The artwork of suppressing dissent has been perfected over time with the aid of authoritarian governments. For maximum of human history, the answer changed into easy: pressure. Punish humans severely enough once they step out of line and you deter ability protesters.

But within the age of the internet and “fake news,” there are less difficult approaches to tame dissent.

A new look at by way of Gary King of Harvard University, Jennifer Pan of Stanford University, and Margaret Roberts of the University of California San Diego indicates that China is the main innovator on this the front. Their paper, titled “How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, Not Engaged Argument,” indicates how Beijing, with the assist of a huge army of presidency-subsidized net commentators, floods the net in China with pro-regime propaganda.

What’s special about China’s approach is the content material of the propaganda. The authorities doesn’t refute critics or shield policies; instead, it overwhelms the populace with fantastic information (what the researchers call “cheerleading” content) a good way to eclipse bad information and divert interest away from actual problems.

This has allowed the Chinese government to govern residents with out performing to achieve this. It lets in simply sufficient criticism to hold the illusion of dissent and best acts overtly when fears of mass protest or collective motion get up.

To research more about China’s internet propaganda machine, I reached out to Roberts, one of the authors of the paper. I asked her how successful China has been at manipulating its populace and, extra importantly, if she thinks this emblem of on-line propaganda becomes a model for authoritarianism in the virtual age.

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Sean Illing

How does China use the net to govern its population?

Margaret Roberts

With this unique take a look at, we had been stimulated by using rumors of what’s referred to as the “50 Cent Party” in China [more on this below]. People have been satisfied that China was engaged in a full-size online propaganda marketing campaign that targeted its own population. But we never had direct proof that this was ongoing.

Then in 2014, there was a big leak that discovered what China became doing and how they organized their propaganda gadget. So that gave us an opportunity to examine the actual posts the Chinese government changed into generating and spreading on the web for propagandistic purposes.

We collected up all the information from the leaked email archive, and that allowed us to explore the content of the propaganda, which is some thing that no person had completed earlier than.

Sean Illing

And what did you locate?

Margaret Roberts

We had continually concept that the cause of propaganda become to argue towards or undermine critics of the regime, or to truely convince human beings that the critics have been incorrect. But what we located is that the Chinese authorities doesn’t hassle with any of that.

Instead, the content material of their propaganda is what we name “cheerleading” content material. Basically, they flood the internet with overwhelmingly high-quality content about China’s politics and tradition and history. What it quantities to is a sprawling distraction campaign as opposed to an try and sell a set of policies or defend the regulations of the regime.

Sean Illing

I need to dive deeper into that, but I need to ensure we don’t go with the flow beyond the “50 Cent Party” reference. Can you give an explanation for what that is?

Margaret Roberts

The 50 Cent Party is a form of informal department of the Chinese government that carries out its on-line propaganda marketing campaign — so those are the foot squaddies who publish the content material, percentage the posts, and many others. The call stems from the rumor that the contributors were every paid 50 cents for each submit that helped the authorities. We didn’t find evidence that people have been being paid 50 cents, but. It seems posting on line propaganda is simply a part of a central authority task.

Sean Illing

Do we have any concept what number of individuals there are or how many humans occupy those posts?

Margaret Roberts

The rumor before we started out analyzing this is that it’s some thing like 2 million people, however we virtually don’t recognise for sure. But we estimate that the government fabricates and posts 448 million social media comments a 12 months.

People level an extraordinary huge-scale protest no longer far from Tiananmen Square in Beijing on July 24, 2017, in connection with a current crackdown on a organization suspected of being concerned in a pyramid scheme. Getty Images

Sean Illing

So let’s communicate approximately China’s approach. In the paper, you point out that China’s authorities actively manipulates its population, but that it doesn’t always appear that way to its citizens. Part of the motive for that is China’s unusual method to propaganda, that’s to keep away from refuting skeptics or defending guidelines and alternatively flood the digital space with satisfied news. What’s the strategic logic in the back of this technique?

Margaret Roberts

We think the motive is distraction, because those posts are especially coordinated within sure time durations and the posts are written uniformly over time. They’re surely surely bursty (which means masses of in addition themed posts at the same time). The simple concept appears to be to flood the net with wonderful noise so one can drown out horrific information and distract from more critical or problematic issues.

Sean Illing

And they accept as true with that is the best manner to govern political discourse?

Margaret Roberts

I assume they found out that politics is set controlling the narrative and putting the schedule. Politicians and government officers in China need human beings to speak approximately the issues that mirror nicely on them. Their calculation is quite simple: If they have interaction critics on problems which are complicated or mirror poorly at the authorities, they most effective extend the attention the ones troubles get hold of. So their method is to disregard the criticisms and shift interest to different subjects, and that they do that by using deluging the net with effective propaganda.

Sean Illing

Are these high quality testimonies truely actual, or are we speaking approximately “fake news”?

Margaret Roberts

This is a clearly interesting query. A lot of what we found in the leaked archive isn’t fake news. What they’re developing are stories that sell patriotism. They want people talking approximately and responding to content that favors the regime. But they also want humans to think that content material is coming from civilians and not from the authorities, that’s why maximum of this is provided as someone’s opinion.

Sean Illing

What shape does this cheerleading content take? What sorts of memories do they sell?

Margaret Roberts

The maximum common articles we found discussed how incredible it’s far to live in China or how exquisite Chinese lifestyle is or how dominant China’s sports teams are — that kind of stuff. We’re not clearly speaking approximately reality-based fabric here. It’s simply nice testimonies that flatter the regime and the u . S ..

Again, the point isn’t to get human beings to trust or care approximately the propaganda; it’s to get them to pay much less attention to tales the authorities wants to suppress.

“BUT I THINK THE WORLD WILL HAVE TO STRUGGLE WITH THIS NEW REALITY OF ONLINE PROPAGANDA, BECAUSE IT ISN’T GOING AWAY”

Sean Illing

Something else that jumped out at me within the paper was this idea that they want to permit simply enough criticism to offer the phantasm of dissent, but they need to ensure that there is by no means enough complaint to spark collective action.

Margaret Roberts

China video display units the net information surroundings if you want to accumulate data approximately the general public and what they’re wondering. In that sense, they need people communicating freely. But a trouble arises if you have too many humans criticizing the government at the same time. There’s a regular danger of collective movement or mass protest.

China’s government does its nice to distinguish among useful criticisms (the kinds of criticisms that assist them figure out a way to fulfill the citizenry) and perilous criticisms (the forms of criticisms that would lead to mass protest activities). They generally wait till there is a opportunity for important mobilization towards the government before they interact in overt censorship.

Sean Illing

Is China’s use of the net precise or new? Are different governments doing similar things?

Margaret Roberts

I think there are aspects of the Chinese model which might be new and unique, and in reality they’ve been at the leading edge of looking to parent out how to manage the net. There is some evidence that other international locations are mastering from China, however not anything definitive.

Sean Illing

In the paper, you advise this research might lead us to rethink the perception of “not unusual expertise” in theories of authoritarian politics — what does that imply?

Margaret Roberts

I think traditionally loads of humans have notion that not unusual understanding about things the authorities maybe has finished incorrect is detrimental to the regime. This is the concept that any grievance is detrimental to the regime. What we find in China is that criticism can be very beneficial to the regime because it is able to permit them to reply.

But the type of not unusual understanding that’s simply dangerous to the regime is expertise of protests or different forms of collective action interest. That’s a prime hazard because it may unfold so without difficulty. We’ve visible this over and over in the course of world records: Regimes are most susceptible whilst small protests expand into something an awful lot broader. This is what China’s government is decided to prevent.

People lie on the ground in Beijing on July 24, 2017, in protest in opposition to police for remaining the street to a meeting in which at the least numerous thousand people staged a unprecedented huge-scale rally now not far from Tiananmen Square in connection with a latest crackdown on a corporation suspected of being involved in a pyramid scheme. Getty Images

Sean Illing

To be clear, you call China’s technique “strategic distraction,” however it’s virtually approximately undercutting the possibilities for prepared dissent. Regimes have usually tried to seize human beings’s interest and redirect it in much less risky instructions. The handiest aspect new about China’s operation is its use of the internet.

Margaret Roberts

I assume that’s precisely right on.

Sean Illing

Do you watched China’s method to suppressing dissent is uniquely effective in an age of “faux news” and “submit-reality”?

Margaret Roberts

The internet has created an surroundings wherein there may be a extensive quantity of information. That means it’s tough for people to split out “properly” and “bad” statistics. Because many people have short attention spans on line, they are able to without difficulty be tormented by data that looks as if something it is not. That’s what China’s online propaganda and faux news have in commonplace — they each take gain of our brief interest spans on the internet.

Sean Illing

Is this a model for authoritarianism within the virtual age? Should we expect extra of this from different governments?

Margaret Roberts

The issue with online propaganda, and we’re seeing this inside the US and other democracies round the arena right now, is that it doesn’t characteristic openly like conventional types of censorship. Most humans item to blatant censorship. But on line propaganda is a form of participation in addition to shape of censorship, so it’s tough to recognize what the right policy is.

People need to introduce statistics on the net en masse, and meaning a variety of noise and reviews and bots and commentators. Are there methods of regulating all of this with out censoring ourselves? I assume that’s a clearly tough query, and I don’t have the solutions. But I think the arena will must warfare with this new reality of on line propaganda, as it isn’t going away.