Lawsuit over politically motivated censorship and surveillance on WeChat filed in California
Citizen Power Initiatives for China (“CPIFC”) filed a lawsuit today in the Superior Court for the State of California, Santa Clara County, alleging that the censorship and surveillance practices and policies of WeChat, the dominant social media and payments application in the Chinese-speaking world, violates numerous aspects of California law. Joining the lawsuit are six California WeChat users who have suffered significant financial, emotional, and psychological harm as a result of those practices and policies. The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the challenged practices and policies are unlawful under California law, issue an injunction against them, and to order that defendants pay damages for the harms they caused. The defendants are Tencent America LLC and Tencent International Service. Ltd. [Read More]
For Us, the Living:
A Journey to Shine Light on Truth
CPIFC president Dr. Yang Jianli’s selected collection of 138 speeches (2000-2020), For Us, the Living: A Journey to Shine the Light on Truth, is now available for purchase. Published by Redwood Publishing, the 619-page book is forwarded by the Dalai Lama and Natan Sharansky.
Examining China’s Response to the Covid-19 Outbreak
This is a comprehensive report on how the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has already killed over half-a-million people, including 134,000 Americans, could have been avoided had the Chinese Communist Party acted in an honest and responsible manner. This book, currently available in Chinese, analyzes how the Chinese Communist Party responded to the virus, especially in the critical month between December 26, 2019 and January 25, 2020.
Based on meticulous analysis of data, much of it directly from sources in China, the report establishes a day-by-day, objective record documenting how Chinese authorities, from the top leadership to local governments, from biomedical institutions to public health administrations, from official media to foreign affairs functionaries, responded to the epidemic.
Class Action Lawsuit Against Wechat
We believe that Tencent has become the technology shackle for the CCP to restrict the freedom of the people. What Tencent has been doing domestically and overseas constitutes a serious violation to human rights and violates Chinese, American laws as well as the international law. We must start a battle for the freedom of speech, taking a stand against WeChat. By doing so, we can open space for the freedom of speech in China. This is why Citizen Power Initiatives for China officially is starting a class action lawsuit against WeChat (Tencent) in the United States, a project we have been planning and preparing.
Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region
Our team led by Dr. Han Lianchao published a report, Cotton: The Fabric Full of Lies, on forced and prison labor in Xinjiang in August 2019. One of the key conclusions is that there is presence of forced labor at many steps of the cotton supply chain and some of these products have entered into international commerce, including the U.S. and European markets. Recently the U.S. State Department, Dept. of Treasury, Dept. of Commerce, and Dept. of Homeland Seucirty issued a joint advisory which cited the report on its findings.
Latest Articles
The National Review: Supreme Court Tariff Ruling May Not Be Good News for China
In the long run, the reaffirmation of American constitutional vernance could strengthen U.S. alliances. By: JIANLI YANG - Feb 24, 2026 The Supreme Court’s much-anticipated tariff ruling has finally arrived. In a decision that cuts to the heart of presidential power in...
The Hill: Don’t Let Jimmy Lai become another Liu Xiaobo
With the United States, China, and Russia creating a hostile world, Brussels and Canada have no choice but to deepen ties with India. By: JIANLI YANG - Feb 14, 2026 Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. His crimes, according to Hong Kong authorities,...
National Interest: How India Is Helping Europe and Canada De-Risk Their Economies
With the United States, China, and Russia creating a hostile world, Brussels and Canada have no choice but to deepen ties with India. By: JIANLI YANG - Feb 11, 2026 The United States and India have reached a long-anticipated trade deal, bringing a measure of relief to...
The National Review: How Five Common Chinese Expressions Help Explain Beijing’s Conflicting Chip Signals
The struggle is best understood as a code war — originating in technology but extending far beyond it. By: JIANLI YANG - Feb 3, 2026 On January 13, 2026, the United States approved exports of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China. Almost simultaneously, Chinese customs...
The National Review: With Xi Jinping’s Purge of China’s Most Senior Uniformed Official, War in Taiwan May Be a Step Closer
By: JIANLI YANG - Jan 27, 2026 Today, Xi Jinping tightens his iron grip on China’s military with the shocking purge of its most senior uniformed official, Zhang Youxia. This unprecedented upheaval has swept not only Zhang, the formidable first-ranked vice chairman of...
The Diplomat: How Iran’s Democracy Movement Can Win: Reflections From a Tiananmen Survivor
By: JIANLI YANG - Jan 13, 2026 “Drawing on lived experience from Tiananmen, I have come to believe that 4 concrete conditions determine whether an autocracy like China or Iran has a genuine chance of meaningful democratic change.” Across Iran today, the streets pulse...
WUHAN MEMO – Timeline
CPIFC Team has put together a comprehensive timeline that documented the most crucial days of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Such report contains the daily record for epidemic development and global countermeasure strategies. We sincerely hope it provides a panoramic index and guide for analyzing the development of the epidemic.
Other Initiatives
Citizen Power Awards
Citizen Press Publications
Tankman Statue
Yibao Magazine
Interethnic Interfaith Leadershp Conferences
Dr. Jianli Yang gave a keynote talk “The Chinese Communist Party: Savior of Culprit?” at Covid Con on April 13, a virtual Oslo Freedom Forum event hosted by the Human Rights Foundation. The virtual conference focused on how tyranny sparked and is exploiting the novel coronavirus pandemic to crack down on civil liberties.
CPIFC at the UN
We have collaborated with UN Watch to bring China’s records on human rights abuses to United Nations’ Human Rights Commission.
Our Voice at the United Nations