Scaling Authoritarian Information Control: How China Adjusts the Level of Online Censorship

• Author: Rongbin Han,Li Shao
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211064536
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022

Article

PoliticalResearchQuarterly

2022,Vol.75(4)1345–1359

©2022UniversityofUtah

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DOI:10.1177/10659129211064536

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ScalingAuthoritarianInformation

Control:HowChinaAdjuststheLevelof

OnlineCensorship

RongbinHan

1

andLiShao

2



Abstract

Autocraciescanconduct“strategiccensorship”onlinebyselectivelytargetingdifferenttypesofcontentandbyadjusting

thelevelofinformationcontrol.Whilestudieshaveconfirmedthestate’sselectivetargetingbehaviorincensorship,few

haveempiricallyexaminedhowtheautocraciesmayadjustthecontrollevel.Usingdatawitha6-yearspan,thispaper

testswhethertheChinesestatescalesupcontrolovercitizenrycomplaintsinreactiontoaseriesofsocio-political

events.Theresultsshowthatinsteadofrespondingtomassprotestsandmajordisastersaspreviousstudieshave

suggested,thestatetendstoadjustthecontrollevelbecauseofpoliticalceremonies,policyshifts,orleadershipchanges.

Thefindingshelprefinethestrategiccensorshiptheoryandofferagranularunderstandingofthemotivesandtacticsof

authoritarianinformationcontrol.

Keywords

authoritarianinformationcontrol,strategiccensorship,Internet,China

Theliteratureoncensorshipinautocracieshasexplored

theselectivetargetingphenomenonextensively(e.g.,

Bamman,O’Connor,andSmith2012;Fu,Chan,and

Chau2013;King,Pan,andRoberts2013;Qin,

Str¨

omberg,andWu2017),withthefocusonwhythe

governmentblockscertaintypesofcontentbutnotthe

others.However,thelevelofcensorshipmaynotbe

constantoveraspecifictypeofcontent.Forexample,to

celebratethe70thAnniversaryofthefoundingofthe

People’sRepublic,Chineseauthoritiesbanned“overly

entertaining”TVshowsforahundreddaysfrom1August

2019onward,whilepromotingonly86selectedmain-

streampropagandaTVseries.

1

Suchabaninsteadof

targetingaspecifictypeoftabootopicrepresentsascale-

upofthelevelofinformationcontrol,albeitforalimited

timeperiod.Howtoexplainsuchtemporary“scale-upof

control”oncertaincontentduringspecialtimeperiods?

BuildingonthestrategiccensorshipmodelbyPeter

Lorentzen(2014),thisarticleprovidesevidenceonhow

theChinesestateadjuststhelevelofcontroloveronline

informationacrossthetime.Morespecifically,weaddress

thequestion:underwhatcircumstancesdoestheChinese

governmentscaleupthelevelofinformationcontrol?

Thisarticledifferentiatesselectivetargetinginstate

censorship,whichhasbeenheavilystudied,fromad-

justmentsintheinformationcontrollevelandfocuses

onlyonthelatter.Ifselectivetargetingisaboutsortingout

whattypeofcontentistoleratedorcensored,thuscon-

cernsprimarilywithmappingtheboundariesofexpres-

sion,adjustingthelevelofcontrolindicatesthescenarioin

whichthestateshrinksorexpandsthezoneofpermissible

expression.Usingametaphorofhighwaypatrolhere,we

arenotstudyingwhethertrafficpolicecatchingand

punishingdriversgoingabovethespeedlimitof65miles

perhourbutwhenandwhythetrafficauthoritiestem-

porarilyorpermanentlyadjustthespeedlimitfrom65to

45milesperhour.Weoperationalizeadjustmentsinthe

controllevelaschangesinthevolumeofabroadcategory

ofonlineexpression—citizenrycomplaintsaboutlocal

problems(again,notspecificcasesofsuchcomplaints).

Wethentestwhetheraseriesofsocio-politicalevents

havecausedfluctuationinthiscategoryofexpressionby

1

DepartmentofInternationalAffairs,UniversityofGeorgia,Athens,

Georgia

2

DepartmentofPoliticalScience,SchoolofPublicAffairs,Zhejiang

University,Hangzhou,China

CorrespondingAuthor:

LiShao,DepartmentofPoliticalScience,SchoolofPublicAffairs,

ZhejiangUniversity,634SchoolofPublicAffairs,ZhejiangUZijingang,

Hangzhou310068,China.

Email:shaoli@zju.edu.cn