Similar Platforms, Different Values: The Presentation of Values in Chinese and American Social Media Privacy Policies and Terms of Service

This study aims to reveal how different cultural values are institutionalized within platform rules, specifically by examining how the privacy policies and terms of service of six major social media platforms in China and the United States embody and shape users’ rights, obligations, and behavioral boundaries. A semantic network analysis is first employed to cluster the texts and identify the dominant values prioritized by platforms in both countries. Subsequently, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model is applied to explore the cultural differences underlying these value orientations. Findings suggest that while both Chinese and American platforms prioritize legality and security, their focus diverges: Chinese platforms emphasize user behavior regulation, whereas American platforms emphasize sharing. Through Hofstede’s model, cultural dimensions explain these value differences, with China’s higher scores in collectivism, long-term orientation, restraint, and power distance leading to a stronger emphasis on user behavior regulation. In contrast, the U.S., characterized by higher individualism, short-term orientation, indulgence, and lower power distance, encourages user information sharing. This study not only broadens the research perspective on social media privacy policies and terms of service through comparative analysis but also extends Hofstede’s framework into the context of the platform society and develops a dynamic “Hofstede–Values” model. In practice, the findings provide insights for transnational platform managers to formulate more targeted global strategies and contribute to safeguarding the common interests of humanity in the digital age.