Mobilizing Online Backlash against Human Right Shaming: Evidence from China

• In Event: Political Communications and International Relations in the Digital Era

Abstract

International naming and shaming may pressure authoritarian regimes, but autocrats may deliberately mobilize domestic backlash against such foreign criticism. In this paper, we argue that autocrats, instead of just refuting the criticism, use propaganda strategies to reframe it as unfair foreign attacks, thereby mobilizing domestic backlash. Based on a survey experiment regarding accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, as well as typical propaganda narratives used by the Chinese government in the digital platform, we find that mobilizing backlash by framing foreign criticism as unfair western bias against China is more effective in boosting public support for the government and mobilizing voluntary public behavior in defending the regime online than traditional statements that only refute international shaming. A follow-up experiment in the U.S., however, indicates that the backlash-mobilization strategy will create more resistance to China than those traditional diplomatic statements, as the U.S. public is more likely to support hawkish policy towards China when they are told of China’s backlash-mobilization narratives. In sum, this study reveals one strategy that autocracies can use to mobilize domestic support against global shaming, but such rallying domestic audiences may come at the cost of further alienating international audiences.

Authors

• Dongshu Liu, City University of Hong Kong

• Claudia Junghyun Kim, City University of Hong Kong