“Dancing in Chains”: Chilling Effects of Content Creators on Chinese Social Media

Abstract

ABSTRACT The notion of “chilling effects” is not new, but several theoretical and empirical gaps remain. Existing evidence of chilling effects lies primarily in social media consumption rather than production behaviors. Do Chinese content creators consciously experience chilling effects? What do creators do when they perceive chilling effects? This study helps to answer these questions by exploring chilling effects among 32 content creators on Chinese social media. Through in-depth interviews, this work proposes a model of chilling effects for content creators, including (a) the three major influencing factors, (b) the four manifestations of chilling effects, and (c) the presentation of chilling and anti-chilling effects. The results indicate that the influencing factors of content creators’ chilling effects are extremely complex and cannot be attributed solely to political factors in China. Instead, the impacts of platform capitalism, data surveillance, and personal factors should be emphasized. Furthermore, creators have taken a series of anti-chilling effects measures to minimize the conflicts between chilling effects and freedom of creation so that they can remain stable, profitable, and creative. This is one of the first studies investigating chilling effects among content creators in China.