Replication Data for: How Market Dynamics of Domestic and Foreign Social Media Firms Shape Strategies of Internet Censorship

There is ongoing debate over whether authoritarian regimes can maintain control over information given the rise of social media and the Internet. In this debate, China is often cited as a prime example of how authoritarian regimes can retain control, but to date, there has been limited research on whether China’s online censorship strategies can be replicated in other authoritarian regimes. This article shows that China’s ability to censor social media rests on the dominance of domestic firms in China’s market for Internet content. The absence of U.S. social media firms in China allows the Chinese government to engage in censorship through content removal, which can quickly and effectively suppress information. In contrast, for most other regimes, the market for social media is dominated by U.S. multinational firms, e.g., Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and in these contexts, content removal is an immense challenge. This article then examines the prospects of instituting content removal by developing domestic social media or importing Chinese platforms, and finds that most authoritarian regimes are unlikely to be able to duplicate China’s online censorship efforts.

伴随社交媒体与互联网的兴起，威权政权能否维持对信息的管控，这一议题至今仍在学界持续争论。在这场争论中，中国常被引为威权政权能够维持信息管控的典型范例，但迄今为止，针对中国的网络审查策略能否在其他威权政权中复刻的相关研究仍较为匮乏。本文研究表明，中国对社交媒体实施审查的能力，依托于国内企业在中国互联网内容市场中的主导地位。由于美国社交媒体企业并未进入中国市场，中国政府得以通过内容删除的方式开展审查，从而能够快速且有效地压制相关信息。与之形成对比的是，绝大多数其他政权的社交媒体市场均由美国跨国企业主导，例如Facebook、YouTube、Twitter，在此类场景下，实施内容删除将是一项极具难度的挑战。随后，本文探讨了通过发展本土社交媒体或引进中国平台来推行内容删除审查的可行性，并发现绝大多数威权政权均难以复刻中国的网络审查实践。