THE RESEARCH PROJECT

As facial recognition technological developments accelerate in their capability, “efficiency,” and networked possibilities, they increasingly cause “frictions” (Tsing, 2005) through their deployment in situated circumstances and at various scales. In China, they have been implemented in diverse and dynamic spaces, from corporatized sectors in Shanghai to public spaces to facilities for security and political reasons. This project will analyze #facialrecognition [#人脸识别] on Weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) over the last 3 years to understand how facial recognition technology and implementation are being represented and discussed in China and Eastern Asia. While research has addressed discursive elements of social media platforms in conjunction with censorship and surveillance, few scholars have analyzed it as a form of Habermasian “public sphere” where posts mediate representations and responses to socio-technical changes. This study will use data purchased from Weibo to explore the characteristics of facial recognition discourse among diverse actors in this representationally negotiated space. We will contextualize this against a backdrop of transnational media by exploring a selection of articles and videos from 10 news organizations based around the world.