The final session at the IAMCR 2025 conference in Singapore starts with Xue Mi, Yang Yang, and Zhen Ran, who begin with an introduction to the platformisation of online communication in China; such platforms also actively collaborate with the Chinese government on political initiatives. Political exposure on Chinese social media platforms could have various effects; this paper explores exposure to information from the Communist Youth League, an organisation for elite youth of 14 to 28 years, in Province A.
The CYL has various mechanisms for connecting within members and broader audiences: coercion, where WeChat is used for membership payments and organisational transfers, online ‘youth learning’ courses, and a youth hotline for non-members; and incidental mechanisms, using soft publicity techniques through trending topics and popular language styles.
How do these communicative modes affect the political socialisation of Chinese youth? How do they relate to political knowledge, political efficacy, online expression, or support for the system? This study surveyed some 1,300 participants and followed up with 14 interviews with young CYL media account subscribers.
It found incidental exposure via platform use, and coercive exposure through youth learning modes and online payments. Both positively influence youth online participation, online political expression, and support for the political system. But coercive mechanisms also affect political knowledge levels, and in turn this higher political knowledge can reduce online political expression: it leads youth to use caution in their online political expression.
Platform-based political publicity also generally enhances youth political identity, while some online behaviours also negatively impact on the authority of public organisations.
