Social Media Policing and A War with Rumors in China’s Cyberspace: A Case Study of Weibo

• In Event: Impact of Cybercrime on Social Media and Criminal Justice Response: Cyber-terrorism, Cyberbullying, Augmented Reality Game, and Cyber Policing

Abstract

Spreading rumors or misinformation is not a new phenomenon but a widespread one due to the connectivity and lack of digital guardianship of social media. A Chinese microblogging site Weibo, with 3 billion active users in 2016, has started to combat rumors in cyberspace. Using Schneider’s (2016) social media policing theory and Choi’s Cyber-routine activities theory as guiding frameworks, this paper explores how and in what ways the mechanism of rumor rebuttals for Weibo works. First, a monthly report on rumors of Weibo and an official anti-rumor account of Weibo will be used a basis for building a database and be analyzed for types, content, place, time of rumors as well as whether or not the information is proved to be true. Second, a network analysis will be used for understanding diffusion mechanisms of rumors and a logistic regression will be used for investigating under what conditions misinformation is spread out. These findings provide not only theoretical and methodological implications but also practical implications for social media policing in China. This study will provide implications and policy measures for what social media policing means for authorities and citizens for addressing issues of deviance and criminal justice in cyberspace.

Author

• Claire Seungeun Lee, Inha University, South Korea