Cross-platform, cross-border: How Chinese Wanghuang create opportunity spaces

This study addresses a critical research gap in digital platform studies by investigating the experiences of cloud workers in non-Western contexts. Through observation and interviews with Shenzhen-based wanghuang (sex-fluencer), we extend the “platform ecology” framework to analyse how individuals perceive and act upon opportunities and risks embedded within both digital platforms and physical environments. Our findings reveal that wanghuang employ multi-dimensional strategies across digital and physical spaces to construct their opportunity spaces while managing platform and institutional constraints as well as legal risks. These strategies include place-based branding, multi-homing across platforms, fan dating, and cross-border mobility. The study demonstrates how cross-border mobility serves as a form of ‘geographical arbitrage’, leveraging spatial differences of technical and institutional environments and also the broader socio-economic conditions to minimise risk and maximise opportunities. This research advances platform studies by highlighting the importance of offline spaces and local contexts in understanding platform ecologies, while offering valuable insights into China’s digital sex industry.