We estimate that the government fabricates and posts about 448 million social media comments a year. In contrast to prior claims, we show that the Chinese regime’s strategy is to avoid arguing with skeptics of the party and the government, and to not even discuss controversial issues. We show that the goal of this massive secretive operation is instead to distract the public and change the subject, as most of the these posts involve cheerleading for China, the revolutionary history of the Communist Party, or other symbols of the regime. We discuss how these results fit with what is known about the Chinese censorship program, and suggest how they may change our broader theoretical understanding of “common knowledge” and information control in authoritarian regimes. [PDF do trabalho de investigação]

A estratégia não é discutir com os descrentes do regime ou abordar os assuntos que sejam polémicos, mas, isso sim, arranjar assuntos alternativos, para inundar o espaço comunicacional.

É um recentramento do focus mediático, usando uns meros 2 milhões de chineses, numa espécie de abrantização e mariadaluzização em ponto grande, a publicarem hinos de glória, em vez de gráficos coloridos.