ALGORITHMIC AFFECTIVE REGIMES AND PUBLIC OPINION GOVERNANCE ON DOUYIN: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA’S SHORT-VIDEO PLATFORM ECOLOGY

บทคัดย่อ

Platformization has reshaped the logic of public communication, making short-video platforms core infrastructure for the formation of public opinion. Using Douyin as a Chinese empirical case, this study constructs a unified analytical framework of Algorithmic Affective Regimes and adopts constructivist qualitative triangulation: 10 semi-structured expert interviews, three focus groups with 24 platform users, and thematic analysis of 140 policy, platform, and academic documents.  

The core findings are as follows. First, based on insiders’ accounts and platform regulatory documents, Douyin’s recommendation metrics (watch duration, interaction rate, completion rate) structurally reward high-arousal emotional content, producing fluid, rapidly circulating public opinion with short issue life cycles. Second, algorithmic visibility stratification compels users to perform affective labor to gain exposure, turning emotional expression into the primary mode of public participation and creating affective echo chambers. Third, unequal visibility allocation extends spiral of silence theory into an algorithmic iteration, in which marginal viewpoints face systematic suppression in circulation. Fourth, platform governance suffers from a persistent lag, caught in structural tensions among commercial algorithmic logic, state institutional regulatory duties, and users’ cultural communication demands. To mitigate these contradictions, this study develops a four-dimensional collaborative governance model grounded in empirical findings: technologically value-sensitive algorithm design, cross-stakeholder institutional coordination, public algorithmic-affective media literacy, and rational affective cultural cultivation. This paper systematically defines the multidimensional structure of Algorithmic Affective Regimes, distinguishes this framework from related communication theories, and offers targeted, context-specific governance suggestions for Chinese short-video platforms. This study enriches non-Western platform governance research and provides a transferable Algorithmic Affective Regime framework for comparative media studies in Southeast Asia.