Re:Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
by CharlesColeman on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @03:28PM
(#21206969)
> Anyone know if a shit storm is also on the chinese side?
I don't trust any of these reports about Chinese social media being outraged about these actions by Westerners or Western companies -- it's controlled too tightly by the Chinese government. I could see any of the following being true about any of these recent controversies:
2. Normal Chinese social media users are genuinely outraged, but only because the 50-cent party got the ball rolling.
3. The outrage is genuine, widespread, and organic.
4. The outrage is genuine and organic, but not widespread. It's just basement dwellers and the like, and most regular Chinese people don't care or don't care much.
5. The outrage is genuine and organic, but not widespread, but is also getting amplified and promoted by the authorities through algorithmic ranking.
6. etc.
Honestly, IMHO only #3 deserves any response from Western companies and coverage in Western media as popular opinion. The rest should be either ignored or reported on as a propaganda campaign.
I don't trust any of these reports about Chinese social media being outraged about these actions by Westerners or Western companies -- it's controlled too tightly by the Chinese government. I could see any of the following being true about any of these recent controversies:
1. The outrage is fully manufactured by the government-paid 50-cent party posters (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party).
2. Normal Chinese social media users are genuinely outraged, but only because the 50-cent party got the ball rolling.
3. The outrage is genuine, widespread, and organic.
4. The outrage is genuine and organic, but not widespread. It's just basement dwellers and the like, and most regular Chinese people don't care or don't care much.
5. The outrage is genuine and organic, but not widespread, but is also getting amplified and promoted by the authorities through algorithmic ranking.
6. etc.
Honestly, IMHO only #3 deserves any response from Western companies and coverage in Western media as popular opinion. The rest should be either ignored or reported on as a propaganda campaign.