Grassroots, Astroturf, or Something in Between? Semi-Official WeChat Accounts as Covert Vectors of Party-State Influence in Contemporary China

This article explores a facet of the Chinese propaganda apparatus that has yet to receive sufficient academic attention: the murky ecosystem of “semi-official” party-state presences on Chinese social media. With a particular focus on WeChat public accounts, this investigation responds to two critica...

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Autor principal: Jackson Paul Neagli
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: SAGE Publishing 2021
Materias:
H53
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/0a41c6bcd9ca40cb9720a935da220cad
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Sumario:This article explores a facet of the Chinese propaganda apparatus that has yet to receive sufficient academic attention: the murky ecosystem of “semi-official” party-state presences on Chinese social media. With a particular focus on WeChat public accounts, this investigation responds to two critical research questions: first, what differentiates official party-state social media presences from semi-official presences, and second, what unique role do semi-official WeChat accounts play in the contemporary Chinese propaganda apparatus? This article samples content published by five dyads of official and semi-official WeChat public accounts during the first fifteen days of June 2019. The results of this comparative, case-study-based discourse analysis support two conclusions. First, semi-official WeChat accounts posture as independent from the party-state in order to attract large followings and gain credibility. Second, semi-official WeChat public accounts operate as “astroturfed influencers,” enabling the Chinese propaganda apparatus to covertly manipulate online discourse with extraordinary efficiency.