本研究採用第三人效果理論，探討谷歌退出中國的新聞報導對中國大陸與香港大學生認知的影響，並分析第三人效果認知是否會影響兩地大學生對中國網絡審查制度的支持度。研究設計採用隨機抽樣法，對廣州、香港兩地七所大學的533位大學生進行問卷調查。研究結果發現，香港受訪者認為谷歌退出中國新聞對自己和他人的影響較大；相對而言，大陸受訪者認為這一新聞對自己和他人的影響較小。此外，本研究也發現受訪者認為與自己社會距離較遠的「他人」比社會距離較近的「他人」更容易受到新聞報導的影響，而谷歌使用頻率高的受訪者則比使用頻率低的受訪者較傾向認為谷歌退出中國新聞對自己及他人的影響較大。最後，研究發現顯示，「對自己影響的認知」比「對他人影響的認知」對是否支持網絡審查具有較高的預測力，「對自己影響的認知」不僅影響大學生對中國網絡審查制度的支持度，更可能促使大學生要求中國政府放寬網絡審查，對中國大學生的政治參與行為可能產生重大影響。

This paper compared the third-person effect of news about Google’s decision to pull out of China on oneself relative to others. Two parallel surveys of 533 college students in China and Hong Kong show that Hong Kong respondents tended to believe the Google news has a greater influence on themselves and others than their Chinese counterparts. The results also show that social distance and personal relevance were significantly related to third-person effect. Additionally, we found that perceived effect on self was a significant predictor of support for Internet censorship and request for lifting restrictions on the Internet after controlling for the influence of demographics, media use, and frequency of Google use. Taken together, the results of the study expanded the perceptual and behavioral components of the third-person effect beyond the realm of support for restriction of undesirable media content.