The really scary part of that article is the screenshot of Weibo with every message censored automatically with "content is illegal".
If you think this sort of thing could never happen in the west, I think you're underestimating how quickly it could happen. The constitutions and bills of rights of any country are not laws of nature that can't be broken- they're words on paper that governments or populist movements can easily ignore.
Consider any politician you disagree with deeply and ask yourself: if they could ban dissent from their views, wouldn't they?
If you think this sort of thing could never happen in the west, I think you're underestimating how quickly it could happen. The constitutions and bills of rights of any country are not laws of nature that can't be broken- they're words on paper that governments or populist movements can easily ignore.
Consider any politician you disagree with deeply and ask yourself: if they could ban dissent from their views, wouldn't they?