Digital technology and environmental risk communication: a structural analysis of Chinese netizens' participatory behaviour in Japanese nuclear sewage incident

Digital technology and environmental risk communication: a structural analysis of Chinese netizens' participatory behaviour in Japanese nuclear sewage incident | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Digital technology and environmental risk communication: a structural analysis of Chinese netizens' participatory behaviour in Japanese nuclear sewage incident Xin Chen, Mengyao Li, Wenjuan Gong, Yuanchun Peng This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7148982/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Digital technology has reconfigured the communication landscape and governance path of environmental risks, empowering the public to participate, while at the same time bringing about multiple dilemmas such as environmental risk information cocoon, polarization of public perceptions, and data colonialism. In this paper, we take "Japan’s nuclear wastewater discharge", a sudden environmental risk event with cross-border impacts, as the research background, collect relevant data from "Sina Weibo", apply social network analysis methods, and explore the three dimensions of openness of public space, public participation, and rationality of opinions. Using social network analysis, the study examines the structure of Chinese netizens' environmental participation behaviours on the Internet and their public attributes. The analysis finds that: network structure reflects the lack of interactivity and openness in public space; centrality analysis and structural hole analysis show that the public and rational dimensions of public discussion have been gradually dissolved. This paper reveals the two main mechanisms of public discourse production of environmental issues in the digital age - institutional content output and algorithmic traffic logic. When power is combined with algorithmic technology, the space for public discussion of environmental issues is compressed, ecological demands are swallowed up by entertainment traffic, and the discussion of environmental justice is missing. Algorithmic power causes the rational dialogue of environmental issues to be replaced by traffic competition, and the public nature of environmental issues is weakened. It is urgent to intervene in the network structure and make the algorithmic mechanism transparent to reconstruct the foundation of dialogue in the environmental public sphere. Humanities/Complex networks Social science/Complex networks Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Social science/Environmental studies Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 1. Introduction On 13 April 2021, the Japanese government announced the discharge of nuclear wastewater accumulated since 2011 into the ocean, pushing an environmental crisis event that has lasted for more than a decade to the forefront of global environmental risk management. According to research data, within 57 days from the date of discharge, the radioactivity in the nuclear wastewater would have spread to most of the Pacific Ocean, and in just 10 years all of the world's oceans would have been contaminated by (The Beijing News, 2021a). Tracing back to the roots, Japan's Fukushima nuclear wastewater problem began with a severe leakage of radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in 2011 – the nuclear wastewater consists of reactor cooling water, groundwater entering the unit building, and rainwater. As of April 2021, 1.25 million tons of nuclear wastewater has been stored in the plant and is still increasing at a rate of 140 tons per day (Liu et al., 2021). On 24 August 2023, the Japanese government officially launched the Fukushima Contaminated Water Discharge Initiative after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "endorsed" its report on nuclear wastewater discharge (Chang et al.,2022). This action has triggered controversy and discussion worldwide. Due to its close geographical location, China is one of the countries most affected by Japan's nuclear wastewater. For Chinese netizens, this was not merely an environmental issue but a convergence of historical trauma, contemporary geopolitical tensions, and visceral fears about food safety in a nation. The Chinese public reacted strongly to this, especially the comments with extreme negative emotions (Pu et al., 2022). By the evening of August 29, 2023, the event had reached a cumulative total of 11.56 million in China and 1.61 million overseas. On August 24th, the number of discussions in China reached 4.82 million, while the number of discussions in overseas regions reached 270,000 in a single day (Meltwater, 2023). In response to the incident, the Chinese public has launched extensive environmental participation actions in the web space, such as public environmental exchanges (reading and reprinting relevant news) and opinion formation and expression (expressing views and emotions). This strong public reaction precisely shows that environmental issues have typical public attributes - they are not just the business of individuals or individual groups, but a topic of common concern and participation of the whole society. Publicity serves as a crucial mechanism for reconciling diverse interests and mobilizing social resources (Dryzek, 2022). This characteristic proves indispensable for environmental governance, as evidenced by the demonstrated correlation between public participation and improved environmental outcomes (Newig and Fritsch, 2009). With the continuous empowerment of digital technology, cyberspace has become a space of expression with the nature of the "public sphere" (Camp and Chien, 2000). As a new field of environmental governance, its digital information dissemination has reconfigured the public nature of environmental governance. As one of the most significant transnational environmental risk issues in the 21st century, the Fukushima nuclear wastewater discharge incident in Japan has triggered multidimensional research in the global academic community. The technology pathway is one of the central research areas of the incident. The Japanese government has claimed that it can effectively treat radioactive substances in nuclear wastewater through the use of an ALPS (Auto-Levelling Plants). However, there is no scientific consensus on the effectiveness of ALPS (Qi et al., 2022). Moreover, it has been shown that volatile radionuclides in nuclear wastewater may enter terrestrial ecosystems and remain there for long periods, and their impacts are difficult to assess effectively (Tanaka et al., 2012). Scientific fields such as oceanography, environmental engineering, and medicine and health have explored the ecological risks and health hazards that may result from nuclear sewage discharge events (Lu et al., 2021). However, why the ALPS technology program was adopted by the government despite the doubtful scientific evidence reveals that nuclear wastewater discharge is not only a technical issue but also a social issue. While research in the natural sciences has been constrained by the shackles of technological determinism, most research in the social sciences on Japan's nuclear wastewater release has focused on the fields of jurisprudence and political science, which are largely saturated with this type of research. From Japan's environmental diplomacy strategy (Zhang et al., 2023), norms of international law (Liu and Hoskin, 2023), the "precautionary" principle of environmental law (Li and Wang, 2023), international environmental obligations and national environmental responsibility (Wang et al., 2022), scholars have discussed the nature of Japan's nuclear sewage discharge behaviour from different perspectives. Other scholars have analysed the equilibrium strategies of the discharging countries and the stakeholder countries from the perspectives of game theory, cumulative prospect theory, and other international political science (Wang et al., 2025). In the field of economics, attention has been paid to the global economic impacts such as trade losses and imbalances brought about by the nuclear wastewater discharge event (Guo et al., 2022) and changes in public consumption levels (Qin and Lu, 2024). However, environmental risk communication and governance should not be confined to technological or political theories, let alone reduced to theories of economic interests. As an increasingly important public sphere in environmental risk disputes, cyberspace carries the public's risk perception, emotional mobilization and value negotiation, which provides a key entry point for transcending the limitations of the above theories and in-depth investigation of the socio-cultural mechanism of risk communication and the "publicity" of governance. In this paper, we focus our attention on the cyberspace of the global environmental emergency of "Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge", and analyse the structural characteristics of Chinese netizens' behaviours on the Internet in the digital age to explore the mechanisms of environmental risk communication and the public nature of environmental risk governance. 2. Environmental risk communication and Publicity Environmental sociology focuses on analysing the socially constructed nature of the environmentally problematic event of nuclear wastewater discharges in Japan. From this perspective, the safety and scientific validity claimed by scientists are largely a social construction of knowledge, fraught with uncertainty and ambiguity about inherent environmental risks (Amekawa, 2023 ). Governments use institutions and international relations to the game (Gao et al., 2023 ) either in favour of or against seawater discharges, and through the perceptual and discursive strategies of the official media, to shape debates about their 'legality' or 'illegality' (Okuda, 2025 ; Baek and Jarvis, 2024 ), and differentiated descriptions and reporting (Chen and Liu, 2024 ). The constructivist perspective focuses on how environmental events are transmitted between ecosystems and social systems through the social construction of political, scientific, and cultural systems. More microscopic studies in sociology and communication on Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge incident have focused on public opinion evolution and sentiment analysis, such as topics of concern to the Chinese public and public emotions (Pu et al., 2022 ; Zhang, 2023 ). Some other studies have looked at the risk perception and diffusion mechanisms of that environmental event for research. Socio-cultural and discursive expressions significantly influence public risk perception and diffusion. Global environmental risks become localized through China's unique sociocultural filters (Sun et al., 2025 ). The use of composite imagery patterns helps discourse makers carefully craft micro-narratives of "within-group" and "outside-group" dynamics and influences public perception, legitimizing their claims in the realm of environmental risk (Sun et al.,2024). Metaphors such as war and liar metaphors also construct the understanding of the risk of nuclear wastewater discharge (Li and Chen,2024). Systematic trust and effective risk communication mechanisms are important variables that influence risk perception and risk acceptance (Author, 2016), and uncertainty and transparency in risk communication were significantly associated with the social amplification of risk during the event (Gong et al., 2024 ). Related studies have demonstrated the necessity of substantial public participation in the whole process of environmental decision-making (Author and Du, 2022), and the importance of "publicness", which has the potential to reconcile multiple interests and promote public participation in the environment, has been highlighted. Publicity has a rich connotation. For Habermas, publicness arises when people form a public opinion that is close to unanimity in the discussion of universal issues (Habermas, 1991 ). Generally speaking, publicness can be understood as the public participation of individuals with differences in the public space based on public interests through various forms of public discussion, rational criticism, dialogue, and negotiation, which further form public spirit, public responsibility, and public order, etc. (Guo, 2022 ). The core attributes of publicness include three dimensions: firstly, the visibility, accessibility, and openness of fields and spaces (Brighenti, 2010 ); secondly, publicity, i.e., the commonality, diversity, and universality of human beings (Arendt, 1998 : 176); and thirdly, reasonableness, i.e., the dimension of rationality (Habermas, 1991 ). In today's globalization, the concept of publicity presents multiple relationships between human beings and the world (self/other, citizen/society/state, territory/country/globe), and attempts to seek a just resolution of these interactions at all levels. It emphasizes the achievement of a rational coexistence of different subjects while recognizing differences. This requires balancing the public and private spheres: safeguarding freedom in the private sphere and preserving individual subjectivity, while realizing justice in the public sphere and promoting participation and order (Zhang, 2010 ). The rise of digital environmental participation is not only a generational shift in the form of environmental participation, but also implies a change in the logic of the operation of the public sphere in the digital era - from the traditional face-to-face dialogue between subjects to a relationship mediated by the protocols and rules of the digital interface (Lan, 2023 ). For example, the "information cocoon" caused by algorithmic recommendation mechanisms has intensified group polarization (Zhang et al., 2025 ). By virtue of its openness and instant interactivity, cyberspace has become an important field for the generation, diffusion and evolution of public opinion. However, the algorithmic recommendation mechanism has reconfigured the logic of opinion generation, which may lead to the squeezing of the space for rational negotiation, while the generation of public opinion relies more on the interaction between network nodes, such as retweet chains and community nesting (Guo and Sang, 2025 ). This shift means that the "public" becomes a relational conception (Starr, 2021 ) - the path for the formation of public environmental opinions is highly dependent on the location of power nodes on social platforms. Thus, this paper chooses to reveal the structural characteristics of networks as an important entry point for understanding the mechanisms of public opinion formation in environmental events in the digital age. A "network" is a set of social connections or social relationships that link actors (Baker, 1990 ). Individual nodes in a social network may be involved in multiple chains of information diffusion, which ultimately build into a peer-to-peer and peer-to-peer multilevel communication cyberspace. The patterning of social ties in which nodes are embedded has important consequences for these nodes (Freeman, 2004 ). Among them, opinion leaders refer to the influential groups that occupy a central position in social networks (Momtaz et al., 2011 ). In the process of information dissemination, it often serves as a carrier for receiving and outputting information from others, which directly affects the direction of public opinion. The networked dissemination of environmental risks presents complex connectivity structures and dynamic interactions in public participation, and it is difficult for traditional statistical methods to capture these implicit relational patterns. Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides methodological possibilities for revealing such multi-subjective and non-linear network structures, and quantitatively analyses the diffusion paths of information, the influence of opinion leaders, and the formation mechanism of opposing camps through relationship mapping, centrality measurement, and community detection techniques. In this paper, we take SNA as the main research method, and at the same time combine it with text content analysis (mainly including user identity and posting direction) to carry out the research. As in the actual public opinion field, a large number of publics behave as isolated nodes in which they only act as receivers of information from opinion leaders. The main formation process of influential public discussion and public opinion exists in the network structure of opinion leaders, which can be studied more efficiently to obtain the characteristics of the opinion field and its direction. Therefore, this paper focuses on analysing the group of influential opinion leaders in the general public who can speak out and conduct public discussions. Based on the previous paper's summary of the core attributes of publicity, this paper explores publicity from the following three aspects (See Fig. 1 ): first, assessing the profile of the network structure to judge the openness of the network space; second, identifying the key users and their locations in the network to judge whether the public participation in the network is diversified and universal; and lastly, combining the analyses of the users' identities and posting directions to explore the different influence and rationality of the opinions of the users with different identities and positions in the discussion. Finally, the analysis of user identities and posting directions is used to explore the differentiated influence of users with different identities and positions in the discussion and the rationality of their opinions. In summary, this paper focuses on a new type of environmental governance scenario in the digital era, taking "Japan's nuclear sewage discharge" as the research background, tries to explore the structural characteristics of Chinese netizens' environmental participation in the Japanese nuclear sewage discharge incident from the dimension of relational data by applying social network analysis (SNA) methods, and then explore the public nature of environmental risk management. 3. Method In this paper, the interactive data of "Sina Weibo" on the topic of "Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Discharge" was selected as the data source for this study. Founded in 2009, Sina Weibo (hereinafter referred to as Weibo) is a new generation of open social media platform in China. Weibo's Q3 2024 quarterly report shows that the number of monthly active users of Weibo reached 587 million in September 2024 (Lei, 2024 ), reaching more than half of China's Internet users. Weibo's large user base and rich information resources enable it to keenly present the public's attention and attitude changes on hot topics, and its user data is representative. The platform's "super topic" function creates real-time emotion contagion – where a shrimp farmer's tearful livestream could trend alongside Foreign Ministry statements. Tens of thousands of related discussions can be obtained by using "nuclear sewage" or "nuclear wastewater" as the search term for the topic selected in this paper, which is rich in content and has research value. We use Python crawler tools to collect data related to the incident of "Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge" in a microblogging platform. Since the term "nuclear wastewater" has been confused with "nuclear sewage", this paper collects data by using "nuclear wastewater" and "nuclear sewage" as search terms and then combines and removes them according to their unique identifiers, i.e., Weibo post IDs. In this paper, "nuclear wastewater" and "nuclear wastewater" were used as search terms to collect data, which were then merged and de-duplicated according to the unique identifier, i.e., the blog post ID. The data collection period is from 13 April 2021 to 31 January 2025, which covers the whole process of the "Japan Nuclear Wastewater Discharge" incident from the beginning to the start of the project. The data collection and processing process is shown in Fig. 2 . Details of the collected data fields are shown in Table 1 . Table 1 Categories of data collection Data categories Data content Application Basic information Weibo user ID, Nickname analyze user identity and opinion trends Discussion content Weibo post ID/content, Posting time Interaction Behavior Number of Reposts/Comments/Likes Following relationship Evaluate user influence and perform SNA After data cleaning, 350,995 valid data points were finally obtained for subsequent analyses. From the data overview (see Fig. 3 , Fig. 4 , and Fig. 5 ), it can be seen that the event involves a large number of users, but the majority of users' interactions are simple and only exist as a receiver of information. The only group that can speak out and discuss the issue is the influential opinion leader group. Therefore, this paper intends to screen out the more influential users for social network analysis. Microblogging interactive behaviours (number of retweets, comments, and likes) will be used as a core indicator to measure user influence. Drawing on Zhang Yang's (2024) study, this paper constructs the formula for user influence: user influence = number of retweets × 1 + (number of comments + number of likes) × 0.5 (1), where the number of retweets occupies a higher weight because it implies direct dissemination and higher recognition. Based on this criterion, this paper finally selects 146 users with user influence greater than or equal to 20,000 to form the microblog opinion leader database. 4. Results 4.1 Social network structure of public opinion on nuclear wastewater discharge Using the Python program for visualization, this paper generates a community map of opinion leaders in the cross-border environmental event "Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge" (see Fig. 6 ). Overall, the social network structure of opinion leaders is characterized by low density and obvious community differentiation. The opinion field is fragmented, with a large number of small groups but a lack of large-scale collaboration, as analysed below. 4.1.1 Network density and network connectivity analysis Network density is an important indicator of the degree of connectivity between nodes in a network. The data (see Table 2 ) show that the network density of "Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge" event is only 0.012, and the low-density structure indicates that the network is sparse, and direct interactions between participants are rare. The network connectivity data shows that the network is divided into 18 weakly connected subdivisions, with 97 strongly connected components. Therefore, the social network structure is significantly fragmented into many small groups. However, the very low average clustering coefficient (0.036) suggests that even within these small components, the connections are not tightly knit or clique-like. This structure points to a lack of large-scale, cohesive interaction across the network, with most activity occurring in very small, isolated clusters. Table 2 Results of the analysis of network structure indicators Metric Value Node count 146 Edge count 253 network density 0.012 Average clustering coefficient 0.036 Number of weakly connected components 18 Number of strongly connected components 97 4.1.2 Analysis of online communities Community is a property of many networks and is usually defined as a subset of nodes in the network. The value of community modularity in community detection is in the range of [− 1/2,1), the higher the value, the more obvious the community structure. The value of community modularity in the event of "Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge" is 0.48, which suggests a relatively clear community structure in the network. The results of community detection are shown in the following table (See Table 3 . Supplementary Table S1 for all data). By analyzing the content of posts within the community, we can identify its primary topics of discussion. Among them, the official narrative communities (Community 1 and Community 5) are centred on "People's Daily" and "The Paper". These communities primarily consist of official media, the Communist Youth League, and major newspapers. Their content focuses on China's policy responses (e.g., statements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and emphasizes the rationality and responsibility of China's stance. In contrast, Community 9 and Community 4 include a mix of commercial news platforms and media accounts. Their content covers international geopolitical news as well as the impact of nuclear wastewater on daily life (e.g., local seafood markets, Japan's tourism recession, and public health). Topics such as "salt grabbing", "personal protection" and "loss of ocean beauty" evoke empathy and reflect anxieties about environmental risks. Community 14 presents a more diverse composition, including both individual self-media accounts (e.g., "BladeScholar_InMyanmar" and "XiaoFan_PhotoLover") and official media (e.g., "Liaoning Communist Youth League"). This mix suggests a potential space for interaction between different voices. A preliminary review of some accounts in this community indicates that content varies widely, with some employing a "geo-conflict" narrative, linking the issue to historical and national grievances, and questioning the actions of the Japanese government and international organizations. However, the presence of official media suggests that this community may not be monolithic in its perspective. Table 3 Community testing results Community ID Size Member List 14 22 Sina News, SweetPotatoBear Lao6, TangZhe_Classmate, BioGuy_Aquarium, XiaoFan_PhotoLove, Liaoning Communist Youth League, CasualFilmDiary, China Food Magazine, ZiLong520, TaiwanShenanigans, HistoryGazer, KanKan News KNEWS, BladeScholar_InMyanmar, TechApePlanet, DesertUncle, China News Service, CNS, SkyFungus, JapanWackyDaily, FrogTerminator, SunHuoWang_Here, HuangAn_Official, UFO_Revelations 4 20 Z_DreamAndPersist_Y, BaoJianFeng, WeiLiXing, EntertainmentWave, Phoenix TV, FaceAndFortune, Cailianpress APP, CCTV Finance, BauhiniaTree, XuTao_Politics, YuanGuoQing, Beijing Daily, EarthLens_A, BeikeFinance, DrXiang_FatExpert, National Business Daily, PassionForLearning Boy, China News Jingwei, EastUnlucky, CNR 5 19 People's Daily, CCTV News, WangHaiLin, Global Times, Diba Official, Communist Youth League Central, ifeng, CCTV Quick Look, ZhaoSheng_Plain, Jokielicious, NanGuiGuYi, ZhaoShengYe, Bambi_Kid, CCTV Military, Cover News, PatrioticYouth_Liu, Fujian Communist Youth League, WangYou, HuangZhixian_Planet 1 19 China News, CCTV, CMG Global Info, China Environment, Sina Hotspot, Mammoth News, The Paper, Chengdu Business Daily, CCTV Global Insight, Red Star News, JusticeDuck, Morning News, Boiling Point Video, Global Review, Huashang Daily, LoneCicada, Sichuan Observation, Moonlight_Housha, 23 Mile News 9 18 Guancha.cn, Headline News, Reference News, Worldly Affairs, Fengwen Community, Pear Video, China Daily, Xinhua News Agency, AntiStupidity_Bot, Vista Magazine, OccamsRazor, Science and Technology Daily, WangHu_Bridge, YouthfulCrush, DeepBlueLove, HatStolen, FengGe_OnTheRun, DragonSlayer_Well 4.2 Key actors and "power" in the communication of public opinion In the social network, the "power" of each node also plays a crucial role in the network information dissemination mode. By analysing the roles of nodes in terms of individual attributes through the methods of centrality, core-periphery structure, and structural holes, it is found that: the official media and the head media within the scope of the mainstream narrative are at the core of the high school centrality and occupy the position of structural holes, which are inclined to dispassionate interpretations of the events and statements of state actions. More users are at the periphery, with a high degree of structural constraints, and they mainly mobilize emotionally through intense emotional expression and sensory stimulating content to gain local influence and gather similar users. This is analysed below. 4.2.1 Centrality analysis Centrality demonstrates whether the node is in a key position in the whole network, implying that the actor has higher influence, discourse power, and convenience in the communication network (Zhang and Luo, 2017 ). In terms of the centrality indicators (See Table 4 . Supplementary Table S2 for all data) and the content of the blog posts, the user "PassionForLearning Boy" occupies a core position in the network with his hand-drawn nuclear pollution imagery "Kanagawa Tritium Surfing" (point-in degree 41), but his point-out degree is 0, indicating that the user only publishes information in one way with no interactive behaviour. In these core nodes, the official media (including "People's Daily", "CCTV Military", "CCTV", "CGTN Global Info", "Reference News", "Global Times"), which occupy the most central positions in the network, serve as the primary channels for information dissemination. Their structural position is consistent with a potential high level of influence over defining major issues and shaping public discourse. Other central nodes include headline media platforms (e.g., the large commercial media "Red Star News") and self-media (e.g., "Vista Magazine"). Content from these accounts often engaged with controversial themes of international political rivalry. The network structure suggests that these narratives were widely received (high in-degree), and content analysis reveals their stance remains fundamentally aligned with the mainstream narrative. The majority of users occupy peripheral positions, typically characterized by low out-degree (1–3), which indicates more limited direct reach and a lower volume of original posting or sharing activity. Notably, accounts focusing on environmental issues, such as the grassroots accounts such as "Lord Pingyuan Zhao Sheng" (degree centrality 0.03) and official environmental accounts such as "China Environment" (with a degree centrality of 0.014), were structurally marginalized. This suggests that their messages had limited direct reach and were less integrated into the main information flows of this event-specific network. Table 4 Representative users of the point centrality indicator Serial number Weibo user ID In-degree Out-degree Degree Centrality 1 PassionForLearning Boy 41 0 0.283 2 Vista Magazine 11 2 0.090 3 Red Star News 8 4 0.083 4 People's Daily 7 3 0.069 5 CCTV Military 6 4 0.069 6 CCTV 1 8 0.062 7 CGTN Global Info 1 8 0.062 8 ConcreteProof 8 1 0.062 9 Reference News 3 5 0.055 10 Global Times 5 3 0.055 4.2.2 Core-edge structure analysis From the analysis of the core edge structure (See Table 5 . Supplementary Table S3 for all data), the core group (core number B = 4) contains 34 nodes. Consistent with the results of the centrality analysis, the core layer is predominantly composed of official media, large commercial media, and influential self-media accounts. These accounts, due to their central structural positions, possess the greatest potential to set the agenda and guide public opinion. Some self-media (e.g. "XiaoFan_PhotoLover") are in the sub-core position. Analysis of their posted content indicates that these accounts focus on historical legacy issues and geopolitical discourse. Edge layer users (e.g. "China Food Magazine", "BioGuy_Aquarium", etc.) are composed of nodes with cores 0 and 1, including most of the self-publishing media. They often have special group identities and focus on specific areas (e.g., food safety under nuclear sewage discharge, mariculture industry). In some of their posts, there exists intense emotions, exaggerated language expression, and sensory-stimulating content such as "visualization of nuclear radiation". But their peripheral structural position indicates that their content had minimal integration with the main information flows of the event. Table 5 Core-edge analysis results Weibo user ID core number Weibo user ID core number People's Daily 4 …… …… Science and Technology Daily 4 Jade Abyss 3 Vista Magazine 4 TashiDelek DziBeads 3 ifeng Video 4 XiaoFan_PhotoLover 3 The Paper 4 Cover News 3 Global Times 4 ChargeHorn 3 LoneCicada 4 BladeScholar_InMyanmar 3 CCTV 4 …… …… Worldly Affairs 4 China Food Magazine 1 Reference News 4 …… …… 4.2.3 Structural hole analysis A structural hole is a special kind of network structure that refers to a non-redundant relationship that exists between two relational actors (Burt, 1992 : 18). The actor occupying the position of the structural hole can determine whether and how information and resources are refracted or flow(See Table 6 . Supplementary Table S4 for all data ). Official media, characterized by low structural constraints, are structurally positioned to bridge official and civil discourse. This position would allow them to integrate diverse information. An examination of the content of their posts reveals a tendency toward calm policy explanations and statements regarding the state's response actions. In addition, a small number of self-media users, such as "Concrete Proof", also occupy structural holes, connecting diverse groups within the network. Individual popular science accounts with lower structural holes (e.g., "Jade Abyss") are structurally capable of bridging scientific and public discourses. For example, the post titled "Who's Whitewashing Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Discharge? Data Reveals Suspicious Aspects of Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Treatment". Accounts with high structural constraints (e.g., "BladeScholar_InMyanmar") are located within tightly-knit groups, which are characterized by structural closure rather than brokerage. It is worth noting that accounts readily identifiable as scientific experts not occupy a central position in the high school or a structural hole, and is even absent. Table 6 Results of structural hole analysis serial number Weibo user ID Structural Constraint Index serial number Weibo user ID Structural Constraint Index 1 Red Star News 0.102 …… …… …… 2 Vista Magazine 0.104 119 Passion for Learning Boy / 3 Concrete Proof 0.111 120 China Daily / 4 CCTV 0.121 121 Bio Guy_Aquarium / 5 The Paper 0.143 122 Living Repeater / 6 CGTN Global Info 0.143 123 Human Diary / 7 People’s Daily 0.154 124 Jokielicious / 8 Reference News 0.157 125 Flower Guardian / 9 CCTV Military 0.161 126 Liaoning Communist Youth League / 10 Sina Hotspots 0.166 127 BladeScholar_InMyanmar / 5. Discussion This paper analyses the structure of Chinese netizens' online participation in Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge incident. Our structural findings point to a potential publicity dilemma in environmental risk governance: from the perspective of the structural dimension of the public space, the low density of the opinion network, the strong community segregation and the lack of prominent brokers occupying structural holes suggest limitations in the interactivity and openness of the public sphere. In terms of participation groups, official media occupy dominant central positions, while science communication nodes, environmental nodes, and ordinary opinion leaders are marginalized. This structure raises questions about the inclusiveness and diversity of network participation. Furthermore, the absence of identifiable expert voices in the network’core diminish the rational demension of public discourse. Based on these structural observations and content reviews of user posts, we propose that two mechanisms shape discourse production in this context:first, institutional discourse defines the nature of nuclear wastewater incidents through high-frequency, authoritative official information output, which builds the underlying framework for communication risk interpretation; second, algorithms distribute content through traffic and user preferences, and the closed loop of homogenized information dissemination exacerbates the polarisation of public opinion and sentiment on this environmental issue. 5.1 Social network structure: lack of cross-group interaction The analysis of social network structure shows that: firstly, the microblog opinion network about the "Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge" incident shows significant weak connectivity and low density, and the opinion field is fragmented. There are a large number of small closed-loop groups or unidirectional relationships in the network, but there is a lack of large-scale interaction. Secondly, there are obvious community divisions in the network structure. The larger communities include the official narrative community that focuses on national policy statements, the free press community that reports and comments on international geopolitical rumours, the national sentiment and political critique community that links the nuclear sewage incident with historical issues, and the life discussion community that reflects the public's figurative environmental anxieties. There also exist communities that accommodate diverse voices, demonstrating a certain potential for interactive space. Furthermore, the official media occupies a structural holes, potentially bridging official and civil discourse. The observed loose structure, community segregation, and lack of effective brokers contribute to a lack of cross-group interaction. In addition, the algorithmic distribution of content based on traffic and user preferences likely creates closed loops of homogenized information, which may exacerbates the polarisation of public opinion and sentiment on this environmental issue, subtly reshaping its communication ecology. As a result, the interactivity and openness of this online public space are limited, making it challenging to facilitate a deliberative public discourse that could bridge diverse perspectives. 5.2 Marginalization of environmental justice claims Through centrality analysis, core-edge structural analysis, structural hole analysis—combined with an examination of user identity and posting direction—this paper identifies key users and reveals the structure and of public online participation in characteristics the Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge incident. First, in terms of participant groups and their positions, official media occupy a dominant position with significant discursive power. By virtue of their central and brokering positions, they are structurally empowered to produce and disseminate institutionalized content. Headline and influential commercial media also occupy central positions. In contrast, popular science nodes, environmental nodes and ordinary opinion leaders are on the periphery and do not occupy structural holes. Experts are notably absent from influential network roles. Second, from the viewpoint of public opinion, the structural dominance of official and commercial media suggests that institutional and geopolitical narratives prevail. The few individual self-media accounts that occupy the central or bridging positions are able to generate significant discussion. Some of its posts generate discussion through visual impact, emotional expression, and geopolitical conflicts. It is undeniable that marine ecological safety remains a subject of public concern. However, the prevailing network structure and discourse dynamics channel public attention toward international political issues and scientific-technological controversies. Within this communicative environment, ecological demands, particularly those framed around environmental justice, risk being marginalized or overshadowed by more sensational and emotionally charged content. The convergence of collective anxieties—such as "seafood fear" and "national sentiment" —transforms the nuclear wastewater issue into a arena for moralized debate among Chinese netizens. In addition, some commercial media outlets prioritize traffic acquisition by leveraging controversial topics and sensory-charged expressions. This economic logic of attention can potentially reframe public discourse, shifting emphasis from critical deliberation toward consumption of engaging content. Consequently, the conditions necessary for a robust public sphere—openness, egalitarianism, and critical engagement—may be undermined. As a result, ecological demands and narratives of environmental justice struggle to gain traction within the dominant public agenda, which is often dominated by grand geopolitical narratives and waves of emotional catharsis. Localized perceptions of environmental risks find it particularly difficult to break into this mainstream discourse. 6. Conclusions In the online discussion of environmental emergencies, the structure of Chinese netizens' online participation behaviour shows the following characteristics: low network density, distinct community segregation, and a lack of effective brokers. This structure suggests limitations in the interactivity and openness of the public sphere in this case. Therefore, the rational-deliberative dimension in public discussions has been weakened. Discourse production in environmental risk events is influenced by two mechanisms: the production of official content and the impact of algorithmic distribution. Under the influence of this structure and these mechanisms, the space for public deliberation on environmental issues is significantly constrained. Ecological demands, particularly those framed as issues of environmental justice, risk being marginalized, making a broad public discussion of environmental justice has been difficult to initiate. There is therefore an urgent need to consider how to establish a more inclusive public discussion space that incorporates environmental justice. Building a public sphere that can accommodate multiple voices, resist systemic domination and technological alienation, and foster rational negotiation emerges as a critical challenge for future risk governance in the digital environment. This article also has limitations. Our identification of user types (e.g., "official media", "self-media") relies on their official positioning, observable data, and common sense, which may not fully capture the nuanced identities and strategies of all accounts. Regarding the characterisation of "experts", this is constrained by our methodological capacity to precisely identify individual experts (as opposed to institutional scientific voices) within a large-scale user population. Furthermore, as a structural analysis of an online network, its core data concerns positional attributes rather than the content, strategies, emotional orientation, or tone of the nodes' discourse itself. Presently, this paper incorporates superficial content information in only certain analytical segments, such as the primary posting themes and emotional leanings of specific accounts. More substantial topics warranting exploration—including comparisons of dissemination styles and effects among nodes occupying different positions, alongside the underlying mechanisms of agenda-setting and emotional mobilisation—require further evidence for validation. This could involve employing content analysis, framing analysis, or qualitative methods to examine the authentic texts and narratives disseminated by different groups. Declarations Data availability The author confirms that all data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article. Furthermore, primary and secondary sources and data supporting the findings of this study were all publicly available at the time of submission. The code has been attached to the supplementary information. Funding This research is supported by the 2024 Theme Case Project of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China: Green Development "Collaborative Governance of Rural Ecological Environment and Green Social Development - A Case Study Based on Green Rural Construction in Fujian Province and Zhejiang Province" (ZT-2410384006), the project of National Social Science Fund of China “Research on the Cultivation Mechanism and Path of Environmental Literacy Among the Chinese Public”, the State Scholarship Fund from China Scholarship Council(No.202306310215) and Melbourne Research Scholarship offered by the University of Melbourne. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval Ethical approval was not required. The research data is publicly accessible and anonymous, sourced from public data. It does not contain identifiable information. 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Journal of Social Sciences (6):101–107+190 Zhang Y (2024) A study on the identification of opinion leaders on Weibo during sudden public emergencies: taking the “4·18” Changfeng Hospital fire incident as an example. New Media Research 10(13):15–19 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementaryinformation.docx Supplementarymaterialoriginalanalysisdata.xlsb Socialnetworkanalysisreport.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7148982","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":543259584,"identity":"63a440ae-edd2-4152-9285-34d667c9d8fa","order_by":0,"name":"Xin Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xiamen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xin","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":543259585,"identity":"0188d55a-dbc8-46dc-a793-5e6d386449b2","order_by":1,"name":"Mengyao Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of 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5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":68725,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eContent volume for different forwarding volume intervals\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7148982/v1/d6f11c41d944995edf4cdb3a.png"},{"id":96239436,"identity":"66bc96b1-d5f8-4f13-9d3b-909065cb38bc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-19 07:06:39","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":593156,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003evisualization of social network relationships of opinion leaders\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7148982/v1/50be25977ab48e2f779d4e79.png"},{"id":97898067,"identity":"4afe1e2e-f0f2-477f-b833-1cce0486bce1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:38:39","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1863133,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7148982/v1/e0cfada0-0c49-403f-805e-025c34df47a2.pdf"},{"id":96241049,"identity":"08f174e9-4e50-4aa4-8d35-2644772a306e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-19 07:09:55","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":40487,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementaryinformation.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7148982/v1/c64ec7ff462eb66cf56c6325.docx"},{"id":95832990,"identity":"e0d4cf44-0fd9-4fa8-a416-fe162f91651e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-13 12:48:58","extension":"xlsb","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":51774485,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementarymaterialoriginalanalysisdata.xlsb","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7148982/v1/eb647764239409f3886515ec.xlsb"},{"id":96239998,"identity":"b8006d2e-a4f7-4a6b-8767-b2e665844872","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-19 07:08:07","extension":"docx","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":65954,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Socialnetworkanalysisreport.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7148982/v1/c05b0d02679c0f80d3d3f569.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Digital technology and environmental risk communication: a structural analysis of Chinese netizens' participatory behaviour in Japanese nuclear sewage incident","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eOn 13 April 2021, the Japanese government announced the discharge of nuclear wastewater accumulated since 2011 into the ocean, pushing an environmental crisis event that has lasted for more than a decade to the forefront of global environmental risk management. According to research data, within 57 days from the date of discharge, the radioactivity in the nuclear wastewater would have spread to most of the Pacific Ocean, and in just 10 years all of the world\u0026apos;s oceans would have been contaminated by (The Beijing News, 2021a). Tracing back to the roots, Japan\u0026apos;s Fukushima nuclear wastewater problem began with a severe leakage of radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in 2011 \u0026ndash; the nuclear wastewater consists of reactor cooling water, groundwater entering the unit building, and rainwater. As of April 2021, 1.25 million tons of nuclear wastewater has been stored in the plant and is still increasing at a rate of 140 tons per day (Liu et al., 2021). On 24 August 2023, the Japanese government officially launched the Fukushima Contaminated Water Discharge Initiative after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) \u0026quot;endorsed\u0026quot; its report on nuclear wastewater discharge (Chang et al.,2022).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis action has triggered controversy and discussion worldwide. Due to its close geographical location, China is one of the countries most affected by Japan\u0026apos;s nuclear wastewater. For Chinese netizens, this was not merely an environmental issue but a convergence of historical trauma, contemporary geopolitical tensions, and visceral fears about food safety in a nation. The Chinese public reacted strongly to this, especially the comments with extreme negative emotions (Pu et al., 2022). By the evening of August 29, 2023, the event had reached a cumulative total of 11.56 million in China and 1.61 million overseas. On August 24th, the number of discussions in China reached 4.82 million, while the number of discussions in overseas regions reached 270,000 in a single day (Meltwater, 2023). In response to the incident, the Chinese public has launched extensive environmental participation actions in the web space, such as public environmental exchanges (reading and reprinting relevant news) and opinion formation and expression (expressing views and emotions).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis strong public reaction precisely shows that environmental issues have typical public attributes - they are not just the business of individuals or individual groups, but a topic of common concern and participation of the whole society. \u0026nbsp;Publicity serves as a crucial mechanism for reconciling diverse interests and mobilizing social resources (Dryzek, 2022). This characteristic proves indispensable for environmental governance, as evidenced by the demonstrated correlation between public participation and improved environmental outcomes (Newig and Fritsch, 2009). With the continuous empowerment of digital technology, cyberspace has become a space of expression with the nature of the \u0026quot;public sphere\u0026quot; (Camp and Chien, 2000). As a new field of environmental governance, its digital information dissemination has reconfigured the public nature of environmental governance.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs one of the most significant transnational environmental risk issues in the 21st century, the Fukushima nuclear wastewater discharge incident in Japan has triggered multidimensional research in the global academic community. The technology pathway is one of the central research areas of the incident. The Japanese government has claimed that it can effectively treat radioactive substances in nuclear wastewater through the use of an ALPS (Auto-Levelling Plants). However, there is no scientific consensus on the effectiveness of ALPS (Qi et al., 2022). Moreover, it has been shown that volatile radionuclides in nuclear wastewater may enter terrestrial ecosystems and remain there for long periods, and their impacts are difficult to assess effectively (Tanaka et al., 2012). Scientific fields such as oceanography, environmental engineering, and medicine and health have explored the ecological risks and health hazards that may result from nuclear sewage discharge events (Lu et al., 2021). However, why the ALPS technology program was adopted by the government despite the doubtful scientific evidence reveals that nuclear wastewater discharge is not only a technical issue but also a social issue.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile research in the natural sciences has been constrained by the shackles of technological determinism, most research in the social sciences on Japan\u0026apos;s nuclear wastewater release has focused on the fields of jurisprudence and political science, which are largely saturated with this type of research. From Japan\u0026apos;s environmental diplomacy strategy (Zhang et al., 2023), norms of international law (Liu and Hoskin, 2023), the \u0026quot;precautionary\u0026quot; principle of environmental law (Li and Wang, 2023), international environmental obligations and national environmental responsibility (Wang et al., 2022), scholars have discussed the nature of Japan\u0026apos;s nuclear sewage discharge behaviour from different perspectives. Other scholars have analysed the equilibrium strategies of the discharging countries and the stakeholder countries from the perspectives of game theory, cumulative prospect theory, and other international political science (Wang et al., 2025). In the field of economics, attention has been paid to the global economic impacts such as trade losses and imbalances brought about by the nuclear wastewater discharge event (Guo et al., 2022) and changes in public consumption levels (Qin and Lu, 2024).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, environmental risk communication and governance should not be confined to technological or political theories, let alone reduced to theories of economic interests. As an increasingly important public sphere in environmental risk disputes, cyberspace carries the public\u0026apos;s risk perception, emotional mobilization and value negotiation, which provides a key entry point for transcending the limitations of the above theories and in-depth investigation of the socio-cultural mechanism of risk communication and the \u0026quot;publicity\u0026quot; of governance. In this paper, we focus our attention on the cyberspace of the global environmental emergency of \u0026quot;Japan\u0026apos;s nuclear wastewater discharge\u0026quot;, and analyse the structural characteristics of Chinese netizens\u0026apos; behaviours on the Internet in the digital age to explore the mechanisms of environmental risk communication and the public nature of environmental risk governance.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Environmental risk communication and Publicity","content":"\u003cp\u003eEnvironmental sociology focuses on analysing the socially constructed nature of the environmentally problematic event of nuclear wastewater discharges in Japan. From this perspective, the safety and scientific validity claimed by scientists are largely a social construction of knowledge, fraught with uncertainty and ambiguity about inherent environmental risks (Amekawa, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Governments use institutions and international relations to the game (Gao et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) either in favour of or against seawater discharges, and through the perceptual and discursive strategies of the official media, to shape debates about their 'legality' or 'illegality' (Okuda, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e; Baek and Jarvis, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e), and differentiated descriptions and reporting (Chen and Liu, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). The constructivist perspective focuses on how environmental events are transmitted between ecosystems and social systems through the social construction of political, scientific, and cultural systems. More microscopic studies in sociology and communication on Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge incident have focused on public opinion evolution and sentiment analysis, such as topics of concern to the Chinese public and public emotions (Pu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Zhang, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome other studies have looked at the risk perception and diffusion mechanisms of that environmental event for research. Socio-cultural and discursive expressions significantly influence public risk perception and diffusion. Global environmental risks become localized through China's unique sociocultural filters (Sun et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). The use of composite imagery patterns helps discourse makers carefully craft micro-narratives of \"within-group\" and \"outside-group\" dynamics and influences public perception, legitimizing their claims in the realm of environmental risk (Sun et al.,2024). Metaphors such as war and liar metaphors also construct the understanding of the risk of nuclear wastewater discharge (Li and Chen,2024). Systematic trust and effective risk communication mechanisms are important variables that influence risk perception and risk acceptance (Author, 2016), and uncertainty and transparency in risk communication were significantly associated with the social amplification of risk during the event (Gong et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). Related studies have demonstrated the necessity of substantial public participation in the whole process of environmental decision-making (Author and Du, 2022), and the importance of \"publicness\", which has the potential to reconcile multiple interests and promote public participation in the environment, has been highlighted.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublicity has a rich connotation. For Habermas, publicness arises when people form a public opinion that is close to unanimity in the discussion of universal issues (Habermas, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1991\u003c/span\u003e). Generally speaking, publicness can be understood as the public participation of individuals with differences in the public space based on public interests through various forms of public discussion, rational criticism, dialogue, and negotiation, which further form public spirit, public responsibility, and public order, etc. (Guo, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). The core attributes of publicness include three dimensions: firstly, the visibility, accessibility, and openness of fields and spaces (Brighenti, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e); secondly, publicity, i.e., the commonality, diversity, and universality of human beings (Arendt, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1998\u003c/span\u003e: 176); and thirdly, reasonableness, i.e., the dimension of rationality (Habermas, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1991\u003c/span\u003e). In today's globalization, the concept of publicity presents multiple relationships between human beings and the world (self/other, citizen/society/state, territory/country/globe), and attempts to seek a just resolution of these interactions at all levels. It emphasizes the achievement of a rational coexistence of different subjects while recognizing differences. This requires balancing the public and private spheres: safeguarding freedom in the private sphere and preserving individual subjectivity, while realizing justice in the public sphere and promoting participation and order (Zhang, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe rise of digital environmental participation is not only a generational shift in the form of environmental participation, but also implies a change in the logic of the operation of the public sphere in the digital era - from the traditional face-to-face dialogue between subjects to a relationship mediated by the protocols and rules of the digital interface (Lan, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). For example, the \"information cocoon\" caused by algorithmic recommendation mechanisms has intensified group polarization (Zhang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). By virtue of its openness and instant interactivity, cyberspace has become an important field for the generation, diffusion and evolution of public opinion. However, the algorithmic recommendation mechanism has reconfigured the logic of opinion generation, which may lead to the squeezing of the space for rational negotiation, while the generation of public opinion relies more on the interaction between network nodes, such as retweet chains and community nesting (Guo and Sang, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). This shift means that the \"public\" becomes a relational conception (Starr, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) - the path for the formation of public environmental opinions is highly dependent on the location of power nodes on social platforms. Thus, this paper chooses to reveal the structural characteristics of networks as an important entry point for understanding the mechanisms of public opinion formation in environmental events in the digital age.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA \"network\" is a set of social connections or social relationships that link actors (Baker, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1990\u003c/span\u003e). Individual nodes in a social network may be involved in multiple chains of information diffusion, which ultimately build into a peer-to-peer and peer-to-peer multilevel communication cyberspace. The patterning of social ties in which nodes are embedded has important consequences for these nodes (Freeman, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e). Among them, opinion leaders refer to the influential groups that occupy a central position in social networks (Momtaz et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e). In the process of information dissemination, it often serves as a carrier for receiving and outputting information from others, which directly affects the direction of public opinion.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe networked dissemination of environmental risks presents complex connectivity structures and dynamic interactions in public participation, and it is difficult for traditional statistical methods to capture these implicit relational patterns. Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides methodological possibilities for revealing such multi-subjective and non-linear network structures, and quantitatively analyses the diffusion paths of information, the influence of opinion leaders, and the formation mechanism of opposing camps through relationship mapping, centrality measurement, and community detection techniques. In this paper, we take SNA as the main research method, and at the same time combine it with text content analysis (mainly including user identity and posting direction) to carry out the research. As in the actual public opinion field, a large number of publics behave as isolated nodes in which they only act as receivers of information from opinion leaders. The main formation process of influential public discussion and public opinion exists in the network structure of opinion leaders, which can be studied more efficiently to obtain the characteristics of the opinion field and its direction. Therefore, this paper focuses on analysing the group of influential opinion leaders in the general public who can speak out and conduct public discussions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on the previous paper's summary of the core attributes of publicity, this paper explores publicity from the following three aspects (See Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e): first, assessing the profile of the network structure to judge the openness of the network space; second, identifying the key users and their locations in the network to judge whether the public participation in the network is diversified and universal; and lastly, combining the analyses of the users' identities and posting directions to explore the different influence and rationality of the opinions of the users with different identities and positions in the discussion. Finally, the analysis of user identities and posting directions is used to explore the differentiated influence of users with different identities and positions in the discussion and the rationality of their opinions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn summary, this paper focuses on a new type of environmental governance scenario in the digital era, taking \"Japan's nuclear sewage discharge\" as the research background, tries to explore the structural characteristics of Chinese netizens' environmental participation in the Japanese nuclear sewage discharge incident from the dimension of relational data by applying social network analysis (SNA) methods, and then explore the public nature of environmental risk management.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"3. Method","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this paper, the interactive data of \"Sina Weibo\" on the topic of \"Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Discharge\" was selected as the data source for this study. Founded in 2009, Sina Weibo (hereinafter referred to as Weibo) is a new generation of open social media platform in China. Weibo's Q3 2024 quarterly report shows that the number of monthly active users of Weibo reached 587\u0026nbsp;million in September 2024 (Lei, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e), reaching more than half of China's Internet users. Weibo's large user base and rich information resources enable it to keenly present the public's attention and attitude changes on hot topics, and its user data is representative. The platform's \"super topic\" function creates real-time emotion contagion \u0026ndash; where a shrimp farmer's tearful livestream could trend alongside Foreign Ministry statements. Tens of thousands of related discussions can be obtained by using \"nuclear sewage\" or \"nuclear wastewater\" as the search term for the topic selected in this paper, which is rich in content and has research value.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe use Python crawler tools to collect data related to the incident of \"Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge\" in a microblogging platform. Since the term \"nuclear wastewater\" has been confused with \"nuclear sewage\", this paper collects data by using \"nuclear wastewater\" and \"nuclear sewage\" as search terms and then combines and removes them according to their unique identifiers, i.e., Weibo post IDs. In this paper, \"nuclear wastewater\" and \"nuclear wastewater\" were used as search terms to collect data, which were then merged and de-duplicated according to the unique identifier, i.e., the blog post ID. The data collection period is from 13 April 2021 to 31 January 2025, which covers the whole process of the \"Japan Nuclear Wastewater Discharge\" incident from the beginning to the start of the project. The data collection and processing process is shown in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e. Details of the collected data fields are shown in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCategories of data collection\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eData categories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eData content\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eApplication\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBasic information\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeibo user ID, Nickname\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eanalyze user identity and opinion trends\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDiscussion content\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeibo post ID/content, Posting time\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eInteraction Behavior\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNumber of Reposts/Comments/Likes Following relationship\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvaluate user influence and perform SNA\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter data cleaning, 350,995 valid data points were finally obtained for subsequent analyses. From the data overview (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e, Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e, and Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e), it can be seen that the event involves a large number of users, but the majority of users' interactions are simple and only exist as a receiver of information. The only group that can speak out and discuss the issue is the influential opinion leader group. Therefore, this paper intends to screen out the more influential users for social network analysis.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMicroblogging interactive behaviours (number of retweets, comments, and likes) will be used as a core indicator to measure user influence. Drawing on Zhang Yang's (2024) study, this paper constructs the formula for user influence: user influence\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;number of retweets \u0026times; 1 + (number of comments\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;number of likes) \u0026times; 0.5 (1), where the number of retweets occupies a higher weight because it implies direct dissemination and higher recognition. Based on this criterion, this paper finally selects 146 users with user influence greater than or equal to 20,000 to form the microblog opinion leader database.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"4. Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e4.1 Social network structure of public opinion on nuclear wastewater discharge\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsing the Python program for visualization, this paper generates a community map of opinion leaders in the cross-border environmental event \"Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge\" (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). Overall, the social network structure of opinion leaders is characterized by low density and obvious community differentiation. The opinion field is fragmented, with a large number of small groups but a lack of large-scale collaboration, as analysed below.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e4.1.1 Network density and network connectivity analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eNetwork density is an important indicator of the degree of connectivity between nodes in a network. The data (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e) show that the network density of \"Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge\" event is only 0.012, and the low-density structure indicates that the network is sparse, and direct interactions between participants are rare. The network connectivity data shows that the network is divided into 18 weakly connected subdivisions, with 97 strongly connected components. Therefore, the social network structure is significantly fragmented into many small groups. However, the very low average clustering coefficient (0.036) suggests that even within these small components, the connections are not tightly knit or clique-like. This structure points to a lack of large-scale, cohesive interaction across the network, with most activity occurring in very small, isolated clusters.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eResults of the analysis of network structure indicators\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"2\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMetric\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eValue\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNode count\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e146\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdge count\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e253\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003enetwork density\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.012\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAverage clustering coefficient\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.036\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNumber of weakly connected components\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e18\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNumber of strongly connected components\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e97\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e4.1.2 Analysis of online communities\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eCommunity is a property of many networks and is usually defined as a subset of nodes in the network. The value of community modularity in community detection is in the range of [\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1/2,1), the higher the value, the more obvious the community structure. The value of community modularity in the event of \"Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge\" is 0.48, which suggests a relatively clear community structure in the network. The results of community detection are shown in the following table (See Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. Supplementary Table \u003cspan refid=\"MOESM1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003eS1\u003c/span\u003e for all data). By analyzing the content of posts within the community, we can identify its primary topics of discussion. Among them, the official narrative communities (Community 1 and Community 5) are centred on \"People's Daily\" and \"The Paper\". These communities primarily consist of official media, the Communist Youth League, and major newspapers. Their content focuses on China's policy responses (e.g., statements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and emphasizes the rationality and responsibility of China's stance. In contrast, Community 9 and Community 4 include a mix of commercial news platforms and media accounts. Their content covers international geopolitical news as well as the impact of nuclear wastewater on daily life (e.g., local seafood markets, Japan's tourism recession, and public health). Topics such as \"salt grabbing\", \"personal protection\" and \"loss of ocean beauty\" evoke empathy and reflect anxieties about environmental risks. Community 14 presents a more diverse composition, including both individual self-media accounts (e.g., \"BladeScholar_InMyanmar\" and \"XiaoFan_PhotoLover\") and official media (e.g., \"Liaoning Communist Youth League\"). This mix suggests a potential space for interaction between different voices. A preliminary review of some accounts in this community indicates that content varies widely, with some employing a \"geo-conflict\" narrative, linking the issue to historical and national grievances, and questioning the actions of the Japanese government and international organizations. However, the presence of official media suggests that this community may not be monolithic in its perspective.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCommunity testing results\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCommunity ID\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSize\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMember List\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e22\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSina News, SweetPotatoBear Lao6, TangZhe_Classmate, BioGuy_Aquarium, XiaoFan_PhotoLove, Liaoning Communist Youth League, CasualFilmDiary, China Food Magazine, ZiLong520, TaiwanShenanigans, HistoryGazer, KanKan News KNEWS, BladeScholar_InMyanmar, TechApePlanet, DesertUncle, China News Service, CNS, SkyFungus, JapanWackyDaily, FrogTerminator, SunHuoWang_Here, HuangAn_Official, UFO_Revelations\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eZ_DreamAndPersist_Y, BaoJianFeng, WeiLiXing, EntertainmentWave, Phoenix TV, FaceAndFortune, Cailianpress APP, CCTV Finance, BauhiniaTree, XuTao_Politics, YuanGuoQing, Beijing Daily, EarthLens_A, BeikeFinance, DrXiang_FatExpert, National Business Daily, PassionForLearning Boy, China News Jingwei, EastUnlucky, CNR\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e19\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeople's Daily, CCTV News, WangHaiLin, Global Times, Diba Official, Communist Youth League Central, ifeng, CCTV Quick Look, ZhaoSheng_Plain, Jokielicious, NanGuiGuYi, ZhaoShengYe, Bambi_Kid, CCTV Military, Cover News, PatrioticYouth_Liu, Fujian Communist Youth League, WangYou, HuangZhixian_Planet\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e19\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChina News, CCTV, CMG Global Info, China Environment, Sina Hotspot, Mammoth News, The Paper, Chengdu Business Daily, CCTV Global Insight, Red Star News, JusticeDuck, Morning News, Boiling Point Video, Global Review, Huashang Daily, LoneCicada, Sichuan Observation, Moonlight_Housha, 23 Mile News\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e18\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eGuancha.cn, Headline News, Reference News, Worldly Affairs, Fengwen Community, Pear Video, China Daily, Xinhua News Agency, AntiStupidity_Bot, Vista Magazine, OccamsRazor, Science and Technology Daily, WangHu_Bridge, YouthfulCrush, DeepBlueLove, HatStolen, FengGe_OnTheRun, DragonSlayer_Well\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e4.2 Key actors and \"power\" in the communication of public opinion\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the social network, the \"power\" of each node also plays a crucial role in the network information dissemination mode. By analysing the roles of nodes in terms of individual attributes through the methods of centrality, core-periphery structure, and structural holes, it is found that: the official media and the head media within the scope of the mainstream narrative are at the core of the high school centrality and occupy the position of structural holes, which are inclined to dispassionate interpretations of the events and statements of state actions. More users are at the periphery, with a high degree of structural constraints, and they mainly mobilize emotionally through intense emotional expression and sensory stimulating content to gain local influence and gather similar users. This is analysed below.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e4.2.1 Centrality analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eCentrality demonstrates whether the node is in a key position in the whole network, implying that the actor has higher influence, discourse power, and convenience in the communication network (Zhang and Luo, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). In terms of the centrality indicators (See Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e. Supplementary Table \u003cspan refid=\"MOESM2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003eS2\u003c/span\u003e for all data) and the content of the blog posts, the user \"PassionForLearning Boy\" occupies a core position in the network with his hand-drawn nuclear pollution imagery \"Kanagawa Tritium Surfing\" (point-in degree 41), but his point-out degree is 0, indicating that the user only publishes information in one way with no interactive behaviour.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn these core nodes, the official media (including \"People's Daily\", \"CCTV Military\", \"CCTV\", \"CGTN Global Info\", \"Reference News\", \"Global Times\"), which occupy the most central positions in the network, serve as the primary channels for information dissemination. Their structural position is consistent with a potential high level of influence over defining major issues and shaping public discourse. Other central nodes include headline media platforms (e.g., the large commercial media \"Red Star News\") and self-media (e.g., \"Vista Magazine\"). Content from these accounts often engaged with controversial themes of international political rivalry. The network structure suggests that these narratives were widely received (high in-degree), and content analysis reveals their stance remains fundamentally aligned with the mainstream narrative. The majority of users occupy peripheral positions, typically characterized by low out-degree (1\u0026ndash;3), which indicates more limited direct reach and a lower volume of original posting or sharing activity. Notably, accounts focusing on environmental issues, such as the grassroots accounts such as \"Lord Pingyuan Zhao Sheng\" (degree centrality 0.03) and official environmental accounts such as \"China Environment\" (with a degree centrality of 0.014), were structurally marginalized. This suggests that their messages had limited direct reach and were less integrated into the main information flows of this event-specific network.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eRepresentative users of the point centrality indicator\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSerial number\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeibo user ID\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn-degree\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eOut-degree\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDegree Centrality\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePassionForLearning Boy\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e41\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.283\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eVista Magazine\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.090\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eRed Star News\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.083\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeople's Daily\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.069\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCCTV Military\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.069\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCCTV\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.062\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCGTN Global Info\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.062\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eConcreteProof\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.062\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eReference News\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.055\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eGlobal Times\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.055\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e4.2.2 Core-edge structure analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the analysis of the core edge structure (See Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e. Supplementary Table S3 for all data), the core group (core number B\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4) contains 34 nodes. Consistent with the results of the centrality analysis, the core layer is predominantly composed of official media, large commercial media, and influential self-media accounts. These accounts, due to their central structural positions, possess the greatest potential to set the agenda and guide public opinion. Some self-media (e.g. \"XiaoFan_PhotoLover\") are in the sub-core position. Analysis of their posted content indicates that these accounts focus on historical legacy issues and geopolitical discourse. Edge layer users (e.g. \"China Food Magazine\", \"BioGuy_Aquarium\", etc.) are composed of nodes with cores 0 and 1, including most of the self-publishing media. They often have special group identities and focus on specific areas (e.g., food safety under nuclear sewage discharge, mariculture industry). In some of their posts, there exists intense emotions, exaggerated language expression, and sensory-stimulating content such as \"visualization of nuclear radiation\". But their peripheral structural position indicates that their content had minimal integration with the main information flows of the event.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCore-edge analysis results\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeibo user ID\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ecore number\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeibo user ID\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ecore number\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeople's Daily\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eScience and Technology Daily\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eJade Abyss\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eVista Magazine\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTashiDelek DziBeads\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eifeng Video\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eXiaoFan_PhotoLover\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Paper\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCover News\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eGlobal Times\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChargeHorn\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eLoneCicada\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBladeScholar_InMyanmar\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCCTV\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorldly Affairs\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChina Food Magazine\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eReference News\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e4.2.3 Structural hole analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA structural hole is a special kind of network structure that refers to a non-redundant relationship that exists between two relational actors (Burt, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1992\u003c/span\u003e: 18). The actor occupying the position of the structural hole can determine whether and how information and resources are refracted or flow(See Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e. Supplementary Table S4 for all data ). Official media, characterized by low structural constraints, are structurally positioned to bridge official and civil discourse. This position would allow them to integrate diverse information. An examination of the content of their posts reveals a tendency toward calm policy explanations and statements regarding the state's response actions. In addition, a small number of self-media users, such as \"Concrete Proof\", also occupy structural holes, connecting diverse groups within the network. Individual popular science accounts with lower structural holes (e.g., \"Jade Abyss\") are structurally capable of bridging scientific and public discourses. For example, the post titled \"Who's Whitewashing Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Discharge? Data Reveals Suspicious Aspects of Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Treatment\". Accounts with high structural constraints (e.g., \"BladeScholar_InMyanmar\") are located within tightly-knit groups, which are characterized by structural closure rather than brokerage. It is worth noting that accounts readily identifiable as scientific experts not occupy a central position in the high school or a structural hole, and is even absent.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eResults of structural hole analysis\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eserial number\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeibo user ID\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eStructural Constraint Index\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eserial number\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeibo user ID\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eStructural Constraint Index\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eRed Star News\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.102\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eVista Magazine\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.104\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e119\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePassion for Learning Boy\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e/\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eConcrete Proof\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.111\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e120\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChina Daily\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e/\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCCTV\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.121\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e121\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBio Guy_Aquarium\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e/\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Paper\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.143\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e122\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiving Repeater\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e/\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCGTN Global Info\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.143\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e123\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eHuman Diary\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e/\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeople\u0026rsquo;s Daily\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.154\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e124\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eJokielicious\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" 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colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e126\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiaoning Communist Youth League\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e/\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSina Hotspots\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.166\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e127\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBladeScholar_InMyanmar\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e/\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"5. Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper analyses the structure of Chinese netizens' online participation in Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge incident. Our structural findings point to a potential publicity dilemma in environmental risk governance: from the perspective of the structural dimension of the public space, the low density of the opinion network, the strong community segregation and the lack of prominent brokers occupying structural holes suggest limitations in the interactivity and openness of the public sphere. In terms of participation groups, official media occupy dominant central positions, while science communication nodes, environmental nodes, and ordinary opinion leaders are marginalized. This structure raises questions about the inclusiveness and diversity of network participation. Furthermore, the absence of identifiable expert voices in the network\u0026rsquo;core diminish the rational demension of public discourse.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on these structural observations and content reviews of user posts, we propose that two mechanisms shape discourse production in this context:first, institutional discourse defines the nature of nuclear wastewater incidents through high-frequency, authoritative official information output, which builds the underlying framework for communication risk interpretation; second, algorithms distribute content through traffic and user preferences, and the closed loop of homogenized information dissemination exacerbates the polarisation of public opinion and sentiment on this environmental issue.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e5.1 Social network structure: lack of cross-group interaction\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe analysis of social network structure shows that: firstly, the microblog opinion network about the \"Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge\" incident shows significant weak connectivity and low density, and the opinion field is fragmented. There are a large number of small closed-loop groups or unidirectional relationships in the network, but there is a lack of large-scale interaction. Secondly, there are obvious community divisions in the network structure. The larger communities include the official narrative community that focuses on national policy statements, the free press community that reports and comments on international geopolitical rumours, the national sentiment and political critique community that links the nuclear sewage incident with historical issues, and the life discussion community that reflects the public's figurative environmental anxieties. There also exist communities that accommodate diverse voices, demonstrating a certain potential for interactive space. Furthermore, the official media occupies a structural holes, potentially bridging official and civil discourse.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe observed loose structure, community segregation, and lack of effective brokers contribute to a lack of cross-group interaction. In addition, the algorithmic distribution of content based on traffic and user preferences likely creates closed loops of homogenized information, which may exacerbates the polarisation of public opinion and sentiment on this environmental issue, subtly reshaping its communication ecology. As a result, the interactivity and openness of this online public space are limited, making it challenging to facilitate a deliberative public discourse that could bridge diverse perspectives.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e5.2 Marginalization of environmental justice claims\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough centrality analysis, core-edge structural analysis, structural hole analysis\u0026mdash;combined with an examination of user identity and posting direction\u0026mdash;this paper identifies key users and reveals the structure and of public online participation in characteristics the Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge incident. First, in terms of participant groups and their positions, official media occupy a dominant position with significant discursive power. By virtue of their central and brokering positions, they are structurally empowered to produce and disseminate institutionalized content. Headline and influential commercial media also occupy central positions. In contrast, popular science nodes, environmental nodes and ordinary opinion leaders are on the periphery and do not occupy structural holes. Experts are notably absent from influential network roles. Second, from the viewpoint of public opinion, the structural dominance of official and commercial media suggests that institutional and geopolitical narratives prevail. The few individual self-media accounts that occupy the central or bridging positions are able to generate significant discussion. Some of its posts generate discussion through visual impact, emotional expression, and geopolitical conflicts.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is undeniable that marine ecological safety remains a subject of public concern. However, the prevailing network structure and discourse dynamics channel public attention toward international political issues and scientific-technological controversies. Within this communicative environment, ecological demands, particularly those framed around environmental justice, risk being marginalized or overshadowed by more sensational and emotionally charged content. The convergence of collective anxieties\u0026mdash;such as \"seafood fear\" and \"national sentiment\" \u0026mdash;transforms the nuclear wastewater issue into a arena for moralized debate among Chinese netizens. In addition, some commercial media outlets prioritize traffic acquisition by leveraging controversial topics and sensory-charged expressions. This economic logic of attention can potentially reframe public discourse, shifting emphasis from critical deliberation toward consumption of engaging content. Consequently, the conditions necessary for a robust public sphere\u0026mdash;openness, egalitarianism, and critical engagement\u0026mdash;may be undermined. As a result, ecological demands and narratives of environmental justice struggle to gain traction within the dominant public agenda, which is often dominated by grand geopolitical narratives and waves of emotional catharsis. Localized perceptions of environmental risks find it particularly difficult to break into this mainstream discourse.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"6. Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn the online discussion of environmental emergencies, the structure of Chinese netizens' online participation behaviour shows the following characteristics: low network density, distinct community segregation, and a lack of effective brokers. This structure suggests limitations in the interactivity and openness of the public sphere in this case. Therefore, the rational-deliberative dimension in public discussions has been weakened. Discourse production in environmental risk events is influenced by two mechanisms: the production of official content and the impact of algorithmic distribution. Under the influence of this structure and these mechanisms, the space for public deliberation on environmental issues is significantly constrained. Ecological demands, particularly those framed as issues of environmental justice, risk being marginalized, making a broad public discussion of environmental justice has been difficult to initiate.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is therefore an urgent need to consider how to establish a more inclusive public discussion space that incorporates environmental justice. Building a public sphere that can accommodate multiple voices, resist systemic domination and technological alienation, and foster rational negotiation emerges as a critical challenge for future risk governance in the digital environment.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis article also has limitations. Our identification of user types (e.g., \"official media\", \"self-media\") relies on their official positioning, observable data, and common sense, which may not fully capture the nuanced identities and strategies of all accounts. Regarding the characterisation of \"experts\", this is constrained by our methodological capacity to precisely identify individual experts (as opposed to institutional scientific voices) within a large-scale user population.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFurthermore, as a structural analysis of an online network, its core data concerns positional attributes rather than the content, strategies, emotional orientation, or tone of the nodes' discourse itself. Presently, this paper incorporates superficial content information in only certain analytical segments, such as the primary posting themes and emotional leanings of specific accounts. More substantial topics warranting exploration\u0026mdash;including comparisons of dissemination styles and effects among nodes occupying different positions, alongside the underlying mechanisms of agenda-setting and emotional mobilisation\u0026mdash;require further evidence for validation. This could involve employing content analysis, framing analysis, or qualitative methods to examine the authentic texts and narratives disseminated by different groups.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eData availability\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe author confirms that all data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article. Furthermore, primary and secondary sources and data supporting the findings of this study were all publicly available at the time of submission. The code has been attached to the supplementary information.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis research is supported by the 2024 Theme Case Project of the Ministry of Education of the People\u0026apos;s Republic of China: Green Development \u0026quot;Collaborative Governance of Rural Ecological Environment and Green Social Development - A Case Study Based on Green Rural Construction in Fujian Province and Zhejiang Province\u0026quot; (ZT-2410384006), the project of National Social Science Fund of China \u0026ldquo;Research on the Cultivation Mechanism and Path of Environmental Literacy Among the Chinese Public\u0026rdquo;, the State Scholarship Fund from China Scholarship Council(No.202306310215)\u0026nbsp;and Melbourne Research Scholarship offered by the University of Melbourne.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCompeting interests\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthical approval\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEthical approval was not required. The research data is publicly accessible and anonymous, sourced from public data. It does not contain identifiable information.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInformed consent\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis paper collects user-initiated public content from the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, explicitly excluding private information such as phone numbers. The information presented in this article only relates to some of the user nicknames; user IDs and URLs are not shown to avoid the risk of re-identification. All data collected herein is for academic research purposes only and will not be used for any commercial purposes.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLei JP(2024) Weibo quarterly report illustrated: revenue of 3.29 billion RMB, adjusted operating profit of 1.16 billion RMB [微博季报图解：营收32.9亿，经调整运营利润11.6亿]. Leidi Net. https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20241119A096O300. 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In: Proceedings of the 2017 2nd international conference on modelling, simulation and applied mathematics (MSAM2017). Atlantis Press, pp 300\u0026ndash;303\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eZhang F (2010) Subjectivity, civil society, publicity: three important concepts in history of ideas since the reform and opening up. Journal of Social Sciences (6):101\u0026ndash;107+190\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eZhang Y (2024) A study on the identification of opinion leaders on Weibo during sudden public emergencies: taking the \u0026ldquo;4\u0026middot;18\u0026rdquo; Changfeng Hospital fire incident as an example. New Media Research 10(13):15\u0026ndash;19\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7148982/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7148982/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eDigital technology has reconfigured the communication landscape and governance path of environmental risks, empowering the public to participate, while at the same time bringing about multiple dilemmas such as environmental risk information cocoon, polarization of public perceptions, and data colonialism. In this paper, we take \"Japan\u0026rsquo;s nuclear wastewater discharge\", a sudden environmental risk event with cross-border impacts, as the research background, collect relevant data from \"Sina Weibo\", apply social network analysis methods, and explore the three dimensions of openness of public space, public participation, and rationality of opinions. Using social network analysis, the study examines the structure of Chinese netizens' environmental participation behaviours on the Internet and their public attributes. The analysis finds that: network structure reflects the lack of interactivity and openness in public space; centrality analysis and structural hole analysis show that the public and rational dimensions of public discussion have been gradually dissolved. This paper reveals the two main mechanisms of public discourse production of environmental issues in the digital age - institutional content output and algorithmic traffic logic. When power is combined with algorithmic technology, the space for public discussion of environmental issues is compressed, ecological demands are swallowed up by entertainment traffic, and the discussion of environmental justice is missing. Algorithmic power causes the rational dialogue of environmental issues to be replaced by traffic competition, and the public nature of environmental issues is weakened. It is urgent to intervene in the network structure and make the algorithmic mechanism transparent to reconstruct the foundation of dialogue in the environmental public sphere.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Digital technology and environmental risk communication: a structural analysis of Chinese netizens' participatory behaviour in Japanese nuclear sewage incident","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-13 12:48:51","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7148982/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4ece73e7-e026-4880-b5ac-e0b94ae2ecb1","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 13th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":57794358,"name":"Humanities/Complex networks"},{"id":57794359,"name":"Social science/Complex networks"},{"id":57794360,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences"},{"id":57794361,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences"},{"id":57794362,"name":"Social science/Environmental studies"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-09T16:08:56+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-13 12:48:51","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7148982","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7148982","identity":"rs-7148982","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}