Competing for Clicks: How Official News Agencies Shape Political Trust on Social Media

Chinese state media have increasingly engaged in social media platforms, emulating their commercial counterparts in a race for the attention of Internet users. As they are more capable of catching the eye of the public, the social media accounts of state news outlets also tend to operate with less rigorous scrutiny, sometimes disseminating poorly validated information. This research examines the impact of online misinformation from state media on netizens' trust in Chinese authorities by analyzing a large dataset of posts and reposts related to the Shuanghuanglian Incident on Sina Weibo during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings reveal that social media users exhibited divergent beliefs regarding the credibility of the report on SHL published by a leading state news outlet. Additionally, the study uncovers a polarized pattern of blame. While some users held state media accountable for the SHL incident, others primarily blamed the masses and healthcare experts. This paper sheds new light on how online misinformation affects trust within the Chinese context, where state media have monopolized the provision of political news.