Study On The Governance Of Political Risks In Online Public Opinion Events

The internet has become an indispensable part of the information tools used by the majority of the population,and it is even integral to life and work.According to information released by We Are Social,at the beginning of 2024,the number of people accessing the internet globally reached 5.35 billion,accounting for approximately 66% of the world’s total population.Around the same period,the number of internet users in China reached 1.092 billion,with an internet penetration rate of 77.5%,which is higher than the global average.For China,the internet has deeply integrated into various sectors such as economy,politics,culture,society,and ecology,becoming a platform frequently used in people’s daily lives.Given this significant influence,the academic community has initiated a series of studies,many of which demonstrate interdisciplinary characteristics and research trends,such as examining online public opinion incidents from the perspectives of political science,sociology,communication studies,and economics.Online public opinion incidents involve cyberspace,real society,and the political ecosystem,among other areas,and the risks they pose tend to be compounded and magnified.These incidents have substantial impacts on individuals at the micro level,society at the meso level,and nations at the macro level.Reviewing the history of managing online public opinion incidents in China over the past two decades,there have been many achievements,and numerous experiences are worth summarizing.Today,the government places high importance on the sentiments and opinions on the internet,considering the management of online public opinion incidents as a crucial aspect of national governance.In this context,the governance of online public opinion event political risks is both important and urgent.The academic community has conducted extensive research from various aspects,including government response,rule of law,and technological governance,achieving fruitful results.However,there are still unfinished areas that require further exploration,such as the connection between the generation and spread of online public opinion event political risks and the risk society,and how different entities interact with the political ecosystem in managing these risks.The emergence of online public opinion events is not an isolated incident;it is inevitably highly related to the political ecosystem.Therefore,research on this subject must link the two,conducting systematic,dynamic,and dialectical analyses.Looking further,the risks of online public opinion events are a reflection of societal risks in cyberspace.Hence,the governance of these risks should also be considered within the context of their political ecological environment.Consequently,this paper embarks on the study of online public opinion event political risk governance,which is both logically coherent and practically feasible.Specifically,the main areas of study include:Firstly,this paper provides an integrated understanding of online public opinion events from the perspective of political ecology,analyzing the basic connotation,constituent elements,and the evolution of their dissemination.This serves as a knowledge map and cognitive foundation for the governance of political risks associated with online public opinion events.While closely related to online public opinion,online public opinion events are not entirely the same.They refer to "event-level" activities that include the spread of online public opinion,as well as the triggered and secondary events.Based on network technology,these events reflect the motivations of participants,are rife with polarized speech and behavior,conceal cyber political mobilization forces,and sometimes exhibit anomalous political participation.A significant reason for the strong transmissibility of online public opinion events is their covert psychological dissemination channels.Subsequently,this paper analyzes the political risk representation and challenges of online public opinion events.Through the retrospection and analysis of several typical cases of online public opinion events,the paper situates the risks within the political ecological environment,summarizing five risk characteristics: diversification of political risk sources,"pan-politicization," profit-driven opinion leaders,"group polarization," and the linkage between online and offline activities.On this basis,the paper focuses on analyzing the political risks of online public opinion events,emphasizing the challenges they pose to national regime security,national ideological security,national political system security,and the order of political participation.Finally,this paper thoroughly examines the formation process,existing dilemmas,and advancement paths of online public opinion event risk governance from the perspective of political ecology.The governance of these risks,led by the government and involving multiple entities in interaction with the political ecological environment,has achieved notable success.This is mainly reflected in the continuous development of information disclosure and response mechanisms focused on "communication," the gradual perfection of the legal system centered on "security," and the evident effectiveness of special governance actions represented by "clearing up the internet." However,upon dialectical consideration,there are still deficiencies in objectives,structure,and mechanisms.By analyzing the political ecology of the governance difficulties,the paper explores adverse factors among entities,information technology,internet culture,media patterns,and socio-economic conditions.In response to these factors,the paper proposes "5+1" measures: strengthening the coexistence and co-governance of online public opinion event management entities;actively using data governance tools to alleviate information technology risks;fully leveraging mainstream values to mitigate entertainment-oriented risks;continuously optimizing the media industry layout to reduce media pattern risks;solidly promoting common prosperity to ease income disparity risks;and,finally,improving emergency management mechanisms to construct a ecological system for managing the political risks of online public opinion events.