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Focusing on jubao (reporting), it shows how decentralized reporting produces micro-rules that constrain queer expressions while improving the market success of fandom. 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fandom.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How did broader Internet censorship policies in China relate to BL fandom outcomes?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Recent legislation on cybersecurity, cleansing campaigns, and incentives for reporting have integrated reporting into everyday online life, increasing the risk of severe consequences for creators or distributors of controversial BL content.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},154100,1787887880,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & 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Fandom: The Commercialization of Boys’ Love Culture in China  \nYIMING WANG  \nMaastricht University, The Netherlands  \nJIA TAN  \nThe Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong  \nThis article investigates the role of fans as content regulators in what we call the China model of Internet censorship. Expanding on Jenkins’participatory culture, we construct a framework of participatory censorship by focusing on how fans use the report function on social media platforms . We define “participatory censorship” as a type of decentralized censorship and content moderation facilitated by platform design and adopted by wider cyber groups and individuals . Based on discourse analysis, participatory observation, and digital ethnography, this article explores the boys’ love (BL) fandom of the Web series Guardian in 2018. We explore how participatory censoring via jubao (reporting) creates micro rules and draws the parameters of the discourses that try to limit queer expressions of gender, sexuality, and relationships to achieve a more commercially successful fandom .  \nWe also investigate how other fans respond to participatory censorship by generating collective actions . Ultimately, this article connects queer fandom and censorship studies to relocate the queerness of BL fandom in not only experimenting with cultural texts but also creative responses to decentralized censorship.  \nKeywords: queer, participatory censorship, fandom, boys’ love commercialization, reporting  \nIn 2018, Tianyi, a prominent Chinese writer famous for creating online erotica of male homosexual themes, also known as boys’ love (BL) or danmei in Chinese, was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for producing and selling obscene material, a harsh verdict that shocked Chinese BL fans and the general public, and was widely reported on international news media (Hernández & Zhang, 2018; Shepherd, 2018) . While publishing pornographic content is illegal in China, writing erotica online and publishing hard copies constitute a gray area that rarely leads to serious legal consequences . Notably, the arrest of Tianyi was the result of jubao, or being reported. In addition to the widely publicized Tianyi case, several other Chinese BL writers have been fined, arrested, and even sentenced because of being reported by others . Unlike Tianyi, who was reported by a non-BL fan, many other BL writers are often jeopardized as a result of disputes, including reporting among BL writers and fans . For example, a woman using the alias Mr . Shenhai was  \nYiming Wang: [wangyiming915@gmail.com](wangyiming915@gmail.com)  \n[Jia Tan: jiatan@cuhk.edu.hk](Jia Tan: jiatan@cuhk.edu.hk)  \n[Date submitted: 2022-04-18](Date submitted: 2022-04-18)  \nCopyright © 2023 (Yiming Wang and Jia Tan) . Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at [http://ijoc.org](http://ijoc.org).  \nInternational Journal of Communication 17(2023) Participatory Censorship 2555  \nsentenced to four years in prison in 2017 for writing pornographic content and illegal publishing because another BL fan and writer reported her (Yuan, 2019) .  \nThe criminalization of BL writers Tianyi and Mr . Shenhai exemplifies a much larger shift taking place in Internet censorship and fandom in mainland China . Millions of fans have contributed significantly to the success of numerous singers, actors, and other celebrities in China during the last few decades, where fan culture has bloomed. Like in many other countries, fan participation takes a variety of forms in China, including online discussions of specific cultural products or individuals, showing support in offline events such as performances or events, or buying products of brands sponsored by celebrities, or even purchasing advertisement spaces for celebrities, and so on . The criminalization of BL writers highlights the specificities of fandom in China, which is related to the Interne","cbCaiuUwCsChttgC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuUwCsChttgC","pdf",459190,"English","# Participatory censorship and participatory culture\n## Defining participatory censorship and platform-mediated moderation\n## Fans as decentralized regulators (jubao/report function)\n# Case study: Guardian BL fandom in 2018\n## Discourse constraints on gender, sexuality, and relationships\n## Micro-rules produced by reporting\n# Fan responses and collective actions\n## Creative resistance to decentralized censorship\n# Background: BL criminalization and the China model of Internet censorship\n## Tianyi and other reported BL creators\n## Regulatory shifts and platform design changes","[{\"question\":\"What does the article mean by “participatory censorship”?\",\"answer\":\"It refers to decentralized censorship and content moderation facilitated by platform design, carried out by broader cyber groups and individuals, especially through fan reporting behaviors.\"},{\"question\":\"How does “jubao” shape the boys’ love fandom studied here?\",\"answer\":\"Jubao (reporting) generates micro rules that help define the boundaries of discourse, limiting queer expressions of gender, sexuality, and relationships while supporting a more commercially successful fandom.\"},{\"question\":\"How did broader Internet censorship policies in China relate to BL fandom outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"Recent legislation on cybersecurity, cleansing campaigns, and incentives for reporting have integrated reporting into everyday online life, increasing the risk of severe consequences for creators or distributors of controversial BL content.\"}]","Participatory Censorship and Digital Queer Fandom - The Commercialization of Boys’ Love Culture in China | PDF",48]