Censorship Can be Counterproductive: Why Are Certain Kinds of Political Rumors more Credible than Others? An Experiment on Chinese Social Media

HonorsPolitical ScienceUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/169427/1/wuziyi.pd

Contested Chinese dreams of AI? Public discourse about artificial intelligence on WeChat and people’s daily online

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a prominent public issue, particularly in China, where the government has announced plans to turn the country into a global AI power. This study analyses public discourse about AI in China through the conceptual lens of public spheres theory and counter-public spheres. It compares the official AI narrative on People’s Daily Online with public discussion about AI on the social medium WeChat, where we assumed that official views would be challenged. Using a combination of qualitative and computational methods, 140,000 AI-related articles published between 2015 and 2018 were studied. Findings reveal that AI-related discourse on WeChat is surprisingly similar to that on People’s Daily Online. That is, it is dominated by industry and political actors, such as government agencies and technology companies, and is mostly characterized by discussions about the economic potential of the technology, with strongly positive evaluations, and little critical debate

Political Rumor Communication on Instant Messaging Platforms:Relationships With Political Participation and Knowledge

Modern communication technologies have vastly increased the reach and influence of political rumors, with negative consequences for democratic political systems globally. Rumor communication can be theorized as a form of political talk that helps citizens grapple with the uncertainty inherent in politics, form opinions, and build solidarity with others. The present study examines how one type of communication technology—instant messaging platforms—might facilitate forms of rumor communication that can influence participation in and knowledge about politics. Using original panel survey data from the 2017 South Korean election, we find that rumor communication on the popular instant messaging platform KakaoTalk predicts increased campaign participation, but not campaign knowledge. Further, political rumor communication on instant messaging platforms appears to exacerbate participatory inequality between those with weak and those with strong political interest and ideology

Cyber China: Upgrading Propaganda, Public Opinion Work and Social Management for the Twenty-First Century

The first two years of the Xi Jinping administration saw a thorough reconfiguration of Internet governance. This reconfiguration created a centralized and integrated institutional framework for information technologies, in support of an ambitious agenda to place digital technologies at the heart of propaganda, public opinion and social control work. Conversely, the autonomy and spontaneity of China’s online sphere was vastly reduced, as the leadership closed channels for public deliberation. This article reviews the institutional and regulatory changes that have taken place between 2012 and 2014, and analyses the methods and purposes of control they imply.Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a pluralist worl

Online Social Networks, Media Supervision and Investment Efficiency:An Empirical Examination of Chinese Listed Firms

Prior literature suggests that media reports acting as external supervision improve information transparency and corporate governance leading to increased investment efficiency. This study empirically tests this hypothesis in the context of online social networks by investigating the combined effects of online social networking and media reports on investment efficiency using a sample of Chinese listed firms. Our results show that the interaction of media reports and Tobin's q ratio is negatively related to corporate investment efficiency. However, the introduction of online social networks turns this relationship from a negative to a positive and statistically significant one. The combined factors significantly increase investment efficiency in non-SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) but not in SOEs. We provide evidence that online social networking effectively mitigates the negative effect of media supervision on investment efficiency, further advancing knowledge of the link of external supervision and corporate governance.National Natural Science Foundation of Chin

Political Rumor Communication on Instant Messaging Platforms:Relationships With Political Participation and Knowledge

Modern communication technologies have vastly increased the reach and influence of political rumors, with negative consequences for democratic political systems globally. Rumor communication can be theorized as a form of political talk that helps citizens grapple with the uncertainty inherent in politics, form opinions, and build solidarity with others. The present study examines how one type of communication technology—instant messaging platforms—might facilitate forms of rumor communication that can influence participation in and knowledge about politics. Using original panel survey data from the 2017 South Korean election, we find that rumor communication on the popular instant messaging platform KakaoTalk predicts increased campaign participation, but not campaign knowledge. Further, political rumor communication on instant messaging platforms appears to exacerbate participatory inequality between those with weak and those with strong political interest and ideology