The Promotion of Norms and Values through Social Media Regulation: The Experience of China

Abstract

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the use of lockdowns to prevent new outbreaks in many countries, the Internet has become more actively used, various information technologies and services appeared, the role of bloggers in creating and promoting news, educational and life-style content increased. The PRC was at the forefront, where, since 2005, blogging has been actively developing in parallel with the content censoring and moderation system. In the framework of this study, the author, using the example of Chinese opinion leaders (influencers) in the Internet, analyzes the regulation of social media in the context of promoting certain norms and values. The paper highlights and discusses the main factors (technological and economic) influencing the development of the blogosphere in China, identifies the leading bloggers on the most popular platforms, analyzes the main regulations and violations of it by the opinion leaders, as well as technological innovations in the regulation of social media. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of influencers in the PRC in the process of promoting the norms and values and features of social media regulation. The “core socialist values” proclaimed in 2012 are considered as the main value orientations, and the possibility of relaying these values is based on the theory of the two-step communication flow by E. Katz, where, according to the author, the state or the media acts as the primary flow, and the opinion leaders are the key bloggers. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that during the directive regulation of social media certain value orientations are promoted in a slightly expanded version, including the visual content. Mostly public and individual values are being promoted, as well as innovative technologies are being introduced that make it possible to indirectly influence on the formation of public opinion.