Podcast Summary: Click Here – "Erased: The Curious Case of UyghurEdit++"

Podcast: Click Here
Host: Dina Temple-Raston (Recorded Future News)
Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Overview

This episode continues the "Erased" series, focusing on Beijing's increasingly sophisticated campaign to erase Uyghur culture—not just within China but worldwide. Host Dina Temple-Raston interviews Rebecca Brown, senior researcher at the Citizen Lab, and Raidat Kenji, developer of the UyghurEdit language tool, to uncover a chilling story: how a seemingly benign piece of cultural technology became a weapon in China's arsenal to surveil, intimidate, and undermine Uyghur identity.

The episode explores the intersection of authoritarian control and modern surveillance, revealing how the Chinese government targets vulnerable groups beyond its borders. It highlights the resilience of activists and technologists fighting back and the consequences of turning cultural lifelines into vectors of fear.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Historical Context and the Uyghur Struggle

• Uyghurs in Xinjiang: With a population of about 12 million, Uyghurs have maintained a distinct identity and culture for thousands of years, resisting assimilation into China's centralized system. (03:06)
• Escalation under Xi Jinping: When Xi Jinping became China's president in 2013, he initiated a "people’s war" against separatism, making Uyghurs a prime target. This escalated repression, mass surveillance, prohibitions on religious practices, and widespread internment. (03:30-04:01)

2. Modern Tools of Repression

• Digital Surveillance in Xinjiang:

  • Mandatory spyware apps on smartphones, QR codes outside homes, GPS trackers in cars, and pervasive Wi-Fi surveillance demonstrate the shift from traditional authoritarian tactics to digital control. (04:26-05:13)
  • "In modern times, your phone is with you almost all the time. It is like your digital fingerprints." — Rebecca Brown (04:26)

• Global Surveillance:

  • Chinese authorities have extended surveillance to Uyghurs abroad, targeting exiles and their families to monitor dissent and suppress contradictory narratives. (05:35)
  • "The next extension of surveillance is not just people within the control, but people who've left or maybe who have family." — Rebecca Brown (05:35)

3. Compromising Cultural Tools: The UyghurEdit Case

• The Trap Is Set:

  • In March, a World Uyghur Congress member received an email offering a new language tool, "UyghurEdit," supposedly developed to help preserve the Uyghur language in exile. The message came with a download link and a request to test the software. (08:39-09:22)
  • "This email said, hey, here we have this piece of software... Can you please test it and tell us, is this helpful so we can share and help the community?" — Rebecca Brown (09:22)

• Detection of a Government-Backed Attack:

  • After clicking the link, the recipients received Google notifications: “You've been targeted by a government backed attacker.” Alarmed, activists messaged Citizen Lab. (09:51-10:15)

4. Citizen Lab’s Forensic Analysis

• Investigating the Malware:
  • Rebecca's team quickly identified the email as phishing—sent from an imposter using an unofficial address. (10:48)
  • The program included two stages:
    • First, reconnaissance malware checked for the correct target. (13:59)
    • Second, more aggressive spyware activated, stealing files, monitoring keystrokes, and enabling full remote surveillance. (14:13)
  • "If they had run it on the computer... it would have ended up giving access to their computer to the Chinese government." — Rebecca Brown (14:34)

5. Impact on the Uyghur Community and the Developer

• Raidat Kenji’s Reaction:

  • Kenji, UyghurEdit’s original developer, was shocked, fearing he had introduced malware himself. He later learned his open-source code had been cloned and weaponized, undermining trust in his work. (15:08-15:34)
  • "I curse the ones responsible for that." — Raidat Kenji (15:59)

• Restoring Trust:

  • In response, Kenji openly warned the community and urged them only to download UyghurEdit from GitHub, emphasizing the safety and transparency of his software. (17:22-17:49)
  • “I uploaded Uyghur Edit on GitHub. Its source code is open for everyone to benefit from and view. There is no hidden malware in what I've shared.” — Raidat Kenji (17:39)

6. The Broader Consequences of Digital Erasure

• Weaponizing Fear:

  • Even moderately sophisticated, these attacks are powerful because they sow distrust in crucial cultural tools: “If even a legitimate cultural tool like Uyghur Edit can be weaponized, then it would make people wonder what’s safe.” — Dena Temple Raston (16:49)
  • “Once this comes to light, people can be very afraid of these tools... is this being weaponized or is this going to harm me or can I trust this?” — Rebecca Brown (08:08)

• Beijing’s Transnational Reach:

  • Brown emphasizes that China’s strategy is to reach outside its borders to erase Uyghur language, culture, and autonomy—turning exile into digital exile as well. (18:03-18:26)

• Resistance Through Creation:

  • Brown and Kenji both call for resilience in the face of digital fear—encouraging Uyghurs to keep developing and using their own tools to maintain language, history, and community. (18:42-18:55)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Rebecca Brown on Daily Surveillance:

  • “They always had their own identity and their own culture, and they did not want to be part of the centralized system.” (03:06)
  • "China really views any pushback to the narrative of the Chinese Communist Party as a threat." (03:53)
  • “There’s a lot that can be discovered about you by having that type of access. More than just surveillance cameras... this level of information about a person’s life.” (07:45)

• Dena Temple Raston on Digital Erasure:

  • “This is what erasure looks like now. It doesn’t always come with police raids or prison camps. Sometimes it arrives in your inbox, wrapped in good intentions...” (18:26)

• Raidat Kenji on Open Source Ethics:

  • “When I released Uyghur Edit, I also released its source code. Therefore it was easy to damage the software with this malware... I curse the ones responsible for that.” (15:34-15:59)
  • “To erase the Uyghur identity and to steal information about the Uyghurs. No one else does it except the spies of the Chinese Communist Party.” (17:09)

• Rebecca Brown’s Final Hope:

  • “What I’m hoping is that we won’t see that fear... and that we’ll see almost a pushback and maybe even an increase in creation of tools.” (18:42)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:06 — Historical context: Uyghur resistance and cultural identity
• 04:01 — Crackdown and modern surveillance in Xinjiang
• 05:35 — Surveillance expands to Uyghurs abroad
• 08:39 — The UyghurEdit phishing campaign begins
• 09:51 — Activists discover a government-backed targeting warning
• 10:48 — Clues: Email impersonation detected
• 13:59 — Technical breakdown: How the malware works
• 15:08 — UyghurEdit developer Raidat Kenji responds
• 16:29 — The sophistication behind the social engineering attack
• 17:39 — Kenji urges community to verify software origins
• 18:03 — The persistence of Chinese digital reach and risks to culture
• 18:42 — A call to resist fear and keep building cultural tools

Conclusion

This episode offers a compelling look at how digital tools intended to preserve the Uyghur language and culture are being subverted for surveillance and repression. Through expert interviews and gripping storytelling, it illustrates both the technical and human sides of modern authoritarianism, highlighting the resilience required to maintain cultural identity in the face of transnational digital threats.

For further information: The series "Erased" continues on Click Here, wherever you get your podcasts.