Promote diligently and censor politely: how Sina Weibo intervenes in online activism in China

ABSTRACT

While it is increasingly recognised that commercial social media platforms are not neutral tools for online activism, our knowledge of how such platforms concretely intervene in user activities and shape the dynamics of online activism remains limited. This article focuses on analysing the strategies and mechanisms that have been used by Sina Weibo to manage online contention. Based on interviews with Weibo operators and opinion leaders, and analysis of relevant cases and documents, this article finds that in its early days Weibo actively facilitated the production and spread of online contention to establish itself as a key avenue for users to discuss and follow the development of unfolding incidents. Meanwhile, subtle strategies were applied to mitigate the tension between engaging users and conducting censorship. By showing how Weibo managed online contention in order to advance its own commercial interests, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the role social media platforms play in online activism.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• online activism
• platform politics
• China
• Sina Weibo

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Paolo Gerbaudo, Professor Thomas Poell and Professor Tim Jordan for their helpful comments on early drafts of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 All the interviews were originally conducted in Chinese and the quotes translated by the author.

2 Private message is a function that allows users to send messages to any other users on Weibo.

3 In general, an account with a username starting with ‘Weibo’ or ‘Sina’ is owned by the Sina corporation. These accounts cover a wide range of topics and usually have large numbers of followers.

4 The topic page for the Wenzhou High-speed Train Crash: http://huati.weibo.com/zt/s?k=7765

5 Yihuang Zhongsheng (The Bell of Yihuang) is a memoir written by Deng Fei and Liu Chang about the Yihuang Incident. It was published by Jiangxi Baihuazhou in 2011. However, all 40,000 printed copies were destroyed by the publisher before they could be sold on the market. The authors provided me with a preprint draft of this book.

6 The topic page for Pneumonia Patients Asking for Help: https://huati.weibo.com/6882551

7 A Weibo Administrator pinned the following message at the top of the page to ask people to adopt a specific format when posting: https://weibo.com/1934183965/IsDu97Lab

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mengying Li

Mengying Li is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Journalism at Fudan University, China. She holds a PhD in Digital Media and Culture from King’s College London, United Kingdom. Her research focuses on digital platforms, digital culture and online activism. She is currently writing a book on Weibo and WeChat’s involvement in digital activism in China.