Resisting disinformation: theorising whole-of-society and sociotechnical resistance

How can states resist transnational disinformation campaigns? Analyses in the field of International Relations (IR) have offered a variety of explanations which index the harms of disinformation to state power, yet state resistance to disinformation remains underexplored and under-theorised. Through the concept of a ‘mobilisation of resistance’ and based insights from Social Theory and Science and Technology Studies (STS), this article posits a social-processual framework to explain whole-of-society resistance to transnational disinformation and the role of sociotechnical systems in facilitating this resistance. This approach emphasises the agency of civil society actors and sociotechnical systems in articulating resistance to transnational disinformation alongside the state. The article specifies four processes through which a mobilisation of resistance to disinformation can be expressed through technology: enframing, co-production, legitimation and humour. As a country at the forefront of combatting disinformation from China, Taiwan presents a valuable empirical site through which resistance to transnational disinformation can be understood. Taking Taiwan’s open-source governance (OSG) and algorithmic co-governance (ACG) as paradigmatic cases of whole-of-society sociotechnical resistance, I seek to illustrate how these four processes have been materially enacted to resist Chinese disinformation campaigns on the one hand while promoting a democratic social order in Taiwan on the other hand.