Censorship in the Semi-Private Domain: The PRC and Censorship of Social Media

• In Event: Communication as Human Rights Politics: Digital Natives, Censorship, Diffusion, and Appropriation

Abstract

King, Pan, and Roberts’ (2013, 2014, 2017) work on China and censorship has provided many key insights about both the mechanisms of censorship and its logic. Yet, these studies were entirely focused on information and comments publicly found on social media sites. This overlooks the impact private messages, posts, and shared information can have on collective action; especially as the private domain of social media links one to a tighter, more influential network than the public domain. We design an experiment modelled on the King, Pan, and Roberts’ (2014) Science article to test these authors’ theories in the semi-private domain of WeChat. We argue that censors of posts and messages on semi-private platforms adapt board-spectrum criteria in removing and blocking contents of both state critiques and collective action due to the higher collectivizing capability of official accounts that people self-select to enter and are usually among peer groups. Using an a priori post selection strategy, we sent treated and controlled posts through the WeChat platform and found statistically significant evidence that private domain censors do not differentiate between posts based on collective action potential but do identify previously censored posts in remarkable speed. The study aims to complement existing literature on authoritarian control of expression, production, and dissemination of information with a view to the regime’s effort to prevent collective action and political opportunities that can be exploited by dissenters.

Author

• Zack Bowersox, University of Georgia