Margaret E. Roberts, an Associate Professor of Political Science at UC San Diego, discusses her book on censorship in China. She unveils the concept of 'porous censorship,' highlighting three strategies: fear, friction, and flooding. These tactics shape information access, creating distinct experiences for ordinary citizens and motivated elites. Roberts also delves into censorship's impact on protests in Tibet and the evolving digital landscape, illustrating how modern dynamics challenge traditional censorship methods.
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insights INSIGHT
Different Costs For Majority Versus Elites
Most people are rationally ignorant and won't overcome small access costs for political information.
A motivated minority (elites, journalists, well-connected) will pay the cost and thus inhabit a different information environment.
insights INSIGHT
Mismatch Undermines Collective Action
Divergent information access creates mismatched beliefs between core activists and the wider public.
Those secondary beliefs reduce willingness to coordinate or take risks together.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Discovery Through Missing URLs
Roberts began studying censorship after working with a dataset of Chinese social media posts and finding many original URLs missing.
That disappearance enabled measurement of censorship at scale and motivated her research methods.
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She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites.
Roberts’s highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts’ insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public.
Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association.
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