Cyber China: Updating Propaganda, Public Opinion Work and Social Management for the 21st Century

Abstract

The first two years of the Xi Jinping administration saw a thorough reconfiguration of Inter-net 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 paper reviews the institutional and regulatory changes that have taken place between 2012 and 2014, and analyses the methods and purpos-es of control they imply.