The Intermingling of State and Private Companies: Analysing Censorship of the 19th National Communist Party Congress on WeChat

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This paper examines the relationship between political events and information control on WeChat through a longitudinal analysis of keyword censorship related to China's 19th National Communist Party Congress (NCPC19). We use a novel method to track censorship on WeChat before, during and after the NCPC19 to probe the following questions. Does censorship change after an event is over? What roles do the government and private companies play in information control in China? Our findings show that the system of information control in China can trigger blunt reactions to political events. In addition to critical content around the Congress and leaders, WeChat also censored neutral and potentially positive references to government policies and ideological concepts. The decision making behind this censorship is a product of the interaction between the government, which influences actions through directives, and the companies, which ultimately implement controls on their platforms. While this system is effective in compelling companies to implement censorship, the intermingling of the state and private companies can lead to outcomes that may not align with government strategies. We call for a deeper understanding of the role of private companies in censorship and a more nuanced assessment of the government's capacity to control social media.</jats:p>

Does Online Technology Make Us More or Less Sociable? A Preliminary Review and Call for Research

“…Governments ranging from Mexico to Russia have used the Internet for antisocial means, including spying or sabotaging their perceived opponents both within and outside their countries. China monitors its own citizens and thwarts antigovernment sentiments through social-media applications such as WeChat (Ruan, Knockel, Ng, & Crete-Nishihata, 2016). The United States engages in considerable surveillance of its citizens through online channels as well, the extensive nature of which we know because of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s testimony.…”

Grassroots, Astroturf, or Something in Between? Semi-Official WeChat Accounts as Covert Vectors of Party-State Influence in Contemporary China

“…These events provide specific "sensitive" topics on which to conduct discourse analysis. In their analysis of WeChat censorship during the 19th Party Congress, Ruan et al (2020) established that "sensitive" events lead to "episodic" changes in Chinese censorship practices, which indicates that similar "episodes" might occur in the opinion guidance sphere.…”

“…Previous research on the party-state's censorship and astroturfing strategies has concluded that, when the regime does intervene on social media, it does so largely to distract netizens from politically sensitive issues King et al (2013a) 2013b, King et al, 2014King et al, , 2017. The publication of "infotainment" during sensitive events might also be considered a form of "episodic" (Ruan et al, 2020: 3) partystate "obfuscation," as that term is applied by Brunton and Nissenbaum (2015). Thus, a comparison between official and semi-official WeChat public accounts' publication of "infotainment" -especially during the politically charged sampling period -has the potential to illuminate differences between official and semi-official vectors of "ideological guidance.…”

Moving to keep still: dynamic stillness in the digital and physical geographies of Beijing

“…Sometimes known as WeChat. There are analytically significant differences between Weixin and WeChat which necessitate the use of one term over another (Ruan et al 2020).…”