Gary King on Reverse Engineering Chinese Government Information Controls
Author: Gary King
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
(Transcribed and Edited by Stephen B. Reynolds)
On May 29, 2018, Gary King, the Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor at Harvard University, gave a speech at the International Conference about Innovations in Political Methodology and China Study, which was held at National Taiwan University. His first keynote speech focused on the methodological techniques that he and his co-authors Jennifer Pan and Margaret E. Roberts used to research the ways in which the Chinese governmentemploys “50 cent party” members to censor online activity.
King showed that contrary to popular belief, the Chinese government generally does not censor criticism, rather it censors online activity perceived to be a potential cause for real collective action. He also found that the main role of the “50 cent party”, who are a group of government officials and not ordinary citizens, is to steer discussions in a positive direction. Theydon’t do this by arguing, but by cheerleading. By deciphering an archive of leaked emails, conducting a survey, and extrapolating the results to the rest China, King and his co-authors were able to verify the results, estimate the total number of fabricated posts, and observe how a majority of “50 cent party” posts are made in coordinated bursts during events which have the most potential for collective action. The accuracy of these results were later verified by the Global Times, which is considered to be a mouthpiece of the Chinese government. The discussion that followed King’s keynote speech addressed some questions regarding the methodology used in this study.