The dichotomy of digital social networks for the ruling party in China

In China, digital social networks (DSN) platforms have dichotomous roles: on the one hand, they act as a mediator between the ruling party and the public, allowing the former the benefits of nationalist propaganda; and on the other hand, they act as a place of mediatization, providing a space where censorship can be defied and authority opposed. This article shows how the Chinese government uses the power of media to defend its own interests on Weibo in the mediatization of nationalism. After analyzing the posts of different media categories, as well as user comments and their related posts, we find that the public participation represented by digitalization has led to the partial heteronomy of the DSN platforms as control devices of the Chinese government; a fragmented, dynamic and restricted public discourse space has been created in the process of mediatization.