Accountability mobilization, guanxi and social media‐induced polarization: Understanding the bystander's prosocial punishment to misinformation spreader
研究中国2017年网络问责政策能否动员社交媒体旁观者惩罚谣言传播者，发现问责动员有效但受关系文化削弱，对政府治理谣言极化有参考价值。
Abstract Prosocial punishments by social media bystanders could block the path from misinformation spread to social media‐induced polarization (SMIP). However, prosocial punishments are inadequate for SMIP management because of the personal costs, and few studies propose effective ways to mobilize bystanders. The Chinese government implemented a regulation in 2017 to mobilize bystanders on social media through allocating accountability to act as misinformation supervisors. In China's guanxi culture, prosocial punishments are less observed considering the additional personal costs caused by breaking guanxi. Therefore, assessing the effectiveness of China's cyberspace accountability mobilization can help identify an effective tool for other governments to mitigate SMIP. We used a vignette survey experiment to collect data from WeChat users and applied a random regression model to analyse the data. Accountability mobilization significantly promotes bystanders' prosocial punishment to block the misinformation‐spread‐to‐SMIP path. Guanxi negatively moderates the relationship between accountability mobilization and prosocial punishment to the above path. The government could encourage the public to actively take prosocial punishments by using the new tool of accountability mobilization. Guanxi culture reduces the effectiveness of the tool.