How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
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TLDR
Wang et al. as discussed by the authors proposed a system to locate, download, and analyze the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different social media services all over China before the Chinese government is able to find, evaluate, and censor the subset they deem objectionable.Abstract:
We offer the first large scale, multiple source analysis of the outcome of what may be the most extensive effort to selectively censor human expression ever implemented. To do this, we have devised a system to locate, download, and analyze the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different social media services all over China before the Chinese government is able to find, evaluate, and censor (i.e., remove from the Internet) the subset they deem objectionable. Using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods that we adapt to and validate in the Chinese language, we compare the substantive content of posts censored to those not censored over time in each of 85 topic areas. Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic, criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilization, regardless of content. Censorship is oriented toward attempting to forestall collective activities that are occurring now or may occur in the future—and, as such, seem to clearly expose government intent.read more
Figures
Figure 4: Events with Highest and Lowest Censorship Magnitude 
Figure 7: Two Topics with Continuous High Censorship Levels (in 2011) 
Figure 5: High Censorship During Collective Action Events (in 2011) 
Figure 1: The Fractured Structure of the Chinese Social Media Landscape 
Figure 3: “Censorship Magnitude,” the percent of posts censored inside a volume burst minus outside volume bursts. 
Figure 10: Validation of Automated Text Analysis
Citations
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How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, Not Engaged Argument
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Every tweet counts? How sentiment analysis of social media can improve our knowledge of citizens’ political preferences with an application to Italy and France
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China's Strategic Censorship
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors show that under some conditions, a regime optimally permits investigative reporting on lower-level officialdom, adjusting how much reporting is allowed depending on the level of underlying social tensions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Computer-Assisted Text Analysis for Comparative Politics
Chris Lucas,Richard A. Nielsen,Margaret E. Roberts,Brandon M. Stewart,Alex Storer,Dustin Tingley +5 more
TL;DR: Practical issues that arise in the processing, management, translation, and analysis of textual data are discussed with a particular focus on how procedures differ across languages.
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Reverse-engineering censorship in China: Randomized experimentation and participant observation
TL;DR: It appears that criticism on the web, which was thought to be censored, is used by Chinese leaders to determine which officials are not doing their job of mollifying the people and need to be replaced.
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