Governing by Ambiguity: Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Platforms in China

ABSTRACT Besides clear policy directives, the unresolved and open‐ended elements in policy communication also create discursive politics. This article argues that ambiguity in policy communication reflects the state's exercise of power within a fractured sociocultural landscape. Examining state policies around the platform economy, we demonstrate how China's techno‐politics are constructed upon visions of the future and their ambiguous articulations—ambiguous imaginaries. By integrating the concepts of sociotechnical imaginaries and strategic ambiguity, we conduct a longitudinal qualitative analysis to identify and trace the evolution of three functional imaginaries (transformative, conflict‐mediating, and regulatory). Together, these functional imaginaries co‐constitute an ultimate imaginary (healthy platforms). Each type mobilizes ambiguity respectively via metaphors, contradictory descriptions, and shifting emphases. This produces ambiguities that either evoke modernization or mediate tensions around the platform's role as an enterprise or capital within the socialist market economy. We argue that these ambiguous imaginaries serve as a discursive “glue,” temporarily reconciling deep‐seated ideological fractures through surface‐level uncertainty and future promises. This article contributes a framework that interprets the futuristic ambiguities embedded in policy as both an actionable instrument and a future gaze, making development possible in the (centralized) developmentalist state.