standards for relevant industries, restricting and regulating the application of information technology to key industries, such as finance, government affairs and medical care. While encouraging and exploring the specific application models of blockchain, AI and other technologies, various countries continued to improve the regulatory requirements and prohibitions for the secure application of related technologies.

8.2 The Situation of Cybersecurity Becomes Serious, with the Legislation on Cyber Sovereignty Intensified Since the coming of information age, the connotation and extension of national sovereignty further expand. As cyberspace gradually approaches the physical space of human activities, cyber sovereignty constitutes an important part of national sovereignty. In practice, various countries extend national sovereignty to cyberspace. Albeit differences in ideas and methods, various countries eventually return to the track of legalization. With legislative authorization, various countries gradually amplify their powers in cyber sovereign and security, including formulating the rules on personal information protection, supervising the use of relevant data, maintaining critical information infrastructure, and cracking down on cybercrimes.

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8.2.1 Safeguarding the Sovereign Security in Cyberspace and Strengthening the Management of Critical Infrastructure Hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recession and geopolitical conflict, various countries attach more attention to cybersecurity, ensure their influence and control in the field of cyberspace, and keep a lookout for foreign country’s infiltration and influence. Accordingly, cybersecurity becomes the primary goal in national cyberspace governance. European countries highlight the power in cyberspace regulation, clarify administrative regulatory power in legislation, and optimize regulatory fields, procedures and methods. In July 2021, Spain promulgated The Charter of Digital Rights, which emphasized the enhancement of its cybersecurity from the perspective of individual rights. In October 2021, the European Parliament adopted Resolution on the State of EU Cyber Defence Capabilities, which aimed to coordinate the response to cyberattacks at the EU level, promote the cooperation in strategic intelligence in the field of cyber threats, and improve EU’s overall cyber defense capabilities. The United Kingdom released the new-edition Digital Regulation Plan, which involved a systematic digital-activity regulation plan for governments, professional regulators, enterprises and other institutions, and strengthened cyberspace regulation by means of industrial self-regulation, codes of conduct and legislative rules. Asian countries commonly focus on the prevention of cyber risks, give governments more power related to cybersecurity in legislation, and determine the key directions and fields for the prevention of cyber risks. In September 2021, Japan released the draft of Strategies for Cyber Security, which listed “specific countries” (including China, Russia and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) as cybersecurity threats, hoping to strengthen Japan’s overall cyberspace security guarantee capability by consolidating the cooperation with the U.S. cyber forces. In October 2021, Parliament of Singapore passed Anti-Foreign Interference Law, which included the acts of foreign forces interfering in domestic affairs by using cyber tools into the scope of criminal regulation, and granted relevant authorities to governmental departments, allowing Singaporean authorities to order Internet platforms and service providers to screen and delete hostile Internet content. In addition to stressing their cybersecurity, various countries augment the autonomy of critical infrastructure in cyberspace by implementing national standards in a legislative way. This also signals an important measure for various countries to strengthen their cyberspace sovereignty. In July 2021, the United States released the National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems, which required the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other institutions in formulating security standards for critical infrastructure in cyberspace. In September 2021, CISA and NIST responded to the requirements in above-stated memorandum, and enacted and issued Cybersecurity Performance Objectives for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems, aiming

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to foster the standardization of critical infrastructure for national defense objectives. In December 2021, Australia approved Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Act 2021. The amendment adds additional security protection obligations for control institutions of critical infrastructure, expands the subjects of obligations to communication, finance, education, medical care, transportation and other fields, and implements mandatory security reporting, daily risk inspection and other measures. Simultaneously, various countries introduce government-assistance mechanism to empower governments to take effective measures before the occurrence of cybersecurity incidents. Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree, prohibiting all state agencies and semi-governmental entities from purchasing foreign software for critical infrastructure projects without authorization, and completely forbidding any governmental agencies or users to use foreign software in critical information infrastructure projects from January 1, 2025.

8.2.2 Strengthening the Protection of User’s Information and Privacy and Launching Data and Cybersecurity Governance Simultaneously Various countries generally strengthen the protection of users’ information and privacy, and conduct data & cybersecurity governance simultaneously. Although protection measures in major countries vary, they embody common laws. In the United States, the legislation on personal information protection has shifted from state and local experiments to federal unified legislation. In July 2021, State of Colorado issued Colorado Privacy Act. In October 2021, State of California signed Genetic Information Privacy Act, which specifically regulated the collection of consumer’s personal information by gene testing companies, and emphasized consumer’s rights to revoke and delete consent. Federal Trade Commission of the United States updated Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information, in which normative content on financial institution’s access to and collection of personal information was added, and relevant liabilities for violations were confirmed. At the level of the federal government, by August 2021, or the adjournment of Congress of the United States, the House of Representatives had proposed 12 privacy bills, and the Senate had proposed 18 privacy bills, a total of 30 privacy bills. In Europe, various countries speed up strengthening cross-border data flow. In September 2021, Datatilsynet of Norway issued an updated guideline for the outbound transfer of personal data, which required that all transfers of personal data to countries, regions and international organizations outside the European Economic Area must have a legal basis and pass national security review. In October 2021, Danish Data Protection Agency (DPA) issued The Guidelines on Supervising Data Processors. The Guidelines clarified such issues as what was proper supervision, how to supervise and when to supervise, and established an indicative model via six supervisory ideas and relevant scoring standards, so as to assess the risk level of data

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processors when processing personal data. In December 2021, Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) released Regulatory Strategy 2022–2027, which set five strategic objectives, including improving the awareness of personal data protection. In March 2022, French Data Protection Authority published Practice Guidelines for Data Protection Officers to help organizations appoint and train data protection officers. The Guidelines combined theoretical knowledge with best industrial practices and focused on how to ensure that data protection officers can perform their functions independently. In May 2022, Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom released The Guidelines for International Data Transmission, which stated that if personal data would be transferred to the third country outside the European Union or European Economic Area, additional requirements would be applied for inspection. In Asia, various countries mainly legislate against violations that infringe on personal information-related rights, and increase the obligations of relevant subjects that own and process personal information. In January 2022, South Korea revised The Personal Information Protection Law again. On the basis of unifying the provisions on personal information protection and establishing Personal Information Protection Commission, the Law further added measures for personal information protection under specific circumstances, including but not limited to the regulations on crossborder data flow, the review mechanism of privacy policies, the right to refuse in automated decision-making, the right to carry data, etc. Compared with European and American countries, the protection of personal information and privacy in Asian countries is deeply restricted by national or regional histories, cultures as well as specific conditions. In terms of regulation, Asian countries generally place emphasis on expanding obligation systems and stopping illegal acts. This lags behind European countries in the protection of rights and the diverse systems of scenes.

8.2.3 Adjusting the Organizational Regulations of Cybersecurity Departments and Enhancing the Control on Key Industrial Chains Coming to realize that traditional governance systems cannot effectively cope with new situations in cyberspace, various countries start to integrate & optimize traditional departments and establish new departments, in order to better manage cyberspace, achieve the security of cyber sovereignty and safeguard domestic development interests. The United States sets up a special department on cybersecurity information to coordinate the development of cybersecurity and independent industries. According to the roadmap clarified in the Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2021, in April 2022, Biden administration announced to establish Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, which comprised Unit of International Cyberspace Security, Unit of International Information and Communication Policy and Unit of Digital Freedom, responsible

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for three fields, i.e. national cyberspace security, information economy development and digital technology respectively. France re-integrates the functions and powers of Internet regulatory and IP protection institutions, and establishes new institutions to strengthen digital copyright protection and combat acts harmful to public interests such as inciting online hatred. In October 2021, France passed The Act of Regulation and Protection of Access to Cultural Works in the Digital Age. According to the Act, French Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet (HADOPI) was merged with French Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) to form a new regulatory agency. The agency takes charge of combating piracy, protecting the minors, and cracking down on online false and hatred information. Japan transfers the forces of multiple sectors and formulates laws on industrial security. In November 2021, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan organized the “Department of Legal Preparation for Economic Security Guarantee”, and transferred the strength of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and other departments (nearly 50 people), so as to accelerate the legislation. In May 2022, Diet of Japan passed The Economic Security Law, which involved four pillars, including chip and other important commodities, stable supply chain, and non-disclosure of sensitive technological patents. In regard to industrial chain security, various governments successively issue policies and regulations to enhance the control on industrial chains of key industries related to the national economy and people’s livelihood. In October 2021, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the United States released Infrastructure Resilience Planning Framework, which provided local & regional and private sectors with methods to jointly plan the security and resilience of critical infrastructure services and respond to multiple threats and changes. In December 2021, the Council of the European Union reached a consensus on the joint implementation of high-level cybersecurity measures across the EU, so as to further improve the cybersecurity resilience and incident response capabilities of the public and private sectors and the EU. In April 2022, Singapore announced its plan to promote technological innovation and strengthen cybersecurity resilience of its maritime industry. In May 2022, British Ministry of Defence released the Cyber Resilience Strategy for Defence, which outlined the vision of building a more powerful national defence with cyber resilience and solidified the UK’s strength in cyberspace.

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8.3 Cybercrimes Become Complex and Legal Sanctions Become Diverse 8.3.1 Combating Cybercrimes with Multiple Means and Purifying Cyber Environment in an All-Round Way In recent years, cybercrimes and illegal actions became typical, with large scale and systematic approach. Besides, the means to escape governmental regulation proved increasingly complex, which caused more serious social and personal losses. Therefore, major countries constantly legislate to strengthen combating cybercrimes. In March 2022, Japan released a new-edition Cybersecurity Strategy, which listed combating cybercrimes as a key strategic direction. In May 2022, the United States passed Better Cybercrime Metrics Act to comprehensively improve the federal government’s “way of tracking, measuring, analyzing and prosecuting cybercrimes”. Noteworthily, with the vigorous development of social media and platforms, it is a worldwide problem to combat illegal actions in the field of Internet information. Different from the United States, cybercrimes feature diverse scenes, and Europe focuses on Internet content per se in the governance. In July 2021, the EU adopted The Use of Technology to Process Data to Combat Online Child Sexual Abuse Materials, which provided special and high-level protection for children’s information and rights. Indian government issued The 2021 Version of Information Technology Rules (Intermediary Guidelines and Data Media Ethics), which aimed to develop guidelines for online intermediary platforms, regulate digital services market, and basically confirm the platform complaint handling mechanism, platform due diligence and deletion obligations, user rights protection and appeal mechanism, etc. At the national level, various countries lay stress on national sovereign security, shifting from traditional online technological framework to the combination of online technology and offline entity critical information infrastructure. At the social level, various countries focus on combating overt cybercrimes and governing covert social media content, among which collaborative governance of cross-border cybercrimes signals a development trend. In general, global Internet governance tends to be more systematic and standardized. Yet, these problems remain unsettled, such as the sovereignty conflict between governments, the structural contradiction between Internet platforms and individual users, and the wrestling between governmental power and private rights. This restricts the rule-of-law construction in cyberspace in the future.

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8.3.2 Constructing Administrative Responsibility System and Strengthening the Responsibilities of Internet Subjects Some states in the United States promote the legislation to reinforce the responsibilities of Internet platforms for content governance. In September 2021, State of Texas issued HB20, which amended Business and Trade Law, added the chapter of “Social Media Platforms”, and imposed the obligation of content review on social platforms with more than 50 million users. If social platforms improperly delete user content, Attorney General of Department of Justice and users can file a lawsuit against them. HB20 has not been implemented owing to the application of various social media to the Supreme Court for an injunction; however, the legislative trend of strengthening the responsibilities of Internet platforms on content management becomes prominent. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russia formulated a series of laws and regulations on news and information to further constrain news media and individuals. In March 2022, the Federation Council and the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia released The Law on the Responsibility of Armed Forces for Falsification, and revised The Federal Criminal Code and The Federal Code on Administrative Violations, so that those who firstly appealed against the use of armed forces in Russia or imposed sanctions on Russia would be fined. Various Countries commonly adopt legislation to strengthen the information sharing obligations of enterprises in terms of cyber violations, so as to accumulate experience in rectifying cyber violations and provide examples for other Internet users to prevent risks. In July 2021, Australia issued Ransomware Payments Bill 2021, which required blackmailed enterprises to report necessary blackmail information to Australian cybersecurity departments for governmental decision-making, and to share the information with other enterprises. In March 2022, the United States passed Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022, which required critical infrastructure operators to report cyberattacks and ransom software payments to Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the United States within 72 h.

8.3.3 Enhancing the Management of Internet Information Content and Highlighting the Protection of Rights and Interests of Special Groups In the United States, in practice, both the federal government and the states have legislated in the field of data privacy to strengthen preferential protection of special groups. At the level of federal government, in December 2021, the United States adopted K-12 Cybersecurity Act, which required Cybersecurity and Infrastructure

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Security Agency to reinforce the construction of cybersecurity systems and cybersecurity education in schools under grade 12. In May 2022, State of Connecticut introduced Connecticut Consumer Privacy Act, which demanded that the guardian’s consent must be obtained when collecting personal data of children under the age of 13, and that relevant standards of Children’s Privacy Protection Act shall not be bypassed when processing designated sensitive data of children. In Europe, relevant legislations of the EU and its member states attach more attention to the protection of the rights and interests of special groups like children and adolescents. In August 2021, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) of France offered eight recommendations on children privacy protection, which intended to promote the policies on digital citizenship education, create a digital environment respecting children’s rights and interests, and prevent children from being subjected to online bullying and online hatred because of improper data protection. In April 2022, the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission reached a consensus on Digital Services Act, which strengthened the content management obligations of social media platforms operating in Europe. The Act required social media platforms not only to control information dissemination involving IP infringements (e.g. counterfeit products), but also to remove pornography and terrorist content and protect online rights and interests of the minors. The United Kingdom also boosts the legislation on children cyber protection, and takes more stringent sanctions. In March 2022, Online Safety Bill was formally submitted to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which required that all websites that published or contained pornographic content must be strictly checked for identity to ensure users of these websites at least 18 years old. British government will not only impose a fine up to 10% of global income on illegal enterprises, but also investigate criminal responsibilities of senior executives of enterprises who deliberately violate the law.

8.4 The Weight of Digital Economy Rises and the Legislation on Market Supervision Intensifies The development of Internet economy serves as an important force in the recovery of global economy, yet raises new requirements for governance and reform. In the past year, various countries in the world augmented the legislation in the new digital era. Particularly, centering on digital economy and market law, they strengthened the construction of legal system, highlighted the construction of platform anti-monopoly, IP management and financial supervision systems, and introduced a number of laws and regulations.

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8.4.1 With Anti-monopoly Regulatory Measures Upgraded, the Competition in Digital Market Heats Up The European Union heightens the supervision of Internet platform enterprises, or the “key minority”, the main field in the EU’s legislation of cyber economy in the past year. In November 2021, the European Parliament reached an internal consensus on Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act that aimed to restrict Internet giants, clarifying the idea of “gatekeeper platform”, introducing quantitative indicators, and setting very specific positive obligations and independent regulatory paths for platforms. In March 2022, the European Union reached an agreement on Digital Markets Act, which broke the monopoly of technological corporations in multiple dimensions, established the rules on “gatekeeper” identification, forbade “gatekeeper scientific & technological corporations” to conduct vertical monopoly and bundled sales, and required these corporations to disclose advertising performance and pricing data, with the maximum penalty up to 20% of corporate global annual income. In April 2022, the European Union reached an agreement on Digital Services Act, which aimed to establish the codes of conduct for scientific & technological corporations to participate in cyber economy. New rules classify Internet platform enterprises according to their scale. For enterprises with larger scale and more complex service types, they bear heavier responsibilities, or undertake more than ten obligations, such as transparency reporting, assessment of the impact on basic rights and independent auditing. As a big country in digital economy, China always attaches importance to promoting the anti-monopoly legislation and regulatory enforcement on Internet platforms. In October 2021, State Administration for Market Regulation issued The Guidelines for the Classification and Grading of Internet Platforms (Draft for Comments) and The Guidelines for the Implementation of Subject Responsibilities of Internet Platforms (Draft for Comments). Complementing each other, the two documents mark the beginning of the idea of classification and grading supervision of Internet platforms in China. In November 2021, National Anti-Monopoly Bureau was officially founded, ushering in a new stage of anti-monopoly in China. According to the statistics of State Administration for Market Regulation, in the past year, China investigated and dealt with the “one out of two” monopoly cases in the field of cyber economy, with a number of Internet platform giants supervised in accordance with the law. 727 dispute cases of concentration of undertakings were concluded, including one prohibited case and four approved cases with additional restrictive conditions. The efficiencies of anti-monopoly legislation & supervision and law enforcement continuously improve. The United States also buttresses anti-monopoly legislation and enforcement in the field of cyber economy. On the one hand, the United States improves the antimonopoly legal system. In October 2021, senators from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party of the United States jointly proposed The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which aimed to prohibit large technological corporations

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from abusing their market dominant position to undermine competition and innovation momentum. On the other hand, the United States strengthens law-enforcement agencies via legislation. In June 2021, the United States passed Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021, which planned to increase the budgets for two major antimonopoly law-enforcement agencies in the United States. In the fiscal year 2022, the United States provided 252 million U.S. dollars and 418 million U.S. dollars respectively to Antitrust Division of Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

8.4.2 With IP Management Enhanced, the Protection of Digital Copyright is Normalized In the past year, various countries attached importance to strengthening the management of IP and the protection of digital copyright. They raised the efficiency of supervision and law-enforcement, further clarified and optimized the identification standards of infringements, solved the problems of digital copyright protection in combination with cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, and improved corresponding punitive system and information monitoring mechanism, in order to establish a full-process digital IP management & protection system. In the United States, the legislative and judicial policies on the IP protection favor the reasonable users of IP, in order to better serve scientific & technological innovation. United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) claimed that it would issue digital certificates for patent & trademark registration from 2022 to meet the needs of inventors and entrepreneurs who would seek IP protection from the USPTO. The long-standing “Copyright Case of the Century” between Google and Oracle was decided, ruling that Google’s use of the codes developed by Oracle to build Android OS for smartphones did not violate the federal copyright law. The significance of the case lies in that it clarifies the scope boundary of “fair use” in the Internet era, which helps to strike a balance between IP protection and technological innovation. While introducing new technologies to protect IP rights, the European Union energetically promotes the unification of patent review & protection mechanisms among the EU member states. In November 2021, the European Parliament adopted The EU Intellectual Property Action Plan and proposed a series of suggestions on the EU’s upcoming initiatives in the field of intellectual property. In protection mechanism, the Plan proposes to launch a single patent system, establish a unified patent system and patent court, and allow all EU member states to protect inventions by submitting a single patent application. The European Parliament also recommended the use of new technologies like AI and blockchain to further help combat crimes of counterfeiting and piracy. China takes great efforts to boost legislation and law enforcement. By revising The Copyright Law, China realizes the protection of intellectual achievements in the

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field of Internet information technology. Simultaneously, China carries out special rectification to combat IP infringement. In legislation, the new-edition The Copyright Law enlarges the types of works, further raises the maximum amount of legal compensation to five million yuan, and enhances the punishment on infringement. In law enforcement, China continuously executes “Sword at the Internet Campaign” (in 2021), and vigorously combats infringement and piracy in short video, online livestreaming, sports event, online education and other fields. In particular, the copyright order of sports events is included in the campaign, which forms constant deterrent to IP infringement.

8.4.3 Digital Finance Thrives and Various Countries Explore Regulatory Paths In the past year, backed by network infrastructure and digital technologies, various countries in the world actively applied digital technologies to improve financial services, enhance financial supervision, and prevent & address major financial risks. The United States adds the obligations of financial institutions to customers in digital finance, investigates consumer loans, and plans to introduce consumer- protection rules in digital finance. American financial supervision system operates at the federal and state levels, and American agencies constantly explore new models in license access and supervision. In the issues of financial security and cybersecurity, the U.S. Office of Comptroller of Currency (OCC) released Final Rules for Reporting Computer Security Incidents in November 2021, which required banking institutions to report any “significant” cybersecurity incidents within 36 h upon discovery, and notify customers “as soon as possible” when the incidents has had or may have a substantial impact on their customers within four hours or more. In December 2021, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) investigated five BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) credit service providers, i.e. Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal and Zip, requiring them to provide information on platform business models and consumer shopping habits. The investigation of these financial entities helps regulators to accumulate more experience in dealing with the risks of debt accumulation, regulatory arbitrage and data collection. As an emerging field, it is hard to supervise digital currency based on global Internet communication, owing to different laws and regulations in the judicial, financial and Fintech fields, as well as different ideas of private property protection. Therefore, preventing illegal activities such as money laundering with digital currency plays an important part in preventing financial risks. In 2021, the United States proposed 35 bills, which stressed the policies on cryptocurrency and blockchain, and covered the supervision of cryptocurrency, the application of blockchain technology as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Additionally, the United States vigorously explores and promotes the supervision of digital currency. In November 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched law-enforcement actions

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against Terraform Labs, the third largest stablecoin (Terra) development corporation in the world, as well as its chief executive officer, to investigate whether it violated the federal securities law. Shortly afterwards, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission again launched an investigation on Marathon Digital, a digital-asset-technology corporation, and asked the latter to provide the files and communication records of the Bitcoin “mining” data center. The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia passes The Digital Financial Assets Act, which allows the transactions of digital financial assets in Russia from 2021, yet prohibits cryptocurrency as a means of payment in Russia. The Act makes more detailed rules on the supervision of digital currency, clarifying that those who abuse digital currency to launder money will bear criminal responsibilities. In November 2021, Indian Central Government proposed a bill on cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021. The Bill supports Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to establish and issue official digital currency, attempting to ban all private cryptocurrencies in India. However, the Bill also allows for some exceptions to promote the development and application of basic technologies of cryptocurrency. In 2021, China started the policy of e-CNY, and successively released The Notice on Further Preventing and Handling the Speculation Risk of Virtual Currency Transactions and The Notice on Regulating the “Mining” Activities of Virtual Currency, to continuously strengthen the supervision of digital currency and cryptocurrency.

8.5 Technological Development Poses Challenges to Traditional Law and the Demand for Cyber Legislation in Various Countries Surges In 2021, various countries jostled for the development of cutting-edge industries related to the metaverse. The rapid development of scientific & technological industries poses new challenges to rule-of-law in cyberspace. In a way, the metaverse tries to construct new “social order”. Various countries reshape complex social relationship that arises from new social order by legislative means. Many countries start to use legal systems to determine the role division of the state, Internet technology platforms and individuals and clarify the rules on transactions and settlements. In terms of the development and utilization of AI and algorithms, various countries also put forward ethical and policy objectives. Given the widespread application of blockchain technology and digital currency, various countries regulate them with legal precedent and legislation.

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8.5.1 The Idea of Metaverse Emerges, with Priority Given to the Rule of Industrial Self-Discipline Presently, albeit no general consensus on metaverse among various circles, various countries commonly acknowledge its challenge to traditional legal systems. In the virtual “new world” that connects people in an unprecedented way, it is an urgent task for relevant parties to respond to right of personality as well as the nature and trading rules of virtual property in civil codes, in a scientific and systematic way in legislation. As an emerging field, the definition of metaverse per se stays at the initial stage. First and foremost, metaverse means not only a new technological revolution, but also an all-round reform that fuses NFT (Non-Fungible Token), AI, smart contract, IoT and other technologies and penetrates into many aspects of world economy and human life. Therefore, metaverse probably becomes a key field of the investment layout of governments and enterprises. Despite that various countries have not issued special regulations on metaverse, market entities in the Internet technology industry try to formulate rules. In June 2022, Metaverse Standards Forum, the first metaverse international standards alliance in the world, was officially established. It comprises 36 global giants in the technological industry, including Meta, Microsoft, Huawei, Alibaba, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Sony. Committed to constructing interoperability standards required for an open metaverse and promoting cross-industrial cooperation, Metaverse Standards Forum will remove the barriers to the deployment of metaverse, coordinate standard-development organizations, and define and accelerate the formulation of metaverse standards in the future. As new forms of business and social life that develop from Internet, the metaverse must be legally supervised. Admittedly, there are no specific legal provisions for metaverse now. In the past year, various countries actively explored basic paths of legal governance that would support the development of metaverse, such as digital assets and AI.

8.5.2 The Type of Digital Assets Diversifies and the Legislation on NFT Varies in Different Countries The type of digital assets diversifies. Emerging assets like digital collection and cryptocurrency cause more legal problems. By the end of 2021, the scale of global data center market reached 76.56 billion U.S. dollars. Asia, North America and Europe are three largest regional markets in terms of the scale of global data center market. In the past year, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) aroused wide attention in the legislation on digital assets in various countries. Owing to its relatively short history, most countries and jurisdictions have not fully recognized the legal status of NFT and failed to provide comprehensive regulatory frameworks. NFT faces many risks in the

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investment and trading market. For example, in November 2021, a developer named “SQUID Tokens” absconded with money, and the investors of “SQUID Tokens” suffered a huge loss of 2.5 million U.S. dollars. Various countries take different regulatory attitudes towards NFT or NFT-related transactions, with a trend of polarization. In November 2021, the Indian government submitted Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 to Parliament of India, which considered holding, issuing, mining, trading and transferring cryptocurrency assets as a criminal act. From the end of 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued subpoenas to the founders of NFT and various encryption companies and exchanges, requesting them to provide more information on specific NFT and other token products, and supervising that NFT would not be used for unregulated securities-token issuance. In February 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released Study of the Facilitation of Money Laundering and Terror Finance Through the Trade in Works of Art. The report classified NFT into emerging online art market and clearly confirmed the risk of money laundering in the field of digital artwork. In the case of an insurance company and four cryptoasset holding entities,1 Supreme Court of the United Kingdom viewed cryptoassets as “property” and approved proprietary injunction concerning Bitcoin as the plaintiff’s ransom. Henceforth, British courts generally provide standard civil remedies to the victims of NFT-related fraud cases, in order to help identify fraudsters and determine the whereabouts of relevant funds.

8.5.3 The Pace of Algorithmic Legislation Accelerates, with a Consensus on Anti-algorithmic Discrimination The United States continuously strengthens algorithmic supervision, requires algorithmic obligees to avoid discrimination and other improper behaviors in the use of the algorithm in legislation, and specifies the accountability of algorithms. In May 2021, U.S. senator Edward J. Markey and congressman Doris Matsui jointly proposed The Algorithmic Justice and Online Platform Transparency Act of 2021. The Act prohibits the discriminatory use of personal information by Internet platforms in algorithms, takes a series of measures to ensure Internet platforms fulfill their obligations of review and transparency in the use of algorithms, and proposes to establish a special group or agency responsible for Internet platform algorithmic processing. In November 2021, a group of the U.S. House of Representatives proposed Filter Bubble Transparency Act. The Act gives social media users the right to disable algorithms and aims to regulate algorithmic recommendation on Internet platforms. It contains results sorting, personalized content recommendation and social media post presentation, requiring Internet platforms like Facebook and Google to allow users to view non-algorithmic-selected content. In February 2022, three congressmen proposed 1

AA v Persons Unknown [2019] EWHC 3556 (Comm).

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The Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022, which required automated decisionmaking systems to establish new transparency and accountability and evaluate key algorithms and new public information. The Act also sets up a public repository in Federal Trade Commission for the first time to manage these systems, and adds 75 staff members to FTC to enforce the law. The United Kingdom also requires transparency of algorithms so that governments can make regulatory decisions. In November 2021, the UK Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) released the standards for algorithmic transparency, which aimed to provide governmental departments and public institutions with algorithmrelated information used to support decision-making and fulfill their commitments in national data and AI strategies. The standards for algorithmic transparency cover transparency data standard, transparency template and action guideline, which help organizations to improve the transparency of algorithmic tools. China not only requires the openness and transparency of algorithms on Internet information service, but also forbids the use of algorithms for illegal purposes like the manipulation of comments and the evasion of supervision. In January 2022, four departments, i.e. Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security and State Administration for Market Regulation, jointly formulated and released Regulations on the Management of Internet Information Service Algorithmic Recommendation, which took effect on March 1, 2022 and clearly implemented the policies on the algorithmic recommendation in China.

8.5.4 Various Countries Vigorously Support AI and Highlight Ethical Standards in Legislation and Supervision AI sees the stage of deep development and quickly penetrates into economy, society, life and other aspects. Many countries introduce or update AI strategies and constantly increase the R&D investment. Global AI professional R&D institutions mushroom. Meanwhile, the use case of AI technology expands, with AI extensively applied to scientific research, intelligent manufacturing, medical and pharmaceutical industry, national defense & security and other fields. Various countries enhance policy support and capital investment in AI technology, and guide the development direction of AI at the national level, so that AI technology serves national strategies. In September 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce established National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC) to independently evaluate National Artificial Intelligence Initiative and offer suggestions to president of the United States and National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, on topics related to AI research and development, ethics, standards, education, technological transfer, commercial application, security and economic competitiveness. In December 2021, French government issued National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, which planned to invest 2.2 billion euros in the next five years to accelerate

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the development of AI. In fiscal year 2022, the European Union invested around 13.1 billion euros to R&D and innovation, established European Innovation Council, and planned to invest more than 10 billion euros in the next seven years to research green, digital and health technologies, such as self-perception AI, cell and gene therapy, green hydrogen and active materials. While profoundly changing modern production mode and lifestyle, AI rocks the existing social order and structure and induces a series of ethical risks. In November 2021, UNESCO released Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, which aimed to promote AI in serving human, society, environment and ecosystem, prevent its potential risks, and raise ethical requirements for the development of AI from the perspectives of values, fairness and non-discrimination, human supervision and accountability. The European Union introduces legal standards for AI in various fields to balance legislative purposes such as human rights protection, data security and technological innovation. In 2021, the European Union issued a series of legal documents, such as European Standardization Strategy 2030, AI Standardization Pattern: Progress and Its Relationship with the AI Regulatory Framework Proposal, and The Uniform Rules on Artificial Intelligence, which introduced the first comprehensive legal framework for AI, aiming to coordinate the existing laws on AI in the internal market and promote investment and innovation. Simultaneously, these documents protect basic rights and restrict the use of AI systems by law-enforcement departments and courts, ensuring that relevant personnel abide by security requirements. In October 2021, the European Union adopted the resolution that prohibited the police from using facial recognition technology in public places and imposed strict restrictions on their use of AI for predictive policing activities. China promotes the implementation of ethical requirements for AI, and relevant standards involve the whole process of AI management, R&D and application. In September 2021, National New-Generation AI Governance Professional Committee of China issued The Ethical Norms for New-Generation Artificial Intelligence, which aims to integrate ethics into the whole lifecycle of AI and provide ethical guidance for natural person, legal person and other relevant institutions engaged in AIrelated activities. It puts forward six basic ethical requirements, i.e. promoting human welfare, enhancing fairness and justice, protecting privacy security, ensuring controllability and credibility, strengthening responsibility and improving ethical quality. Besides, it raises 18 specific ethical requirements for AI management, R&D, supply, use and other specific activities.

Chapter 9

International Cyberspace Governance

9.1 Outline In 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic intertwined with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which bred the differentiation and reorganization of international forces, with a continuous spillover to the digital economy and cybersecurity. The ideas of deglobalization, unilateralism and hegemonism pervaded cyberspace, impacting the stability and security of the global supply chain. Due to more difficulty in coordinating national interests, major countries significantly attenuated the willingness or ability to provide public products. The formulation and implementation of global uniform rules faced more obstacles, and the trend of fragmentation of the technology-standardrule system intensified, which challenged the peace, security and inclusiveness of cyberspace. In the digital field, the national competition and game showed a group-based trend, and the influence of non-state actors on the development and governance of cyberspace kept expanding. Major countries and regions took part in governance cooperation and game on such topics as data cross-border, digital technology, digital currency, digital platform and cybersecurity, actively deployed cutting-edge technologies like AI, quantum computing, 6G, information communication supply chain and digital currency, deeply tapped the potential of digital economy in Indo-Pacific Region, and launched bilateral and multilateral cooperation on cybersecurity and emerging technologies, in a bid to seize opportunities in the new-round industrial and technological revolution. There were hot topics on the militarization of cyberspace and the risks of new technologies and new applications, the governance of non-state actors like large technological corporations, and the resilience of information communication supply chain. Under such circumstances, the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and other international organizations called on all parties to bridge their differences and promote beneficial cooperation, so as to realize fruitful results in the development and governance of cyberspace, foster the recovery of global economy and maintain the stability of international order. © Publishing House of Electronics Industry 2024 World Internet Development Report 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5386-8_9

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9.2 Annual Features of International Cyberspace Governance The competition among major countries, the COVID-19 pandemic and the RussianUkrainian conflict expedite the polarization and adjustment of the international landscape, and the restructuring of the global information communication supply chain quickens. Digital trade, emerging technologies and cybersecurity become major fields of international cooperation and game, and Indo-Pacific Region plays an increasingly important role in the field of global digital governance.

9.2.1 The Pandemic Unseen in a Century and the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Are Intertwined, Bringing New Challenges and Opportunities for International Exchanges, Cooperation and Governance in Cyberspace In early 2022, Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine. Various parties of the international community were entangled in the conflict to varying degrees on the Internet. Cyberattacks happened thick and fast, and “network disconnection & service suspension” occurred frequently. AI, blockchain, big data and other technologies were widely applied in the war. The grey areas and defects of cyberspace governance become increasingly prominent, with the peace and stability of cyberspace tremendously challenged. It means an urgent task for the international community to deeply discuss international norms in cyberspace, norms for new applications and new technologies, behavior boundaries of non-state actors and Internet-platform governance mechanisms, so as to boost the formulation of more equitable, reasonable and universally-accepted international rules. The COVID-19 pandemic occurs repeatedly, and the risk in the supply chain intensifies in various countries, which promote the restructuring of global technological interdependence. The United States and other countries view the supply chain as an issue of pansecuritization and ideologisierbarkeit, wantonly destroy global supply chain order, and impair fair competition in the market. The international community urgently needs to jointly build competition order in the digital market and improve the environment for digital supervision. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the pandemic unseen in a century foreground and deepen the interconnectivity and interdependence of various countries in cyberspace. Confronted with new problems and challenges in cyberspace, the international community must enhance the awareness of “a community of shared future for mankind”, uphold mutual respect, equal treatment, win–win cooperation and common development, join hands in building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, jointly safeguard the development and stability of

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cyberspace, and share the fruits of Internet development. In July 2022, the International Organization for World Internet Conference was established to forge a platform for all parties to deepen international cooperation and exchanges in cyberspace and meet the development trend of the information age.

9.2.2 The Influence of Non-state Actors on the Development and Governance of Cyberspace Continues to Enlarge In recent years, non-state actors have a significant impact on the international landscape by participating in international competition as well as the process of global governance and meddling in the trend of public opinion. They become an increasingly important variable that affects the profound changes unseen in a century.1 Nonstate actors in cyberspace, represented by large scientific & technological corporations, increasingly augment their influence on national development and security with technologies, data & public opinion platforms they have developed. The Eurasian Group, an American think tank, even claims that large scientific & technological corporations enjoy “quasi sovereign status” in the digital era.2 In 2022, the strategic transformation of scientific & technological corporations became the weathervane for industrial or national development. For example, Facebook turned to the business of metaverse in an all-round way, which triggered an upsurge in metaverse in the international community. Large Internet enterprises like Microsoft, Google and Tencent quickly followed Facebook and deployed metaverse. Seoul government (South Korea) published The Five-Year Plan for Metaverse Seoul, announcing that from 2022, Seoul would create a metaverse administrative service ecology in all business fields of municipal government in three stages, including economy, culture, tourism, education, petition, etc. Non-state actors take sides in international conflict, deeply participate in the process of international landscape, and affect the global situation. For example, more than 70 international hacker organizations in the world poke their nose into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which complicates the situation of cybersecurity. Some large internet-technology corporations play a vital role in “sanctioning” Russia, imposing “embargo”, “supply cut”, “delisting” and “silencing” on Russia. Internet-technology basic-resource operators and technological communities take skimble-scamble attitudes, and some of them “stop serving” Russia. The governance of non-state actors in cyberspace receives wide attention from more countries and regions. The United States, China, the European Union, Russia and other countries and regions introduce policies to guide or standardize the development of non-state actors, especially large technological corporations, and urge them to effectively undertake social responsibility.

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Li Yan. “The Role and Influence of Non-State Actors in the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict” [J]. Contemporary International Relations, 2022 (04): 10–17 + 60. 2 Data Source: https://www.eurasiagroup.net/issues/top-risks-2022, June 5, 2022.

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9.2.3 Major Countries and Regions Deploy the Cooperation and Governance of Digital Economy and Cybersecurity in Indo-Pacific Region The international pattern that “the East emerges while the West declines” accelerates. The development and governance of digital economy see the “Asian moment”. With a large population base, the imbalance of digital development proves prominent in the Indo-Pacific Region. In particular, ASEAN has a huge demand for investment in the construction, updating and upgrading of digital facilities and services. China, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, ASEAN and other countries and regions serve as the engine for the global growth of digital economy. Regional economic agreements, e.g. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership (CPTPP), boost the development of digital trade and affect the making of global digital trade rules. China, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other countries and regions accelerate the layout of digital economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region. For example, China and ASEAN continue to facilitate the strategy of digital economy interconnectivity and deepen the cooperation on digital trade based on the RCEP mechanism, which achieves positive results. In March 2022, Singapore and the United Kingdom signed The Digital Economy Agreement, striving to improve bilateral cooperation in cross-border data, cybersecurity, Fintech and other fields. However, some irresponsible countries, in the name of improving supply chain resilience and cybersecurity responsiveness, cobble together exclusive economic cooperation networks in Indo-Pacific Region, disrupt the order of regional digital economic cooperation with “Indo-Pacific Strategy” and “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework”, accelerate the inclusion of cybersecurity defense in the U.S.-South Korea and U.S.-Japan military alliances, and strengthen regional cybersecurity confrontation and deterrence with AUKUS (the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia) and the Quartet Mechanism (the United States, Japan, India and Australia). This undermines regional security patterns and endangers regional security and stability.

9.2.4 Various Parties Vie for Dominant Position in the Development of Digital Technology and the Formulation of Standards & Rules Digital technology develops rapidly and enters all aspects of production and life. Major countries and regions quicken the layout of technological development and standards such as 6G, AI, quantum computing and digital currency, bolster the cooperation of industry-university-research institution, involve the competition for next-generation technological development and standard formulation in national development plans, and jostle for the state-of-the-art technological and industrial

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transformation. More countries regard enhancing technological-strategy autonomy and improving industrial-chain resilience as an important development direction, increase investment and subsidies in technological research and development, and attach more attention to international-standard formulation, talent training, market cultivation, etc. For example, in the field of chip, in 2022, the European Union, India and other countries and regions strengthened local chip manufacturing capabilities via large-scale incentive plans. In February 2022, the European Union issued An EU Strategy on Standardisation: Setting Global Standards in Support of a Resilient, Green and Digital EU Single Market, which took strengthening the EU’s leadership in global standards as a key field. However, as the trend of unilateralism, hegemonism and protectionism rage globally, in order to ensure their technological competitive advantages, the United States and other countries and regions are bent on building “small yard, high fence” and “parallel systems”, with a mania for exclusive “small circles” and “small groups”, on the pretext of improving their supply chain autonomy. Their actions split the world, exacerbate the fragmentation of digital technologies and rules, and cause concern to the international community. The United Nations, World Trade Organization and other traditional international organizations actively face the process of digital development, endeavor to bridge the differences among major countries, and formulate uniform digital standards and rules. For example, in September 2021, the Secretary General of the United Nations released the report of Our Common Agenda, proposing that the world should strengthen digital cooperation, develop the global digital contract, avoid the fragmentation of Internet, protect data, and make the development achievements in the digital field inclusive to everyone. In January 2022, the Secretary General of the United Nations once again called on governments, private sectors and civil society to cooperate and reach an agreement on key principles of supporting global digital cooperation when elaborating on the priorities for 2022 at the United Nations General Assembly. In June 2022, the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference achieved significant results and agreed to extend the temporary exemption of tariffs on electronic transmission to the next ministerial conference.

9.3 Progress on Major Issues of International Cyberspace Governance In 2022, the international community kept a close eye on cross-border data governance and reached bilateral and multilateral consensuses. In digital-technology governance, pan-ideologization became prominent, with a partial consensus reached on AI governance. Digital currency attracted extensive attention from the international community, and the development and supervision advanced side by side. Major countries and regions strengthened the responsibilities and obligations of Internet platforms and standardized the development order of digital market. The RussianUkrainian conflict, information supply chain security, the COVID-19 pandemic, the

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games among big countries and other factors painted a daedal picture of cybersecurity governance.

9.3.1 Cross-Border Data Governance The international community actively explores the models of cross-border data governance and forms new institutions. Global discussion on cross-border data governance heats up. In terms of international organizations, deeply concerned with the progress of global digital governance as well as the risk of the fragmentation of global crossborder data governance, the United Nations calls on various countries to consider the security of cross-border data flow. In September 2021, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released Digital Economy Report 2021, under the theme of “cross-border data flow and development: for whom data flows”. The Report stresses that cross-border data flow cannot be regarded as a pure trade issue. Neither strict localization nor complete free data flow can meet national needs of achieving development goals. The international community must re-consider the issue and reach a consensus. As stated, to forge a new consensus on global governance, various countries need to overstep the scope of trade, regulate cross-border data flow from a global perspective, and evaluate possible impacts on human rights, national security, trade, competition, taxation and Internet governance. According to the Report, the priorities of cross-border data governance include the consensus on defining key data-related concepts, formulating data access terms, strengthening the measurement of the value of data and data cross-border flow, taking data as a (global) public product, exploring new data governance models, negotiating data and data-related rights and principles, clarifying data-related standards, deepening international cooperation related to Internet platform governance, and estimating the impact on competition policy and taxation in digital economy. The Report systematically summarizes the status quo and problems of global cross-border data governance, proposing that all parties should promote the agenda of cross-border data governance and provide new solutions for global cross-border data governance, under the framework of the United Nations. At the bilateral and multilateral level, China applies to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), further improves the level of cross-border data flow cooperation, and conducts digital-trade cooperation with relevant countries under the framework of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). In August 2021, the British government released a package of data cooperation measures, hoping that on the basis of the existing “data adequacy protection partnership”, the United Kingdom would establish a global data partnership and come to an agreement on cross-border data transmission with ten countries and regions, including the United States, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Dubai International Financial Center, Brazil, India, Kenya and Indonesia. In March 2022, the United States and the European Union in principle reached a preliminary agreement on

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a new cross-border data transmission framework. The United States promised to execute strict management and hierarchical supervision of signal intelligence work, and establish a new and binding independent data remedy mechanism. The two sides have come to the stage of discussing implementation rules. The United States and the European Union quickly extend data governance models to the Asia Pacific Region and solidify regional cross-border data cooperation. In March 2022, the European Union, Australia, Comoros, India, Japan, Mauritius, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore and Sri Lanka issued The Joint Statement on Privacy and Protection of Personal Data: Strengthening Trust in the Digital Environment, hoping to formulate data privacy standards and cross-border data flow principles acceptable to the Indo-Pacific Region and the European Union via international cooperation, establish a special regulatory body for independent supervision, and take effective remedial measures. In May 2022, the United States proposed the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, trying to expand the “American standards” of digital trade, such as prohibiting data localization and open source code, to the Indo-Pacific Region.

9.3.2 Digital Technology Governance Presently, the impact of digital technology on national security and development deepens. Some countries represented by the United States build “technology alliances” and “value alliances”, which induces the risk of the differentiation of global technologies and standards. For example, in terms of organizational mechanism, in 2022, cooperation mechanisms, such as the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Commission and the U.S.-Japan-India-Australia Quartet Mechanism, continued to expand, becoming coordination platforms for relevant countries to carry out technological export control, investment screening, standard formulation and joint research & development. In terms of technological development and standard formulation, the United States, Japan, the European Union, India, South Korea and other countries and regions place the research and development of 6G, AI and quantum computing at a key position, and accelerate the development of these technologies via public– private cooperation and international cooperation. In order to seize the advantages of technologies and standards, the United States and other countries establish 6G technology alliances and build exclusive technological governance networks, which further intensifies the risk of the fragmentation of technological standards. The international community has formed positive consensuses on AI ethics. For example, in December 2021, 193 UNESCO member states signed Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the first AI ethics framework agreement in the world, which clarified ten principles for regulating AI technology, i.e. proportionality and non-prejudice, security and security protection, fairness and non-discrimination, sustainability, privacy right and data protection, human supervision and decision, transparency and interpretability, responsibility and accountability, awareness and

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literacy, multi-stakeholder and adaptive governance & collaboration. Simultaneously, 11 action fields were listed, i.e. ethical impact assessment, ethical governance and management, data policy, development and international cooperation, environment and ecosystem, gender, culture, education and research, communication and information, economy and labor, health and social welfare. UNESCO also supports member states to implement the Recommendation, and requires them to report relevant progresses and practices regularly. BRICS countries actively promote the coordination of AI governance policies. In June 2022, BRICS countries proposed at Beijing Summit that they should foster and formulate common governance approaches in the field of AI, and use AI in an ethical and responsible manner while boosting the development of AI.

9.3.3 Digital Currency Governance According to the statistical data of Finbold, now there are more than 16,000 digital currencies in the world. Global digital currency governance centers on two aspects. Firstly, central banks in various countries accelerate the deployment of digital currencies and actively explore cross-border payment cooperation. Secondly, the international community holds different attitudes towards private cryptocurrencies. The United States, South Korea, Japan, China, Mexico and other countries strengthen the supervision on private cryptocurrencies. International financial organizations and institutions discuss the principle and framework concerning digital currency governance. Ukraine promotes the legalization of private cryptocurrencies, publicly raises private cryptocurrencies as war donations, and receives support from private cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States and other countries and regions. In 2022, central banks in various countries continued to quicken the pace of the research and deployment of digital currency and explore the establishment of alternative cross-border payment models. As the International Monetary Fund confirms, more than half of central banks in the world stay at a stage of exploring central bank digital currencies. In September 2021, the People’s Bank of China, Bank for International Settlements, Bank of Thailand, Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong Monetary Authority jointly launched “mCBDC bridge” program to coresearch the role and technological feasibility of the central bank digital currency in cross-border payment. Presently, the test platform has been completed. In April 2022, the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Center, in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of Australia, Central Bank of Malaysia, Monetary Authority of Singapore and South African Reserve Bank, developed the prototype of universal digital currency platform to facilitate direct digital currency transactions among central banks of the four countries. International mechanisms like Group of Seven and Group of 20 regard digital currency as an important topic for discussion, and look forward to reaching consensus on digital currency development and governance. For example, in October 2021, the G7 Finance Ministers Conference discussed sovereign digital currencies, and

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released 13 public principles in relation to the financial system, financial inclusiveness, digitalization and anti-money laundering measures, proposing that relevant parties should meet strict standards for privacy, transparency and user data protection responsibility to hedge against the negative impact of digital currency on international monetary and financial systems. In July 2022, the G20 Financial Stability Board issued FSB Statement on International Regulation and Supervision of CryptoAsset Activities, which emphasized that the crypto asset and market must be subject to effective regulation and supervision at the national and international levels commensurate with the risks they would pose, and that crypto asset service providers must always ensure compliance with the existing legal obligations of the jurisdictions in which they would operate. G20 Financial Stability Board would report to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors on the regulatory approaches to digital currencies in October 2022.

9.3.4 Internet Platform Governance Large technological corporations as well as Internet platforms they control cause such problems as data leakage, public opinion manipulation, unfair competition and the proliferation of false information, which arouse continuous attention from various countries. In 2022, in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, large Internet platforms played an increasingly important role in screening information, mobilizing public opinion and other aspects. Deeply involved in geopolitical games and conflicts, Internet platforms feature weaponization. Confronted with various problems that arise from the operation of Internet platforms, major countries and regions continuously improve the laws and regulations for the development of Internet platforms, and standardize the operation order of Internet platforms. For example, the European Union adopts a series of laws and regulations to clarify the responsibilities and obligations of large scientific & technological corporations that operate in Europe. In July 2022, the European Parliament officially passed Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which defined the obligations of “gatekeepers”, and required that large portals and social media companies operating in the EU must strengthen the review of illegal content and the protection of users’ data. Large Internet platform corporations cannot abuse their dominant market position to suppress other competitive enterprises, nor can they forcibly push advertisements or install apps without users’ permission. The two Acts will formally come to effect in January 2024. The United States attaches importance to the algorithm governance of Internet platforms. The United States Congress successively proposes The Algorithmic Justice and Online Platform Transparency Act of 2021 and The Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022, in an attempt to strengthen the algorithmic regulation of Internet platforms via legislation and improve the algorithmic transparency of Internet platforms. China upholds the principle of standardized and balanced development in the governance of Internet platforms, drafts The Guidelines for the Classification and Grading of Internet Platforms (Draft for Comments)

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and The Guidelines for the Implementation of Subject Responsibilities of Internet Platforms (Draft for Comments), and issues The Regulations on the Management of Internet Information Service Algorithmic Recommendation, so as to explore the classification and grading governance of Internet platforms, establish a multi-party collaborative governance model, improve algorithmic governance, and promote the healthy and orderly development of Internet platform economy. Some countries and regions continually strengthen the responsibilities of Internet platforms in the governance of false information. In June 2022, the European Union updated its Code of Practice on Disinformation, which required Internet platforms to prohibit false information or advertising, enabled researchers to access more data, and authorized users and fact inspectors to discover and mark non-factual information and disclose it to the society through the transparency center. The Code also encourages signatories to strengthen cooperation and reduce social-media manipulation like deep forgery. Presently, more than 30 signatories, including Meta, Google, Twitter, TikTok, Microsoft and other large technological corporations, promise to abide by the updated code of practice for false information. In terms of levying digital tax on Internet platform enterprises, in October 2021, 136 jurisdictions agreed to implement the dual-pillar international tax reform plan, which will levy at least 15% corporate tax on large transnational enterprises in 2023. In the same month, G20 approved the agreement at the Rome Summit, ending the dispute over the collection and payment of digital tax among various countries.

9.3.5 Cybersecurity Governance In 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, information supply chain security, the COVID-19 pandemic, the games among big countries and other factors painted a daedal picture of cybersecurity governance. The militarization of cyberspace intensified, and the fragmentation of cyberspace governance mechanisms continued, posing an arduous task to form universally-accepted rules on cybersecurity. In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the forms of hybrid warfare, e.g. scientific & technological warfare, public opinion warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare and psychological warfare, were constantly updated. Various countries deployed and established cyber forces. International cyber military alliances quickly advanced, whose cooperation involved cyber defense, incident responsiveness, action coordination, incident attribution, etc. This continuously undermined cyber security and stability and posed an urgent need for cybersecurity governance. In February 2022, Poland officially announced the establishment of “Cyberspace Defense Force”. NATO continued to enhance its cyber military strength and deploy the R&D of cutting-edge technologies. NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), a subordinate organization of NATO, expanded its member states. Ukraine and South Korea joined CCDCOE, and participated in NATO cybersecurity defense training and exercise. The Quartet Mechanism (the United States, Japan, India and Australia) and AUKUS (the United States, the United Kingdom and

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Australia) bolstered the cooperation on network technology capability and situation awareness, which crippled cyber security and stability in the Asia–Pacific Region. As the threat of ransomware intensifies, the international community continues to promote the cooperation and governance in the crackdown on ransomware. In December 2021, G7 held a special senior officials meeting on ransomware attacks, which clearly proposed to strengthen information sharing and communication among countries to combat ransomware attacks. Various countries were called on to improve the management of cryptocurrencies and reduce the possibility and feasibility to seek illegal interests with cryptocurrencies in ransomware attacks. Additionally, the United States consolidates the cooperation with France, Israel, Japan and other countries in the field of cybersecurity, and joins Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace. Faced with the security deficit, governance deficit and trust deficit in cyberspace, the United Nations officially initiates the negotiations on the convention against cybercrimes. From February 28 to March 11, 2022, the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on The United Nations Convention on Cybercrime organized its first negotiation meeting and adopted the convention framework and negotiation arrangement by consensus. The meeting reached a consensus on the phased goals of eight topics among the international community, i.e. general provisions, criminal conviction, procedural measures & law-enforcement, international cooperation, technological assistance, preventive measures, implementation mechanisms and final articles. The Second United Nations Information Security Open-Ended Working Group continued to promote relevant work and held its first meeting in December 2021. Delegates from various countries generally agreed to strengthen national cooperation, overcome the limitations of a single country’s addressing complex cybersecurity risks, continuously promote global dialogue mechanisms based on cybersecurity consensus, and highlight the necessary role of improving cybersecurity capabilities of developing countries. Noticeably, in the field of international cyberspace governance, the establishment of trust mechanisms, the improvement of cybersecurity guarantee capability and effective international dialogue still play an important role in fostering the formation of the rule system of international cyberspace governance. China and other developing countries continually inject new momentum into cybersecurity cooperation. In April 2022, China put forward Global Security Initiative, emphasizing that relevant parties should adhere to the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security outlook and jointly address cybersecurity issues. In June 2022, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan adopted “China + Five Central Asian Countries” Data Security Cooperation Initiative, which proposed to jointly tackle the risks and challenges to data security and conduct relevant cooperation within the frameworks of the United Nations and other international organizations. In June 2022, the BRICS Beijing Summit was staged. BRICS member states agreed to implement The BRICS Roadmap for Practical Cooperation on Cybersecurity as well as the work of Cybersecurity Working Group, and to continuously promote BRICS practical cooperation.

Postscript

During the compilation of the Report, we deeply feel that Internet development profoundly alters the development of human society, and cyberspace concerns human destiny. With World Internet Development Report 2022 (hereinafter referred to as “the Report”), we hope to comprehensively represent the status quo of world Internet development in the past year, interpret the trends in world Internet development, tackle new challenges and problems in Internet development, better boost building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, and jointly forge a better future for mankind. During the compilation of the Report, we receive guidance and support from the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission (hereinafter referred to as “OCCAC”). Leaders of OCCAC give us specific guidance on the Report. Relevant ministries & commissions, bureaus & units of OCCAC as well as the Office of the Provincial Cyberspace Affairs Commission provide us with strong support in relevant data and materials. The Report is launched by the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies (CACS). Experts and scholars, including Zhang Li, Liu Jiuru, Zhao Guojun, Lang Ping, Li Guangqian and Wang Limeim, contribute their valuable suggestions. Main contributors include Xia Xueping, Xuan Xingzhang, Li Yingxin, Qian Xianliang, Zou Xiaoxiang, Cheng Yifeng, Jiang Wei, Jiang Yang, Wang Hailong, Li Xiaojiao, Yang Xiaohan, Sun Luman, Jiang Shuli, Tian Yuan, Liu Chaochao, Chi Haiyan, Jia Shuowei, Yuan Xin, Li Wei, Liu Yao, Xu Yanfei, Xu Yu, Chen Jing, Xiao Zheng, Wu Wei, Zhao Gaohua, Lin Hao, Wang Pu, Meng Qingshun, Guo Siyuan, Wang Yitong, Cai Yang, Ye Bei, Wang Hualei, Wang Liying, Wang Hongjie, Chen Fengxian, Li Hongkuan, Xu Xiaoyu, Zhang Xuejun, Chong Dandan, Shi Xiaoshuang, Gao Pan, Fu Wei, Zhang Jing, Zhang Nan, Luo Weilin, Tang Sisi, Shi Anbin, Wang Peinan, Xu Yuan, Zhou Yu, Zhao Jingwu and Gong Nan. The Report, albeit successfully published thanks to the strong support and considerable help from all sectors of society, is inadequate in terms of perspective and insight due to our limited research level, working experience and tight deadline. Therefore, we ardently welcome valuable opinions and suggestions from governmental departments, international organizations, research institutes, Internet corporations and social organizations across different sectors, home and abroad, to help © Publishing House of Electronics Industry 2024 World Internet Development Report 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5386-8

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us produce better reports in the future and contribute more wisdom and strength to the world Internet development. Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies (CACS) August 2022