Cyberspace Contention in China

The Chinese Internet is a deeply contentious space. While, in the early years, commentators made optimistic comments regarding how cyber dissent might play a significant role in China's democratization process, from 2013 onwards, researchers have noted an overall narrowing of contentious space on the Chinese Internet. Aside from well-known, top-down technological forms of censorship such as the Great Firewall of China, the Party-state is now taking a more proactive, user-participatory approach to censorship, and contention management strategies are growing in sophistication. Doubts remain about whether contention in Chinese cyberspace will ever result in collective action.