From Ban to Bridge? The “TikTok Refugees” and Cross-border Spillover Effects of Digital Regulation

• In Event: Online Political Communication in Global Crises

Brief Overview

By examining cross-cultural interactions between U.S. and Chinese citizens triggered by the 2025 U.S. TikTok ban using a mixed-method design, this paper reveals how digital regulations in democracies may benefit an autocracy unintentionally.

Authors

• Rongbin Han, University of Georgia

• Lizhi Liu, Georgetown University

• Yingdan Lu, Northwestern University

• Li Shao, Zhejiang University