Censorship as Reward: Evidence from Pop Culture Censorship in Chile

Abstract

Censorship has traditionally been understood as a way for dictators to silence opposition. By contrast, this article develops and tests the theory that certain forms of censorship—in particular, prohibitions on popular culture—serve not only to limit political information but also to reward dictators’ supporters. Using text analysis of all 8,000 films reviewed for distribution during Chile’s dictatorship, I demonstrate that rather than focusing only on sensitive political topics, censors banned movies containing content considered immoral. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence, I show that these patterns cannot be explained by masked political content, distributor self-censorship, or censor preferences. Instead, they reflect the regime’s use of censorship as a reward for supporters, particularly conservative Catholic groups. My findings suggest that even repressive measures can be used in part to maintain support for authoritarian regimes.

Partisan conflict over content moderation is more than disagreement about facts

“…This underscores the need to study these dynamics at different points in time and in other political contexts. For example, future research could pursue a similar experiment in contexts where those on the right are more supportive of content moderation and those on the left oppose it ( 56 ).…”

The economics of movies (revisited): A survey of recent literature

“…Tangentially related to the issue of film classification, Dahl and DellaVigna (2009) examine whether violent films have antisocial spillover effects. On a different tangent, Esberg (2020) explores the content of films and state censorship.…”

When Do Private Actors Engage in Censorship? Evidence From a Correspondence Experiment with Russian Private Media Firms

“…This was the prevailing form of book censorship in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Eastern Bloc (Lewy 2016; Shane 1995). The Chilean military regime used it to censor movies (Esberg 2020). Post-censorship occurs when the state censors messages that have already been published.…”

“…For this reason, the Chinese regime has clamped down on spontaneous collective action that was nationalistic and pro-regime (Weiss 2014). The Chilean military regime banned movies that glorified revolutionary movements but tolerated negative depictions of right-wing authoritarian regimes (Esberg 2020). In fact, autocrats sometimes encourage certain types of criticism to gather information about corruption and the performance of local officials (Egorov, Guriev, and Sonin 2009; Lorentzen 2014; Malesky and Schuler 2010).…”