China has replaced its internet regulator Lu Wei, the hard-liner responsible for leading the government's efforts to tighten control over domestic cyberspace and export the ruling Communist Party's philosophy of web control.
Lu wielded expansive powers as head of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs since 2014, dictating what 700 million Chinese internet users may view online and acting as gatekeeper for technology firms wishing to do business in China.
His successor will be his deputy, former propaganda official Xu Lin, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today.
The departure of Lu, one of the Communist Party's rising stars and an ambitious ally of President Xi Jinping, had been rumored for months and is not expected to alter the broad direction of China's internet policy. Xinhua did not mention a new post for Lu, who will keep his concurrent position as deputy head of the party's propaganda department. He could be in line to lead the department or take over a provincial post, according to political analysts and speculation in Chinese media.
But the reshuffle likely means a new face will greet foreign executives like Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft's Satya Nadella who have been dealing with thorny cybersecurity and trade issues on their visits to Beijing.
Although the outspoken and gregarious Lu has visited tech firms in the U.S., where has been pictured joking with the likes of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, he has also taken a hard line in demanding tough security checks on imported foreign tech products and keeping out social networks like Facebook in the name of preserving social stability.
Lu assumed his job at a time when China's government was reeling from widespread online criticism, and promptly launched a massive social media crackdown including detentions of online celebrities that quickly chilled China's once-freewheeling Weibo microblogging platform.
Under Lu's watch, China has been codifying a series of cybersecurity and national security laws that gives the government legal powers to control online content and speech.
With his success taming China's internet, Lu has gone overseas to preach China's vision of "internet sovereignty," a world order in which every government could dictate limits to their cyberspace and how their citizens access the web. Last week he delivered a speech on the subject in Moscow, where he told an audience that "freedom is not a right, but a responsibility" and warned that unlimited freedom could spawn terrorism.
