Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://repositorio.consejodecomunicacion.gob.ec//handle/CONSEJO_REP/8256
Title: “Life and Death” on the Internet: Metaphors and Chinese Users’ Experiences of “Account Bombing”
Other Titles: International Journal of Communication
Authors: Fang, Hui
Wu, Shangwei
Keywords: censorship
fear
media
Issue Date: 2002
Publisher: International Journal of Communication
Citation: Fang, H., and Wu, S. (2022). “Life and Death” on the Internet: Metaphors and Chinese Users’ Experiences of “Account Bombing”. International Journal Of Communication, 16, 21. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/18332/3844
Abstract: “Account bombing” is the phenomenon in which Internet regulators permanently block some individual users’ social media accounts without the users knowing in advance. In this study, we frame account bombing as a form of user-targeted censorship by Internet platforms, which disrupts individual users’ daily routines. To understand how Chinese Internet users make sense of their experiences of account bombing, our study examines user narratives about this practice, paying particular attention to the metaphors they employ. Our findings suggest that users often use metaphors related to the body and death, such as “death sentence, ghosts, reincarnation,” and a person’s “will.” Overall, body-and-death metaphors reveal the irreversibility of account bombing and the uneven power relations of the Chinese Internet, which are heavily skewed toward regulators. These metaphors also establish the relevance of the seemly individual, sporadic experience of account bombing to a broader audience, evoking affective and political sympathy.
URI: https://repositorio.consejodecomunicacion.gob.ec//handle/CONSEJO_REP/8256
ISSN: 1932-8036
Appears in Collections:Documentos internacionales sobre libertad de expresión y derechos conexos

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