Governing Generation Z in China: Bilibili, bidirectional mediation, and online community governance
研究B站如何通过“双向调解”策略，在政府监管和用户需求之间找到平衡，并保持竞争力，对理解中国在线社区治理有重要启示。
The rise of large online communities in China has gone hand-in-hand with heavy regulation by the Chinese party-state. Caught between the party-state and demanding users, how do online platforms govern online communities to please both, and stay competitive against rivals? Drawing on public documents, interviews, and ethnographic observations, we study Bilibili, a leading online participatory platform for Generation Z. We argue that Bilibili has adopted a “bidirectional mediation” approach to actively mediate between users and the party-state. In this approach, the key to online governance is finding, or even cultivating, common grounds between users and the party-state and proactively facilitating communications between the two sides. We illustrate Bilibili’s bidirectional mediation through its Disciplinary Committee, an organization that enables users to participate in regulating online content on the Bilibili platform. The Bilibili case provides important insights into the evolution of online communities and state-society relations in China.