Caught in the crossfire: multi-stakeholder governance challenges and platform responses in the Chinese context

In global platform governance, a layered structure of "multi-stakeholders → platforms → users" has emerged. While multi-stakeholder co-governance reduces the burden on platforms, conflicting power dynamics create new governance challenges. Using China as a case study, we analyzed 2,784 posts from Sina Weibo's official Weibo Administrator account. Our findings reveal significant influences from the government, users, enterprises, and society on platform governance. Divergent stakeholder values and institutional differences can hinder cohesive governance. To manage these pressures, platforms use strategies such as conversion, compensation, and evasion, resulting in differentiated response models tailored to its various stakeholder groups. This research highlights universal challenges in multi-stakeholder governance and provides insights for developing effective and adaptable governance models globally.