Abstract Book of the 8th International Conference on Advanced Research in Social Sciences Studies
Year: 2025
DOI:
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A Mixed-Method Analysis of the Regulatory Trajectory in China’s Short Video Public Sphere: Policy Documents as an Approach
Jianpeng Guo
ABSTRACT:
China’s short video platforms have embarked on a unique path of globalization, arousing Western vigilance. Meanwhile, in China, the ever-changing market environment has led to a style of guerrilla policymaking and adaptive governance by the government. (Heilmann S. & Perry E. j., 2011) This study employs an explanatory sequential design of mixed-method analysis (Creswell & Clark, 2017)to outline the regulatory trajectory through which the Chinese government shapes the public sphere of short videos and the expansion path of China’s short video industry under the market’s “invisible hand” and the government’s “visible hand”. It introduces a policy documents’ approach to understanding the techno-politico-economic logic（Lin & de Kloet, 2023:1528; Craig, et al. 2021）of Chinese flavour, providing a reference for the issue of digital monopoly in a global context. This study performs hierarchical clustering analysis and topic modelling on textual content from over 130 policy documents, official media news, and commentaries.Additionally, based on the quantitative research results, discourse analysis is conducted on the content of these documents, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with over 15 practitioners. We found that the regulatory trajectory of the short video public sphere is embedded in the pendulum route of the state’s supervision over large technology companies. The regulation of the short video public sphere has become a “tap(qiaoda)” tool for the government to assert financial oversight over digital giants. May suggest that the Chinese government has identified a strategy to eliminate the “contentious” (Yawen Lei, 2018))nature of the digital public sphere.
keywords: anti-monopoly, BAT, content censorship, Douyin, positive propaganda, tap(qiaoda)