digital surveillance

A US report accuses China of "digital authoritarianism" - using technology not only to track its own citizens but to exert power beyond its borders. China is using technology to track its own citizens but also to exert power beyond its borders, the report warns.

It warns that China's mounting influence on the digital sphere could soon overshadow that of the US and other democracies.

And it expresses concern about its export of surveillance technology.

The report, commissioned by a US Senator, warns that China could rewrite the rules of the internet unless the US and its allies push back.

"The United States is now on a precipice of losing the future of the cyber domain to China," the report reads.

"If China continues to perfect the tools of digital authoritarianism and is able to effectively implement them both domestically and abroad, then China, not the United States and its allies, will shape the digital environment."

It warns that Beijing has already heavily invested in digital surveillance technology which it has exported to countries such as Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile many of the world's biggest tech platforms - Google, Twitter and Facebook - are banned inside China. China has never played fair - no communist country ever has.