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Contagious Information: Censorship vs. Creativity in a Time of Crisis

Abstract

This comic explores how Chinese internet users creatively responded to online censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through emojis, altered characters, hidden texts, and other forms of language play, it shows how information continued to circulate even when direct expression was suppressed.

It is based on the following research article: Xu, Y., & Liang, J. (2024). “Language play as resistance: Navigating digital censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Language & Communication, 99, 302–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2024.10.008


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