The client net state
Trajectories of state control over cyberspace
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21837595 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Callum J Harvey (0000-0003-4493-8167, University of Wollongong, corresponding author), Christopher Moore (0000-0003-3149-1140, University of Wollongong), Christopher L Moore (0000-0002-6972-2787, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 133-151 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy & Internet (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1944-2866 • E-ISSN: 1944-2866 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/poi3.334 |
| OpenAlex | W4310546004 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 40 |
Social media corporations have become fixtures of daily life to the extent they are regularly compared to states in size and scope. These corporations and their platforms have become the dominant stakeholders of cyberspace, operating as state‐like cyber actors, or net states. Previous approaches have limited the net state to the online, framing their populations and agendas separate to the material reality of their everyday operations, overlooking the tangible overlap between sovereignty and cyberspace. In this article, we examine whether net states can be co‐opted into the apparatus of state in a manner comparable to client states. We examine the case of WeChat, the Chinese multipurpose messaging and social media app developed by Tencent in its operation as a client net state of the People's Republic of China. The interactions between these actors are mapped using a methodological framework incorporating actor‐network theory to demonstrate the existence of client net states, and how they may be deployed to expand a state's influence and cyber sovereignty beyond its physical borders
China · Computer security · Cyberspace · Internet privacy · Political science · Politics · Social media · Sociology · Sovereignty · The Internet · World Wide Web · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Computer Science · Engineering · Law · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection · Social Media and Politics
Declaration of Independence for Cyberspace
Internet governance by social media platforms
Critical Theorists and International Relations
Going Dark
Power and the Monopoly of Information
Networking Democracy
Digital Citizenship, The Internet, Society, and Participation
Not Official, But Permanent
Ordinary People and the Media
Reassembling the Social
Economy and Society
The Postnational Constellation
WeChat and civil society in China
Digital intermediation
Infrastructure studies meet platform studies in the age of Google and Facebook
The ties that bind
China’s ‘info-web’
Big Business and the State1
Kings, Clients and Satellites in the Napoleonic Imperium
Disrupting video game distribution
The Great Firewall of China
Technology Firms Shape Political Communication
Nodal Governance, Democracy, and the New ‘Denizens
Max Weber's conception of the state
Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth
Migrant Transnationality and Its Evolving Nature
WeChat as infrastructure
Introduction
When push comes to nudge
Property talk' among Chinese Australians
Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation
Actor-Network State
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |