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Chinese social media offers powerful tool against pollution, US-led study finds
- Popular posts highlighting environmental transgressions can help cut such violations by more than 60 per cent, eight-month research indicates
- Social media is the new ‘public street’ for civic action, according to co-author of study led by University of Chicago
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China may have significantly tightened internet controls over the past decade, but social media is still a powerful tool to publicise environmental concerns and hold regulators to account, a new US-led study shows.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Chicago, found social media posts reporting environmental pollution and seeking regulatory enforcement in China helped cut such violations by as much as 62 per cent.
The impact was much less significant in the case of private appeals, such as calling a government hotline, or contacting government officials or the polluting entities.
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Environmental violations in such cases fell by only 24 per cent, even when the complaints had the same content as the public appeals, the researchers found.
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Chinese activist who spent decades protecting Dianchi Lake finally sees polluters named and shamed
Chinese activist who spent decades protecting Dianchi Lake finally sees polluters named and shamed
The study, which has yet to be peer reviewed, was published on the website of the US non-profit National Bureau of Economic Research earlier this month. It was co-funded by the National Science Foundation of China and the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.
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