Kaiping Zhang (Tsinghua University; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2024-25) and Shiyao Liu (Peking University)
Abstract: Digital platforms have expanded the reach of propaganda, elevating its sophistication to unprecedented levels. Soft propaganda, which embeds ideological messaging within entertainment formats, marks a departure from traditional propaganda toward audience engagement. This study examines its prevalence and effect in China’s digital sphere using a mixed-methods approach: computational analysis of seven million posts from 96 state-owned media accounts (2009–2023) and two large-scale randomized experiments. Our findings reveal a sharp rise in soft propaganda over the past decade; however, this shift does not lead to greater audience engagement, improved political knowledge, strengthened emotional attachment to the government, or higher tolerance for misinformation. Instead, entertainment-infused propaganda alienates serious consumers, producing a cost on the persuasion effect that potentially weakens state influence.
Key words: propaganda, authoritarianism, emotion, social media, China
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