Alternative framing: The effect of the Internet on political support in authoritarian China

Abstract

This study seeks to identify and test a mechanism through which the Internet influences public support in an authoritarian environment in which alternative information is strictly censored by the state. Through online discussions, web users often interpret sanctioned news information in directions different from or even opposite to the intention of the authoritarian state. This alternative framing on the Internet can strongly affect the political views of web users. Through an experimental study conducted in China, we find that subjects exposed to alternative online framing generally hold lower levels of policy support and evaluate government performance more negatively. This finding implies that even though the access to information on sensitive topics is effectively controlled by the government, the diffusion capabilities of the Internet can still undermine the support basis of the seemingly stable authoritarian regime.

Parsing the Effect of the Internet on Regime Support in China

“…As indicated in our study, the Internet may not have directly triggered political upheavals, but it can exacerbate people's "dissatisfaction with matters of economics or day-to-day governance" of the state (Lynch, 2011:5) and thus prepare the public for the future collective actions. Our research thus joins an emerging enterprise of exploring the more nuanced, but not less important, effects of the Internet (Lei, 2011;Tang et al, 2012;Tang and Huhe, 2014). Through a theoretical explication and an empirical test of the micro-process of the Internet, our study help identify the causal effects of the Internet that can support the argument about the effect the Internet on THE EFFECT OF THE INTERNET IN CHINA political changes in authoritarian countries.…”

“…Even the success of a grand project of the government that is supposed to boost public support can be framed as negative on the Internet. For example, Tang and Huhe (2014) show that the recent success of recent China's space programs has been interpreted by many netizens as a mere "face project" of the regime THE EFFECT OF THE INTERNET IN CHINA or even as a waste of precious resources that should have been used to improve the wellbeing of ordinary citizens.…”

“…Nor has the legitimacy of the party-state system been allowed to be openly challenged. Second, however, there is an increasing amount of negative information about the government accompanied with the fast diffusion of the Internet use (King et al, 2013;Lorentzen, 2014;Shirk, 2010;Tang and Huhe, 2014;Yang et al, 2014). Low-profile officials and institutions and various policy issues, especially those at the local levels, have become the frequent targets of negative reporting and critical deliberation on the Internet (e.g., Han, 2015).…”

“…While the former believe that the diffusion of the Internet and its associated new media is able to undermine authoritarian rule through democratizing public sphere (Howard and Hussain 2011;Diamond 2010;Shirky 2011), the latter, disappointed by the failure of the Internet to promote political changes in such countries as China, Singapore, Iran, Russia, and Cuba, contend that the Internet can serve as another instrument for the government and help consolidate the authoritarian regime (Lorentzen 2014;MacKinnon 2011;Gunitsky 2015). Despite their disagreements, both camps focus mainly on large-scale events such as protests (Farrell 2012;Tang and Huhe 2014). Less frequently considered is how everyday use of the Internet changes people's attitude.…”

The Effect of Media Use on Institutional Trust in China

“…in the empirical analysis presented in the next section, we control for the confounding effect of the internet. as found in Tang and huhe's (2013) study, the use of the internet can decrease people's level of support for government policy and evaluation of government performance. We therefore expect that the internet is negatively associated with political trust for both high-profile and low-profile institutions.…”