Unveiling the Contested Digital Feminism: Advocacy, Self-Promotion, and State Oversight Among Chinese Beauty Influencers on Weibo

Through a qualitative analysis of feminist posts shared by Chinese beauty influencers, this study explores the political potential and limitations of their engagements in digital feminism on Weibo. Chinese beauty influencers show the potential to shape everyday feminist discourses and promote female solidarity on Weibo. However, beauty influencers’ feminist practices represent a form of contested activism, situated at the intersection of state governance, platform power, and entrepreneurial demands, subtly reconfiguring digital feminism in China. By converting feminist sentiments into brand assets through self-branding and promotional activities, influencers’ feminist practices feed into the platform’s profit motives and their own career advancements. Moreover, beauty influencers adopted what we call “state-aligned, soft activism,” inadvertently perpetuating the non-emancipatory gender discourses endorsed by state governance. Their engagement with digital feminism exemplifies the ambivalent feminist politics within the Chinese digital space dominated by state control and commercial logic, reflecting inherent contradictions and broader tensions in conducting meaningful feminist activism within a constrained environment.