It is fairly common knowledge that China is a gargantuan in the manufacturing sector and, due to the large population of the country, have a disproportionate stake in the world economy. Because of their huge population, many companies, especially software companies, must cater to the Chinese market due to the large number of people to sell to. This has led to China's authoritarian government having a hand in dictating how western companies act, much to the despair of not only their western customers but citizens of China and nearby countries.

China has a history of committing large-scale human rights abuses. This includes using specialized facial recognition towers to capture and punish political dissenters, as well as running concentration camps for Muslim Uighurs in order to "re-educate" them — which includes torture and many other human rights abuses.

Additionally, Hong Kong is experiencing continued civil unrest to retain autonomy from China. This unrest has caused the Chinese government to step in and meet the peaceful protests with even more human rights violations. Protesters have been recorded being beaten by police and some even being shot.

Recently, there was a championship held for the online video game "Hearthstone" in which a player named "Blitzchung" was given a post-match interview. In this interview Blitzchung expressed support for the Hong Kong protesters, stating "liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our age!"

Promptly after the interview, Blitzchung was banned from participating in any tournaments for one year and the casters conducting the interview were also fired. Herein lies the problem.

Since China is such a lucrative market for these software companies, public anti-China support is quickly shut down in order to dodge a ban of the software by the authoritarian government. This foreign government has a hand in the speech of eastern and western citizens and has its boot on the neck of western companies in favor of gross human rights violations.

Something needs to change. Boycotts of Blizzard, the creator of "Hearthstone," have begun. But since the ban was done in order to keep the Chinese market intact, any western losses will likely be seen as worth it to the company — no amount of western losses would equal the loss of the massive Chinese market.

With western companies siding with an authoritarian government in order to save profits, the only thing we as citizens can do is help raise awareness of the abuses China is committing and petition our government to step in and place sanctions on China in order to suffocate their market. Hopefully, that will help to create a safer environment for Chinese citizens. Otherwise, China will only grow more powerful in the world market and their people will continue to suffer because of it.