Governing Digital China

Daniela Stockmann (Hertie School, Berlin), Ting Luo (University of Birmingham)

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English

Cambridge University Press
04 December 2025

Media studies; Ethical issues: scientific & technological developments; Comparative politics; Impact of science & technology on society; Computing: general

Series: Communication, Society and Politics

China's approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China challenges this perception, arguing that China's approach is radically different in practice. This book explores the logic of popular corporatism, highlighting the bottom-up influences of China's largest platform firms and its citizens. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and nationally representative surveys, the authors track governance of social media and commercial social credit ratings during both the Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping eras. Their findings reveal how Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Sina, Baidu, and Alibaba, have become consultants and insiders to the state, thus forming a state-company partnership. Meanwhile, citizens voluntarily produce data, incentivizing platform firms to cater to their needs and motivating resistance by platforms. Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo unveil the intricate mechanisms linking the state, platform firms, and citizens in the digital governance of authoritarian states.

By: Daniela Stockmann (Hertie School Berlin), Ting Luo (University of Birmingham)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Weight: 480g
ISBN: 9781009360661
ISBN 10: 1009360663
Series: Communication, Society and Politics
Pages: 294
Publication Date: 04 December 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements; 1. The digital dilemma; 2. Popular corporatism; Part I. Social Media Platforms: 3. The role of companies in social media governance; 4. Citizens and social media platforms; 5. Implications for political trust; Part II. The Social Credit System: 6. The role of companies in the social credit system; 7. Citizens and the social credit system; 8. Implications for trust in the state-company partnership; 9. Brave new world?; Appendix A: Data coding, statistical models, and robustness test results; Appendix B: Additional tables and figures; Appendix C: Internet Use in China.

Daniela Stockmann is Director of the Centre for Digital Governance and Professor of Digital Governance at the Hertie School. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (PhD 2007), the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and the University of Rochester. Before joining the Hertie School, she was Associate Professor of Political Science at Leiden University. Her book, Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China (Cambridge University Press, 2013), received the 2015 Goldsmith Book Prize by the Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center. Beyond her academic work, she has served as advisor on social media governance to policy-makers in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. Ting Luo is Associate Professor in Government and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology and governance, with a particular emphasis on digital and AI governance. Prior to joining the University of Birmingham, Ting was senior lecturer in Political Communication at Manchester Metropolitan University and post-doctoral fellow at the Hertie School in Berlin and Leiden University in the Netherlands. She holds a Ph.D. in government and a Master of Science in public policy and administration from LSE.

Reviews for Governing Digital China

'Governing Digital China offers a compelling analytical framework to understand the intricate relationship between the state, platforms, and citizens in shaping digital governance in China. It challenges the conventional account China's top-down policies and develops a novel theory of 'citizen-influenced corporatism' shaping China's platform economy. A fascinating read!' Anu Bradford, Columbia Law School and the author of Digital Empires 'Understanding China's current data policies will be critical to anticipating global trends in the information environment in the years ahead. Stockmann and Luo, two experienced analysts of digital China, give us both the theoretical frame for understanding how the country's model for data management has emerged, and the tools needed to explain the impact of the model on governments, markets, and citizens around the world.' Phil Howard, Oxford Internet Institute and Chair of the International Panel on the Information Environment 'Governing Digital China is a groundbreaking work that illuminates China's digital strategy through extensive research. Stockmann and Luo introduce 'popular corporatism,' a model of state-tech giant collaboration for online control and innovation. Dismantling misconceptions, the authors reveal regional variations and tensions within this nuanced approach. This insightful book stands as the most comprehensive examination of digital China in the past two decades.' Yuhua Wang, Professor of Government at Harvard University