When content moderation is not about content
How Chinese social media platforms moderate content and why it matters
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6443539 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Luzhou Li (0000-0003-1096-6469, Monash University, corresponding author), Kui Zhou (0000-0002-2514-1454, Communication University of China) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 6139-6155 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Media & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14614448241263933 |
| OpenAlex | W4401034639 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 33 |
Content moderation has become an essential part of the business of social media platforms, yet how it works remains largely a mystery in some important cases, particularly with regard to platforms run by Chinese companies. This research examines the latest automated moderation approaches adopted by Chinese short video platforms. Drawing on expert interviews and documentary research, we argue that Chinese platforms are moving away from a semantic approach, one that aims to grasp the meaning of content, and toward regulating the ambient element, which we define as the pervasive information that immediately surrounds content and enacts its overall character and impact. Applying a consequentialist ethics lens to investigate this turn, we argue that the ambient shift represents a more proactive approach to moderation, one intended to create a generally beneficial informational environment for platform users. This contrasts with reactive, individualistic moderation regimes grounded in the principle of informational neutrality
Bridge (graph theory · Content (measure theory · GRASP · Meaning (existential · Media content · Moderated mediation · Moderation · Multimedia · Neutrality · Political science · Social media · Sociology · World Wide Web · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Computer Science · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
The Manufacture of Soft Eroticism in Complicit Edge Ball Games
Governance of discriminatory content in conversational AIs
From detection to diagnosis
Neoliberalism, feminist resistance, and the marketed self
Generative AI So White
Beyond the ‘similar other’
To let content be or not be
Human–algorithm interactions in platform governance
The manufacturing of (Un)stability
From emotional struggles to digital resistance
Wanghong as Social Media Entertainment in China
Assessing Censorship on Microblogs in China
The Structural Virality of Online Diffusion
The platformization of Chinese Society
Reverse-engineering censorship in China
Production Studies
Statistical Panic
Specificity, Conflict, and Focal Point
Twitter and Tear Gas
The Qualitative Interview in Media Production Studies
Digital Media Ethics
The Routledge Handbook of Social Epistemology
Internet regulation as media policy
On the nature of attention, with ambient interfaces at street level
Moderating for a friend of mine
A regional and historical approach to platform capitalism
A Model of Adaptive Mobilization
Algorithmic content moderation
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
The Ambient Politics of Affective Computing
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 10 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |