Why are Chinese users reporting harmful content to the government: Testing the moderating roles of collective political efficacy and perceived government controllability

In terms of some research focused on reporting as a sociotechnical apparatus of content moderation on social media platforms, there exists a novel and peculiar form of reporting that is led by the government in China. Chinese users are entitled to report online content that they deem is problematic to regulators and demand that the government take restrictive measures. This alternative and distinct practice provides a vivid backdrop to discuss internet governance in non-Western countries, while receiving little scholarly attention. This study elaborates on the sophisticated psychological mechanism underlying users’ attitudinal and behavioral responses informed by the theories of second-person effect (2PE) and cooperative responsibility. The concept of collective political efficacy and perceived government controllability are applied as academic assessments of users’ perceptions about diversified interactive relationships within the complicated power dynamics. By delineating the relationships among perceived media effects, responsibility attribution, collective political efficacy, and perceived government controllability, our research contributes to global discourse on internet governance by unveiling the cooperation and coordination among multiple actors from the eyes of users.