Directed Digital Dissidence in Autocracies

Does the Internet fundamentally change the flow of politically relevant information, even in authoritarian regimes? If so, does it alter the attitudes and behavior of citizens? While there is a fair amount of research exploring how social media has empowered social actors to challenge authoritarian regimes, there is much less addressing whether and how the state can actively shape the flow of information to its advantage. In China, for instance, citizens often resort to "rightful resistance" to lodge complaints and defend rights. By using the rhetoric of the central government, powerless citizens may exploit the slim political opportunity structure and negotiate with the state for better governance. But this tactic also reinforces the legitimacy of authoritarian states; citizens engage rightful resistance precisely because they trust the state, at least the central government, to some degree.

Drawing on original survey data and rich qualitative sources, Directed Digital Dissidence in Autocracies explores how authoritarian regimes employ the Internet in advantageous ways to direct the flow of online information. The authors argue that the central Chinese government successfully directs citizen dissent toward local government through critical information that the central government places online--a strategy that the authors call "directed digital dissidence". In this context, citizens engage in low-level protest toward the local government, and thereby feel empowered, while the central government avoids overthrow. Consequently, the Internet functions to discipline local state agents and to project a benevolent image of the central government and the regime as a whole. With an in-depth look at the COVID-19 and Xinjiang Cotton cases, the authors demonstrate how the Chinese state employs directed digital dissidence and discuss the impact and limitations of China's information strategy.

Jason Gainous is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Louisville. His research focuses on information technology and politics. He is the co-author of Tweeting to Power: The Social Media Revolution in American Politics and Rebooting American Politics: The Internet Revolution. He has published widely in various journals and is the Co-Editor in Chief of Journal of Information Technology & Politics.

Rongbin Han is Associate Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. His research interests include contentious politics, media and cyber politics, and civic participation in China. He is the author of Contesting Cyberspace in China: Online Expression and Authoritarian Resilience and has recently published in The China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, and Political Research Quarterly, among others.

Andrew W. MacDonald is Assistant Professor of Social Science at Duke Kunshan University. He primarily works in the area of Chinese public opinion research, having authored nearly a dozen surveys of Chinese attitudes on politics, technology, and social questions. His work on this topic has been published in a wide variety of communication, technology, and experimental design journals.

Kevin M. Wagner is Professor and Department Chair in Political Science at Florida Atlantic University. He is the co-author of Tweeting to Power: The Social Media Revolution in American Politics and Rebooting American Politics: The Internet Revolution. His work has been published in leading journals and law reviews, including Political Behaviour, Online Information Review, Journal of Information Technology & Politics and The Journal of Legislative Studies.