De-Westernizing Platform Studies: History and Logics of Chinese and U.S. Platforms

Authors

  • Mark Davis University of Melbourne
  • Jian Xiao Zhejiang University

Keywords:

digital platforms, de-Westernization, China, hegemony

Abstract

The emergence of digital platforms has attracted considerable scholarly attention among media theorists. Yet, much of this scholarship has taken Western platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Uber, and so on, as exemplars. In this article, we seek to contribute to the project of de-Westernizing and reregionalizing Internet studies through an analysis of Chinese platforms. Seeking to avoid dichotomizing China and the West, we identify similarities and four overlapping areas of difference between U.S. Internet platforms and Chinese platforms that need to be accounted for as part of a project of de-Westernizing platform studies. Understanding such differences, we argue, is crucial given the hegemonic roles platforms now play in a multipolar world.

Author Biographies

Mark Davis, University of Melbourne

Mark Davis (Ph.D. University of Melbourne) works as associate professor in media and communications at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on the impact of digital media on democratic culture and has two foci: the impact of digital media on creative industries and in particular book publishing as it becomes a platform industry; and on the impact of online ‘anti-publics’ such as the alt-right on liberal democratic understandings of publicity, via the platformisation of extremism on platforms such as Gab. He serves on the advisory board of ‘Reading Republic’, an initiative of Phoenix Publishing and Media, China’s largest publishing house.

Jian Xiao, Zhejiang University

Jian Xiao (Ph.D. Loughborough University) works as associate professor (one hundred talents program) at School of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University. She has published in Cultural Critique, Journal of Urban Affairs, Journal of Popular Music Studies, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Chinese Journal of Communication, Space and Culture, Journalism Practice and so on. She has also published a monograph, “Punk Culture in Contemporary China” with Palgrave Macmillan. Her research interest is focused on urban politics, new media, and cultural studies. 

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Published

2021-01-01

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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