Read the full essay here.
The relationship between PRC content rules, the Chinese entertainment industry (broadly defined), and U.S. media conglomerates underscores a transition in the role of entertainment in politics. The shift is from “soft power” to “sharp power”—in particular, the type that weaponizes technology and corporations’ dependence on political authorities for market access to control content. Beijing deploys sharp power to constrain content by bringing PRC laws and market pressures to bear on U.S. corporate interests. The threat of losing access to the vast Chinese market forces U.S. brands, corporations, and influencers to limit what they say about topics that Beijing deems sensitive (including the Uyghurs, Hong Kong, Tibet, and Tiananmen Square) for fear of having content barred from China.