Coded Social Control: China's Normalization of Biometric Surveillance in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Summary

This paper investigates the persistence of health QR codes in post-COVID China. While commonly assumed to be obsolete, the study reveals their continued integration into mobile apps and online platforms — transforming from epidemiological tools into instruments of behavior modification and social governance that Miao calls a “Data Leviathan.”

Key Points

• China’s tri-color health QR code system was widely used from 2020-2022 for pandemic surveillance, but has not been fully dismantled
• The tools have undergone functional transformation from contact tracing to broader social governance and behavior modification
• This normalization is driven by a powerful alliance between political authorities and tech giants, and an ideology prioritizing collective security over individual autonomy
• In Zhengzhou, authorities allegedly issued red health codes to bank protesters — repurposing pandemic tools for political control
• China adopts a state-industry dominance model of AI governance, in contrast to the rights-centric approach of Western democracies