Propaganda, Presumed Influence, and Collective Protest

Abstract

Political propaganda can reduce citizens’ inclinations to protest by directly influencing their preferences or beliefs about the government. However, given that protest is risky in authoritarian societies and requires collective participation, propaganda can also reduce citizens’ inclination to protest by making them think that other citizens, rather than themselves, may have been influenced by propaganda and are, as a result, unwilling to protest. We test this indirect mechanism of propaganda using a survey experiment with Chinese internet users from diverse backgrounds and find that they do believe propaganda affects other citizens’ support for and beliefs about the government more than their own support and beliefs. Moreover, they believe that propaganda reduces other citizens’ willingness to protest, which in turn reduces their own willingness to protest. Therefore, the power of propaganda may sometimes lie more in the social perceptions and uncertainty it creates than in its direct individual effects.

A Difficult Test for Hard Propaganda: Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Venezuela

“…Second, future studies could aim to replicate our study asking respondents how they think others would perceive the propaganda images. As illustrated by Huang & Cruz (2022) one mechanism of why propaganda has a deterrence e↵ect is that citizens believe that propaganda reduces the willingness of other citizens to protest.…”

“…Moreover, our survey results indicate very low levels of support for Maduro in line with his low approval ratings at the time, suggesting that respondents overall answered truthfully. Third, although the focus on Internet users does not allow us to generalize the results to the broader Venezuelan population, Internet users in Venezuela are of special importance as they have greater possibilities to inform themselves via independent sources, may be more likely to have an interest in politics, and potentially more willing to contend authoritarian practices (Huang & Cruz, 2022).…”

Aksesibilitas Pengawasan Media Sosial oleh Badan Pengawas Pemilihan Umum terhadap Pencegahan Kampanye Propaganda

“…Kampanye hitam dan kampanye negatif akan merujuk pada terciptanya propaganda. Propaganda menjadi potensi buruk dalam dunia kampanye politik karena menyebarkan informasi yang tidak konkrit, terlalu dibesarbesarkan, dan dibentuk dengan senganja demi kepentingan salah satu pihak, propaganda bekerja pada tingkatan kolektif dan pribadi guna memanipulasi preferensi individu secara langsung dan meningkatkan dukungan terhadap seseorang (Huang & Cruz, 2022).…”

Why the results of elections don't express the will of the people

“…A study of Chinese media found that propaganda also influences people's beliefs about other citizens' opinions on the regime. The likelihood of others protesting in turn impacted their own will to protest (Huang & Cruz, 2022). It is like Orwell states in his essay, Politics and the English Language: "Political language -and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind (Blair, 2011)."…”