<p>This study examines the implementation of mass digital surveillance systems in China, analyzing the relationship between technological sophistication and effective social control. The research explores how a government deployed artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and predictive analytics to monitor its population, investing heavily in what appeared to be a comprehensive digital surveillance apparatus. The study identifies a counterintuitive pattern wherein increased digital surveillance capabilities corresponded with decreased effectiveness in maintaining effective surveillance, like diseconomies of scale in markets. The research contributes to ongoing discussions about the efficacy of digital surveillance states and challenges assumptions about the relationship between technological capability and social control. These findings have significant implications for understanding authoritarian governance, privacy rights, and the limitations of artificial intelligence in social monitoring systems.</p>