Queer survivalscapes under platformisation: navigating heteronormative power in Chinese digital space

Platformisation, dominated by Global North Silicon Valley firms, is central to technocapitalism, yet its heteronormative organising logic remains under-theorised in marketing. This omission is particularly acute for queer consumers operating within Global South platform infrastructures. Addressing this gap, this paper theorises queer survival under platform capitalism in China. Despite institutional differences from Western neoliberal models, China’s state-led technocapitalism produces distinct yet equally urgent crises of platformised heteronormativity. This paper asks: how do queer users navigate and rework such power?

Drawing on five years of online observation of queer content creators, platform stakeholders, and secondary interviews, I develop the concept of queer survivalscapes: gong sheng (symbiotic), ji sheng (parasitic), and ye sheng (feral). I theorise queer consumers as precarious yet strategic actors who redistribute risk through relational, performative, and affective labour, advancing technology and queer consumer studies beyond Western-centric accounts of platform power.