How Sudden Censorship Can Increase Access to Information

TLDR

Conventional wisdom holds that more censorship reduces access to information. The study identifies conditions under which increased censorship actually expands access for a substantial subset of the population. When governments abruptly censor previously available content, users are motivated to learn censorship‑evasion techniques, which then grant them continued access to both newly blocked and long‑censored material, as shown by millions of Chinese social‑media actions around the Instagram ban. The Instagram block prompted millions of Chinese users to obtain VPNs and join censored sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and although initially apolitical, these users later accessed blocked political pages, followed Chinese activists on Twitter, and discussed highly politicized topics like Hong Kong protests.

Abstract

Conventional wisdom assumes that increased censorship will strictly decrease access to information. We delineate circumstances when increases in censorship expand access to information for a substantial subset of the population. When governments suddenly impose censorship on previously uncensored information, citizens accustomed to acquiring this information will be incentivized to learn methods of censorship evasion. These evasion tools provide continued access to the newly blocked information—and also extend users’ ability to access information that has long been censored. We illustrate this phenomenon using millions of individual-level actions of social media users in China before and after the block of Instagram. We show that the block inspired millions of Chinese users to acquire virtual private networks, and that these users subsequently joined censored websites like Twitter and Facebook. Despite initially being apolitical, these new users began browsing blocked political pages on Wikipedia, following Chinese political activists on Twitter, and discussing highly politicized topics such as opposition protests in Hong Kong.