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Social media, fear, and support for state surveillance: The case of China’s social credit system

Social media, fear, and support for state surveillance: The case of China’s social credit system Even in authoritarian regimes that enforce vigorous information controls, netizens are still able to access fairly diverse – sometimes even sensitive – information from social media than from traditional media. We argue that this ‘breathing space’ in social media may have an indirect positive effect on regime stability via a subtle emotional channel; exposure to news on social media heightens one’s generalized fear, which in turn increases one’s demand for social controls by the state. We test our argument using an original survey that evaluates public support for China’s social credit system. We find that the support for this seemingly all-encompassing surveillance system is positively correlated with one’s generalized fear, while one’s generalized fear is positively correlated with one’s exposure to news on WeChat, the most popular social media platform in China. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png China Information: A Journal on Contemporary China Studies SAGE

Social media, fear, and support for state surveillance: The case of China’s social credit system

Zeng, Yu; Wong, Stan Hok-wui
China Information: A Journal on Contemporary China Studies , Volume 37 (1): 24 – Mar 1, 2023
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References (93)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022
ISSN
0920-203X
eISSN
1741-590X
DOI
10.1177/0920203x221088141
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Even in authoritarian regimes that enforce vigorous information controls, netizens are still able to access fairly diverse – sometimes even sensitive – information from social media than from traditional media. We argue that this ‘breathing space’ in social media may have an indirect positive effect on regime stability via a subtle emotional channel; exposure to news on social media heightens one’s generalized fear, which in turn increases one’s demand for social controls by the state. We test our argument using an original survey that evaluates public support for China’s social credit system. We find that the support for this seemingly all-encompassing surveillance system is positively correlated with one’s generalized fear, while one’s generalized fear is positively correlated with one’s exposure to news on WeChat, the most popular social media platform in China.

Journal

China Information: A Journal on Contemporary China Studies – SAGE

Published: Mar 1, 2023

Keywords: social media; social surveillance; regime support; fear; authoritarian politics; social credit system

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