State, platform, and misogynistic disinformation in China

Abstract

The dissemination of disinformation that devalues and discredits women as individuals or communities online is a prominent manifestation of misogyny in contemporary China. As a longstanding system of structural oppression, misogyny in China has its roots in the deeply-sedimented framework of patriarchal Confucianism, which underpins the conventional social norms of male supremacy and female subordination. Today, amid the rise of “platform society” where the dual power of digital capitalism and the authoritarian state dictates the social space, misogyny has gained greater momentum, joining forces with disinformation and subjecting women to complex forms of oppression. Based on analysis of the Huolala case in which a woman tragically died, not only physically, but also reputationally under a wave of disinformation, this article discusses how the state power and digital platforms have conspired to co-create an intensified misogynistic environment in contemporary China through a set of techno-social and techno-cultural mechanisms.