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Outsourcing Surveillance

2026-06-20 · 13:54 UTC ·@onglynette ·1 min read

Brief

Outsourcing Surveillance: Online Opinion Management in China, by Lynette Ong, Huihua Nie, and Jesslene Lee, uses government procurement data to show how the Chinese Party-state outsources surveillance and opinion management to private and for‑profit state firms. The authors argue this has grown into a multi‑million‑dollar industry combining advanced technology and human labor; the book is free to read until June 24, 2026.

Source evidence

Have you heard of the "50 Cent Party" (五毛党)? It refers to internet commentators hired by the CCP -- rumored to be paid 50 cents per post -- for pro-government posts to sway public opinion and manipulate online discourse. The term became popular when the internet first emerged in China in the early 2000s.

Twenty years later, the "50 Cent Party" has evolved into a multi-million dollar profit-making industry using sophisticated technology and human skills to cater for strong Party-state's demand to surveil and censor online discourse.

Our book studies the Chinese Party-state's outsourcing of surveillance of online discourse to private firms and for-profit state entities. Drawing on government procurement data, we examine systematically the digital surveillance services that are outsourced, to whom they are outsourced and the implications for state-busines relations, and digital statecraft.

"Outsourcing Surveillance: Online Opinion Management in China" is OPEN ACCESS until June 24.

Link here: shorturl.at/lVpmw

Link

Outsourcing Surveillance

Cambridge Core - Political Economy - Outsourcing Surveillance
cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press - Politics (@CUP_PoliSci)

Don’t miss your chance to read the new Cambridge element, Outsourcing Surveillance by Lynette Ong, Huihua Nie and Jesslene Lee! Free access available until 24 June at
cup.org/4ux980l

cambridgeelements #politics

— https://nitter.net/CUP_PoliSci/status/2067638570739749095#m