Defensive no more about its censorship record, China is trumpeting its vision of “Internet sovereignty” as a model for the world and is moving to make it a legal reality at home. At the same time — confounding Western skeptics — the Internet is nonetheless thriving in China, with nearly 700 million users, putting almost 1 in 4 of the world’s online population behind the Great Firewall.

One of the leaders in the virtual race is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi [...] As prime minister, Modi also went viral with a selfie he took with China's Li keqiang, a move promptly dubbed as "selfie diplomacy."

US authorities and Internet giants are boosting attempts to counter the Islamic State group’s online propaganda, though it is unclear how effective these efforts are in hampering the jihadists’ public-relations machine.