{"id":1119213,"date":"2021-12-14T18:58:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T23:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1119213"},"modified":"2021-12-14T18:58:36","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T23:58:36","slug":"china-unleashes-swarm-of-online-influencers-to-promote-genocide-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-unleashes-swarm-of-online-influencers-to-promote-genocide-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"China Unleashes Swarm of Online Influencers to Promote Genocide Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-unleashes-swarm-of-online-influencers-to-promote-genocide-olympics%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1119213&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/FREDERIC-J.-BROWN_AFP-via-Getty-Images-1-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\"><span>A report by <\/span><span>Open Secrets<\/span><span> on Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2021\/12\/chinese-government-deploying-online-influencers-amid-beijing-olympics-boycotts\/\">said<\/a> the Chinese government has hired an American consulting firm to flood U.S. social media with \u201cinfluencers\u201d who will promote the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) view of the Winter Olympics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The move appears in part a response to coverage of President Joe Biden choosing to participate in the Olympics, honoring China as a host despite its long list of human rights atrocities, but not sending American diplomats to the event, which Biden\u2019s administration has branded a \u201cdiplomatic boycott.\u201d The Communist Party has responded that it never invited Biden administration officials to the Games, so their absence is not in any meaningful way a boycott.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The diplomatic boycott was proposed as a response to China\u2019s human rights abuses, particularly its oppression of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, who have been herded into brutal <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/11\/15\/exclusive-concentration-camp-survivor-china-killed-baby-unknown-surgery\/\"><span>re-education camps<\/span><\/a><span>, sold as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2020\/07\/20\/report-uyghur-slave-labor-produces-cheap-made-in-china-masks\/\"><span>slave labor<\/span><\/a><span>, and subjected to a campaign of cultural and physical eradication classified as \u201cgenocide\u201d by international <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/news\/independent-tribunal-says-china-committed-genocide-with-acts-against-uyghurs\/\"><span>human rights organizations<\/span><\/a><span> and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/news\/u-s-declares-chinas-treatment-of-uyghurs-genocide\/\"><span>U.S. State Department<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Open Secrets story could be taken as more evidence that President Joe Biden\u2019s \u201cdiplomatic boycott\u201d idea was never much of a threat to Beijing, since the Chinese are only spending pocket change to push back:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"27\">\n<p><span>The influence operation is being coordinated by Vippi Media, a consulting firm based in New Jersey, as part of a $300,000 contract that spans through March 2022. China\u2019s Consulate General in New York paid $210,000 in advance on Nov. 23.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As part of the online influence campaign to promote the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and the 2022 Paralympics, the Chinese government is paying the firm to recruit influencers who are \u201cto be activated to drive viewership, mass awareness and premium content\u201d for China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Most of the influencers\u2019 posts are expected to focus on \u201cBeijing &amp; China elements,\u201d including \u201cBeijing\u2019s history, cultural relics, modern life of people, new trends,\u201d Chinese athletes\u2019 preparations and \u201ctouching moments.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Some of the Communist Party\u2019s hired American social media guns have reportedly been assigned to tout \u201ccooperation and any good things in China-U.S. relations,\u201d including cooperation on \u201cclimate change.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>In other words, China \u2013 the world\u2019s worst and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/environment\/2021\/12\/13\/china-begins-walking-back-promises-reduce-pollution-2030s\/\"><span>most unrepentant<\/span><\/a><span> polluter \u2013 is planning to slap Biden\u2019s \u201cdiplomatic boycott\u201d down with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/11\/11\/biden-signs-joint-statement-with-worlds-worst-polluter-china-on-seriousness-of-climate-change\/\"><span>joint declaration<\/span><\/a><span> on climate change Biden gave the Chinese as an incredible political gift at the November climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Open Secrets postulated the Communist Party views social media influencers as a highly cost-effective means of spreading propaganda since individual influencers can have millions of followers on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, larger than the worldwide readership for Chinese state media publications.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The influencers are also presumably less likely to be seen as agents of the Chinese government by their followers. Open Secrets mentioned that under the contract with Vippi Media, only about ten percent of the \u201cdeliverable\u201d content furnished to influencers will explicitly originate with the Chinese consulate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> <span>(<em>NYT<\/em>) on Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/12\/13\/technology\/china-propaganda-youtube-influencers.html\">reported<\/a> on Beijing\u2019s extensive use of YouTube influencers and other \u201csocial media personalities\u201d who \u201cpaint cheery portraits of life as foreigners in China \u2013 and also hit back at criticisms of Beijing\u2019s authoritarian governance, its policies toward ethnic minorities and its handling of the coronavirus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>NYT <\/span><\/i><span>explained how China uses all manner of enticements, financial incentives, and leverage to push its propaganda through Western influencers, including offers to let favored social media content creators visit parts of China that are forbidden to credentialed journalists:<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote readability=\"17\">\n<p><span>The videos have a casual, homespun feel. But on the other side of the camera often stands a large apparatus of government organizers, state-controlled news media and other official amplifiers \u2013 all part of the Chinese government\u2019s widening attempts to spread pro-Beijing messages around the planet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>State-run news outlets and local governments have organized and funded pro-Beijing influencers\u2019 travel, according to government documents and the creators themselves. They have paid or offered to pay the creators. They have generated lucrative traffic for the influencers by sharing videos with millions of followers on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>NYT <\/span><\/i><span>duly noted that some of these influencers insist they are independent creators who control their own content and voluntarily decided to \u201ccounter the West\u2019s increasingly negative perception\u201d of China, but whatever their motivations, China has grown very adept at using them for propaganda purposes.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Furthermore, some of these influencers <\/span><span>do <\/span><span>have financial and ideological ties to the Communist Party that they prefer not to discuss, or reluctantly admitted the Chinese government covers their expenses when the <\/span><i><span>NYT <\/span><\/i><span>pressed them on the matter.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The report also noted that since these influencers have large followings and produce unique content with the indulgence or assistance of the Chinese state, they are generating a considerable amount of digital traffic, which is valuable to social media platforms and paid advertisers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspi.org.au\/report\/borrowing-mouths-speak-xinjiang\"><span>Australian Strategic Policy Institute<\/span><\/a><span> (ASPI) last week published a report called \u201cBorrowing Mouths to Speak on Xinjiang\u201d that studied China\u2019s use of foreign social media influencers to \u201cshape and push messages domestically and internationally about Xinjiang that are aligned with its own preferred narratives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"9.6857142857143\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is my cover design for &#8216;Borrowing mouths to speak on Xinjiang&#8217;, a new <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ASPI_ICPC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ASPI_ICPC<\/a> paper with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fryan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@fryan<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arielbogle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@arielbogle<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Nrg8000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Nrg8000<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlbertYZhang?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AlbertYZhang<\/a><br \/>&amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DariImpio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DariImpio<\/a>! <\/p>\n<p>It explores how CCP uses foreign social media influencers to it&#8217;s global propaganda.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/REFWggNUwM\">https:\/\/t.co\/REFWggNUwM<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/j9zbsLz1Ci\">pic.twitter.com\/j9zbsLz1Ci<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u5df4\u4e22\u8349 Badiucao\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\udc89 (@badiucao) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/badiucao\/status\/1470616802665250819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 14, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cOur research has found key instances in which Chinese state entities have supported influencers in the creation of social media content in Xinjiang, as well as amplified influencer content that supports pro-CCP narratives. That content broadly seeks to debunk Western media reporting and academic research, refute statements by foreign governments and counter allegations of widespread human rights abuses in Xinjiang,\u201d ASPI wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSome foreign influencers who are promoting CCP propaganda operate outside traditional journalistic professional standards and aren\u2019t disclosing key conflicts of interest (such as their participation in state-backed and funded tours of Xinjiang),\u201d the report noted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>ASPI said the Communist Party has grown exceptionally fond of YouTubers, vloggers, and other video influencers because the Chinese state can influence their productions in many subtle ways, such as by steering them away from locations the Communist Party does not wish them to film. Also, most Western video platforms have loose or inconsistent requirements for labeling content as produced or influenced by state actors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen the locations weren\u2019t chosen by the Chinese state, our analysis found that detention centers were sometimes accidentally filmed. Our analysis of one video, filmed by a \u2018vlogger\u2019 from Singapore, found that he unintentionally filmed seven separate detention facilities in a 15-minute YouTube video showing his airliner\u2019s descent into Urumqi International Airport,\u201d the report said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Biden\u2019s \u201cdiplomatic boycott\u201d appears to be fizzling even without a Chinese propaganda counterattack.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Last Thursday, China <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/news\/china-warns-olympics-diplomatic-boycott-nations-will-pay-a-price\/\"><span>warned<\/span><\/a><span> any country that joins the four-nation boycott will \u201cinevitably pay the price for their wrongdoing,\u201d and France quickly announced that it would not participate. On Monday, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Sports\/wireStory\/eu-appetite-join-us-diplomatic-games-boycott-81719468\"><span>Associated Press<\/span><\/a><span> (AP) found \u201clittle appetite\u201d among European Union members for joining the boycott.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Several European diplomats told the AP they felt Biden\u2019s boycott initiative was \u201cpoliticizing\u201d the Olympics \u2013 which is precisely the message the CCP is spending $300,000 to hire American social media influencers to repeat.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A report by Open Secrets on Monday said the Chinese government has hired an American consulting firm to flood U.S. social media with \u201cinfluencers\u201d who will promote the Chinese Communist &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1119213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1119213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1119213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1119213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1119213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}