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Apr 15, 2012-2012

China

China microbloggers

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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP

Weibo

TARGET

Chinese Government

WIDELY HELD BELIEF

Freedom of Speech should be allowed.

CASE NARRATIVE

Issue and Opponent: China has strict censorship rules that forbid people to engage in any gossip about top political leaders, their families, or internal party affairs. However, recently China has seen a rise in waves of speculation and comments on the most sensitive topics such as political infighting, lurid allegations of murder, and even unfolded claims of the coup. This has caused China officials to control the web through large-scale deletions, real name registration, website closures, and even detentions. Dilemma Action: In China, there has been a rise in the use of domestic sites such as “Weibo.” Weibo plays a much more important role in China than Twitter. Although Weibo is censored, it is not considered a free space, but it is still a place where information can be exchanged and has had an impact on the public. The more people that are watching Weibo and reading microblogs, the more they become interested and invested in the information that they are reading which includes the public to become sympathetic towards any information that is presented. Posting on microblogs, it allows for it to be used as a weapon against government officials. This is because it can reduce corruption, improve social governance, and make officials behave better. The use of Weibo has been covered by the media so other people are aware of the site and so other users can become a part of the campaign. Outcome: The use of microblogging and Weibo has allowed people to express their information to the public and hold government officials accountable. Moreover, the group has continued to work on freedom of speech in the country and ensure that censorship does not continue happening in China. Those who have engaged in using Weibo and use of microblogging have not faced any form of punishment instead there have been positive outcomes from using Weibo. However, the campaign has not been replicated by anyone else in the country.

PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL

Accountability / Corruption
Human rights
Pro-Democracy

DA TACTICS USED

Banners/posters/displayed communications

Boycott of social affairs

Newspapers and journals

CASE NARRATIVE WRITER

SUCCESS METRICS

8 / 12

(MC) Media Coverage

(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists

(OR) Opponent response

(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public

(PUN) Punishment favored the activists

(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent

(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists

(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public

PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN

3 / 3

Activist group continued working together after the action

Encouraged more participants to join the movement

Internally replicated by the same movement

RESOURCES

Project documentation

Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook

Case study documentation

Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset

CC BY 4.0 Deed, Attribution 4.0 International

SOURCES

Fredrika. 2012. “China’s censors tested by microbloggers who keep one step ahead of state media,” Actipedia. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://actipedia.org/project/chinas-censors-tested-microbloggers-who-keep-one-step-ahead-state-media).

Branigan, Tania. 2012. “China’s censors tested by microbloggers who keep one step ahead of state media,” The Guardian. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/16/internet-china-censorship-weibo-microblogs).

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