In China’s internet ecosystem, post deletion, account suspension, and speech restriction have become key mechanisms of platform content governance. This phenomenon reflects the institutional practice of state-oriented opinion management and reveals the inherent tension between platforms’ social responsibility and users’ rights. This paper reviews the legal foundations and operational logic of these practices, analyzing their structural causes, including government censorship outsourcing, platform profit incentives, and algorithmic moderation. The study finds that such governance mechanisms contribute to maintaining online order and curbing misinformation, yet they also pose potential risks of power abuse and restriction of expression. Furthermore, the paper examines the evolving trends of shadow banning and traffic limitation as forms of implicit censorship, and proposes improvements in legislation, transparency, and algorithmic oversight to achieve a balance between “order” and “freedom” in internet governance.
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Li, H. (2025) The Tension of Platform Governance: Structural Operation and Social Risks of China’s Internet Censorship Mechanism through the Lens of “Post Deletion, Account Suspension, and Muting” Phenomena. Journal of Social Development and History, 1(3), 28-39.