China's Communist Party to monitor members' online activity for graft

China's Communist Party plans to build a computer system that uses big data to monitor the online activity of party members for evidence of bribery and nepotism, Nikkei Asia reported, describing the move as an intensification of President Xi Jinping's crackdown on graft.

The plan sits in a document adopted at a plenum of the party's Central Committee. The South China Morning Post reported that the document was formally approved on Thursday and commits the party to deeper "party building" across China's technology and digital platform sectors. The Post called it a landmark document.

According to the Post, the tools it names include a digital discipline inspection platform and a big-data supervision platform. The document also calls for a crackdown on corruption involving the internet, virtual currency, cross-border funds and blockchain technology, the newspaper reported. Discipline inspection bodies are the party's internal watchdog, and the document would add digital tools to that work.

The two outlets described the timing differently. Nikkei Asia reported that Xi, who is also general secretary of the party, called for "comprehensive and strict party governance" at the fifth plenary session of the Central Committee in October. The Post said the document was adopted at a key political plenum and formally approved on Thursday. Neither report published the full text, said when the monitoring system would begin operating, or said how many of the party's members it would cover.

The Post reported that the party intends to extend its organisational reach into the companies that run China's digital platforms, a sector that has been the target of regulatory campaigns in recent years. Neither report specified which companies or platforms would be affected, or what form the party-building work would take inside them.

Nikkei Asia's report focused on the surveillance element, saying the system would scan members' online traces for indications of corrupt dealings. The Post's account placed the same document in a broader programme covering technology firms, cross-border money flows and cryptoassets.

Both reports tie the measures to Xi, who holds the party's top post alongside the presidency. Xi's anti-corruption drive has been a central theme of his tenure, and Nikkei Asia framed the new system as an escalation of it.