社群媒體成為政治論爭的煽動空間 : 用戶的網路煽動行為與語氣分析

Abstract

自 2020 年爆發的新冠疫情，人們的外出行動因封鎖管制而受到諸多限制，這也導 致原本的政治論爭在網路空間益加活躍。像是在社群媒體溝通脈絡中，人們討論有關新冠 病毒源頭的議題，往往與支持「線上民族主義」的網路挑釁者掛勾在一起。當中國成為 冠病毒的起源地，並散播到世界各地之後，熱衷於民族主義的中國網民，常對來自不同國 家且抱持不同政治立場和社會觀點的網民進行網路攻擊和煽動行為，這樣的網路煽動行為 因新冠疫情更加嚴重，其他國家的網民也往往是透過這些充滿挑釁和煽動意味的網路言論 戰爭和社群媒體溝通，而有機會與中國網民有所接觸。本論文旨在探討中國與其他國家的 網民間因政治立場和社會觀點的差異而引發的網路煽動行為，本論文針對社群媒體溝通脈 絡中，網路煽動言論的語氣和動機進行分析，並討論網路挑釁和煽動如何從社群媒體溝通 脈絡轉化為實際的政治行動。本論文首先針對來自台灣、香港和中國網民間的網路挑釁和 煽動言論進行語氣分析，接著分析中國網民與其他國家網民間的網路挑釁和煽動言論，關 注中國網民與美國網民和印度網民間的網路互動和煽動言論。本論文沿用 De Fina 提出的 「語氣分析」研究方法，分析 157 條網路挑釁和煽動言論，針對這些社群媒體溝通中的五 種語氣進行分析，包括:諷刺、和藹、咄咄逼人、中立和曖昧語氣。採用語氣分析和多模 態溝通的研究方法，本論文認為中國網民和非中國網民之間的網路攻訐很大程度上受「文 化鄰接」或「意識形態歧異」兩種因素所影響，這不僅顯示中國網民和非中國網民之間的 網路挑釁和煽動言論很多集中在民族主義和意識形態差異的爭論上，也發生在不同國家的 網民間對共同華人文化認同上的爭論。本論文也說明網路煽動言論有部分源自生活日常中 的社會事件，並從網路空間的挑釁和煽動言論，進一步在現實世界中引發後續政治效應， 這些效應有些是來自政府官員、非政府官員和一般社會大眾: 然而，有些則停留於網路溝 通層面，並沒有後續政治效應。

In the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been forced into lockdowns and restrictions that have moved important aspects of politics into online spaces. Arguments over the emergence of the virus have fused with trolls using cyber nationalistic content to attack netizens online. The PRC has taken a center stage as the origin of COVID-19, and as the country’s staunch nationalists are attacking others online that criticize the political and cultural opinions of their nations, which have been worsened by the pandemic. For many international netizens, their main exposure to PRC netizens is through these trolling battles. This thesis intends to analyze the tone and motivations of trolling among netizens of the PRC and other contested nations, and how some of these examples of trolling cross from social media into real political actions. This thesis examines specific examples of online trolling across Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, and explores the international contexts of the United States and India, which offer some of the examples of PRC-based trolling. To do this, I use De Fina’s proposal of tonal analysis to analyze five categories of tones (ironic, amiable, aggressive, neutral and ambiguous) in social media comments, of which there are three for Taiwan, two for Hong Kong, and two each for the United States and India. In total, there are 157 coded comments across these cases. Through the analyses of tone and multimodal communications, this thesis argues that online trolling between PRC and non-PRC netizens that is greatly motivated by claims of cultural contiguity or ideological incongruity is centered on the debates over not only nationalism and ideological difference but also shared cultural identities. Some of these trolling battles have drawn from social events and have further been generating real-world political responses. Some are the real-world responses from government, non-government officials and general public, while others have remained purely online.