>And all govs control info. Democracies just pretend they don't (they do it covertly, through narrative control, disinfo, etc).

Wishful thinking. "Narrative control and disinfo" are categorically different than banning expressions, opinions, theories and thought. The scale and types of information control are not on comparable levels.

There are always contradictions inherent in governance. There are always both open and classified activities. There are always those peoples/departments/regimes that seek to stretch or overstep rules or norms.

But you can't group it all and say "Great Firewall is equal to think tank lobbying."

What citizens, businesses, platforms, politicians and basically every other entity is allowed to say in a free country vs. China is on different planets.

> [XJ secret master plan]

Citations needed. Testimonials of citizens and family members dealing with camps are more convincing than wide-ranging, decontextualized, strung-together internet rants about XJP's secret genius plan.