Authoritarian Design: How the Digital Architecture on China’s Sina Weibo Facilitate Information Control

Abstract

This article analyzes how the governance of digital architecture, such user interfaces, algorithms, and digital features, shapes political interaction and information control in China. It discusses that, to date, studies on social media in China have mostly ignored questions of governance and digital architecture in favour of the dichotomy between censorship of content and civil activism. Instead, this article uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to highlight how information control goes far beyond content management. It demonstrates that as a result of the commercial interests of the platform and regulation by the state, official party and state media accounts wield a disproportionate amount of power on the platform, as interaction among individuals is marginalized. To illustrate the real-world impact, it concludes with a preliminary analysis of Weibo’s coverage of China’s COVID-19 response.