Drawing on original survey data and rich qualitative sources Directed Digital Dissidence in
Autocracies explores how authoritarian regimes employ the Internet in advantageous ways to
direct the flow of online information. The authors argue that the central Chinese government
successfully directs citizen dissent toward local government through critical information that
the central government places online--a strategy that the authors call directed digital
dissidence. In this context citizens engage in low-level protest toward the local government
and thereby feel empowered while the central government avoids overthrow. With an in-depth
look at the COVID-19 and Xinjiang Cotton cases the authors demonstrate how the Chinese state
employs directed digital dissidence and discuss the impact and limitations of China's
information strategy.
