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China Is Perfecting a New Method For Suppressing Dissent On the Internet (vox.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Vox: The art of suppressing dissent has been perfected over the years by authoritarian governments. For most of human history, the solution was simple: force. Punish people severely enough when they step out of line and you deter potential protesters. But in the age of the internet and "fake news," there are easier ways to tame dissent. A new study by Gary King of Harvard University, Jennifer Pan of Stanford University, and Margaret Roberts of the University of California San Diego suggests that China is the leading innovator on this front. Their paper, titled "How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, Not Engaged Argument," shows how Beijing, with the help of a massive army of government-backed internet commentators, floods the web in China with pro-regime propaganda. What's different about China's approach is the content of the propaganda. The government doesn't refute critics or defend policies; instead, it overwhelms the population with positive news (what the researchers call "cheerleading" content) in order to eclipse bad news and divert attention away from actual problems. This has allowed the Chinese government to manipulate citizens without appearing to do so. It permits just enough criticism to maintain the illusion of dissent and only acts overtly when fears of mass protest or collective action arise.
In the age where commercial journalism is driven by profit into an ever deepening cycle of selling fear, positive news is a pretty darn good thing. I am not sure how to counterbalance that with the negative news properly, but I am sure that when left fully to "market forces", news cycle is not at all balanced or fair.
As a humorous aside, in a recent meetup in Shanghai I met a guy whose job is "social media censor". Pleasant fella, speaks good English, and assured everyone that "he's a bad censor and never actually suppresses any posts" :)
I kinda wish we had some of these guys here, though (but may be suppress posts based on authors's apparent IQ rather than content bias)
Trump is not happy being president. He apparently wants to be a dictator.
Watch The Singing Trump, with 4 men dressed as Secret Service Agents, on America's Got Talent. The Singing Trump says who he loves.
In the 2nd song of that performance, see the laughing when he says, "Am I original?"
Watch the 1st audition. The judges and audience were shocked.
Whether people like it or not, it definitely is political commentary.
And insidious, too.
Just make sure you have enough crackpots to spread bullshit about. The more insane the conspiracy theory, the better. From Chemtrails to Flat Earth, from Reptiloids to Hitler's base on the dark side of the moon, just make sure you flood everything that people could possibly use to get non-approved news with enough bullshit that nobody would want to wade through the pits of steaming shit in the vain search for tangible information.
It is way more efficient than trying to suppress non-approved information. Because if you try to suppress it, every little bit of leaked info can be scrutinized by the people wanting to see for themselves what the world has in store for them and what really happens. But when you make sure that anything that could threaten your narrative is drowned in the noise of utter bullshit, people will not even bother trying.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Look at Yelp or Glassdoor or any place that allows for "open reviewing and commenting"
Both my apartment complex AND my company regularly spam review sites with "good newz everyone!" reviews. Like multiple 5 star ratings in a day after weeks of bad reviews.
Even on Amazon the review system is notoriously gamed - so it shouldn't be surprising that nations have adopted the same strategies.
You can probably even point to early newspapers that were funded by political cronies as an aspect of the same thing
On the bright side at least the dissenting voices are being heard in China instead of the usual state-run monolithic media.