Distributed Control of Collective Information: Evidence from Hong Kong's "Anti-Extradition" Protest

Abstract

How do individuals self-organize information provision in a community without centralized leadership? Protesters involved in the 2019 anti-extradition movement made the unusual decision to organize themselves in a “leaderless” structure, thus disabling many low-cost strategies that large groups use to apportion limited collective attention across competing priorities. Drawing on data from an online forum popular among movement participants, we empirically examine propositions that (1) users are sensitive to group-level consumption of information and seek to influence it and (2) their individual efforts contribute to global efficiency in information consumption.

Publication
In the Society for Hong Kong Studies (SHKS) Annual Conference 2021