Abstract: In order to improve the government’s ability of Internet governance, it is of great practical significance to comprehensively review the changes of Internet content governance policy in a specific historical period. Taking 157 policy documents issued at the central level as sample data, the paper analyzed the theme changes, intergovernmental relations and policy diffusion of Internet content governance policy after the 18th CPC National Congress by establishing an analysis framework of Internet content governance policy change. The study found that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Internet content governance policy system has experienced two stages, the period of rapid growth and the period of steady development. The policy theme is characterized by the coexistence of stability and evolution; the cooperation among policy subjects tends to be close, and cross-border cooperation is prominent; policy diffusion is affected by policy administrative influence.

Key words: Internet content governance, Policy change, Policy diffusion, Intergovernmental relations, Process supervision