In a January video, she said, “Through my lens I will take you around China and take you into Vica’s life!” She posted the video to her YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. Also, she teaches Chinese classes via Zoom.
However, CGTN, a Chinese-state-run TV network, may control that lens. Vica Li has appeared on broadcasts regularly and is listed as a digital journalist on the company’s site. Vica Li claims that she created all these channels herself, but her Facebook page shows that at most nine people manage her page.
An Associated Press examination found that this portfolio of accounts is only one example of China’s growing influence over U.S.-owned social networking platforms.
China is leveraging the global social media environment to increase its already powerful economic position. China has quietly created a network of social media personalities that echo the government’s views in posts seen hundreds of thousands of times. They work in virtual lockstep to promote China’s virtues and deflect international criticisms of its human rights violations.
Many state-affiliated journalists from China have claimed to be Instagram influencers and bloggers. China has also employed firms to help it recruit influencers who will deliver well-crafted messages to boost its image on social media.
It is also benefitting from the efforts of a group of Westerners who have dedicated YouTube channels and their Twitter feeds to pro-China narratives. These include Beijing’s treatment Uyghur Muslims, to Olympian Eileen Gu , an American who represented China at the most recent Winter Games.
Beijing can easily send propaganda to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok users without their knowledge. According to research by Miburo, which tracks foreign disinformation operations, at least 200 influencers have connections to the Chinese government and its state media.
Clint Watts, Miburo President and a former FBI agent said that it is easy to see how they are trying to penetrate every country. It is all about volume. People will believe the same stories if you bombard them with the same stories for too long.
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While Russia’s war against Ukraine was widely condemnedas an abrazen assault on democracy and freedom of speech, Li Jingjing, self-described “traveler”, “story-teller”, and “journalist” took to YouTube to share a different story.
She uploaded a video called “Ukraine crisis” to her account. In it, she ridiculed U.S. journalists who were covering the conflict. Other videos have been made to promote Russian propaganda regarding the conflict. These include claims of genocide in Ukraine or that NATO and the U.S. provoked Russia’s invasion.
Li Jingjing claims in her YouTube profile that her goal is to show her 21,000 subscribers the world “through my lens.” However, she doesn’t mention that she is a reporter at CGTN and that her views are different from those of her Chinese counterparts.
In order to attract audiences all over the globe, many of China’s influencers use pitching similar to Li Jingjing. Many of these personalities are women and call themselves “travelers”. They share photos and videos that promote China’s idyllic destination.
Watts spoke highly of China, saying that they had clearly identified the “Chinese lady influencer” as the best way to go.
The AP identified dozens more accounts that have amassed over 10 million subscribers and followers. Many of these profiles are owned by Chinese state media journalists who in recent months have transformed their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts (platforms that are largely blocked within China) and started identifying themselves as “bloggers,” or “influencers” and encouraging people to follow them.
These personalities are not required to disclose any ties to China’s government. They have largely eliminated references to China Radio International, China Radio International, and Xinhua News Agency in their posts.
Since the beginning, foreign governments have tried to use social media and its advertising system to influence users. For example, , a Russian internet agency, paid in rubles for more than 3,000 political ads targeting Americans during the 2016 U.S. Election.
Tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook responded by promising to alert Americans to foreign propaganda through the labeling of state-backed media accounts.
The AP’s review found that many of the Chinese influencer accounts on social media are inconsistently classified as state-funded media. These accounts, such as those of Vica Li and Li Jingjing, are often marked on Facebook or Instagram but not flagged on YouTube/TikTok. Vica Li’s Twitter account is not listed. Twitter started identifying Li Jingjing’s account as Chinese state media last month.
Vica Li stated in a YouTube clip that she was disputing the labels of her Instagram and Facebook accounts. The AP asked her a series of detailed questions and she did not answer.
Many times, those who follow accounts that feature scenic images of China’s landscape may not realize they will also be exposed to state-endorsed propaganda.
Jessica Zang’s Instagram photos capture her smiling under a shining sun while she kicks fresh powered snow atop a ski resort in China’s Altai Mountains. She describes herself as a blogger and video creator who wants to share her views with others through “beautiful photos and videos about China.”
Zang is a video blogger for CGTN and rarely mentions her employer in front of her 1.3 million Facebook followers. Facebook and Instagram label her account “state-controlled media”, but Zang is not listed as such on TikTok or YouTube.
Rui Zhong, a researcher on technology and the China-U.S. relations for the Washington-based Wilson Center said that Zang is likely to have chosen not to put any state affiliations.
Posts with obvious propaganda are interspersed between the tourism photos. Zang interviews foreigners living in China about their views on the CPC and life in China.
Zang says to viewers that they want more people to see China’s true colors.
This is a key goal for China, which has launched coordinated efforts abroad to improve its image and whose president, Xi Jinping has openly spoken of his desire to see China as a positive global actor.
According to Jessica Brandt, a Brookings Institution expert in foreign interference and disinformation, accounts such as Zang’s are meant to hide global criticisms about China.
Brandt stated that they want to spread a positive view of China in order to drown out their human right records.
Zang and Li Jingjing did not respond to AP’s requests for comment. CGTN declined to respond to multiple interview requests. CGTN America is a registered foreign agent with the Justice Department. It has made public disclosures about commercial arrangements with many international news organizations including CNN, Reuters and the AP. However, they did not respond to repeated requests for interviews. A lawyer representing CGTN America also did not reply.
Liu Pengyu (spokesman for Chinese Embassy in Washington) stated that “Chinese media, journalists, carry out normal activities independent of the Chinese government and should not be presumed to be controlled or interfered with by them.”
China’s interest was magnified in December when it was revealed that Vippi Media, a New Jersey-based firm, had been paid $300,000. The Chinese Consulate in New York spent $300,000.
It is unclear what the public saw in that campaign and if social media posts were correctly labeled by the Chinese Consulate as paid advertisements, as Instagram or TikTok require. Vippi Media did not provide a copy to the Justice Department. The Justice Department regulates foreign influence campaigns via a 1938 statute called the Foreign Agents Registration Act. However, federal law requires it to.
Vipp Jaswal (CEO of Vippi Media) declined to provide details to the AP about the posts.
Other cases show that the motives and money behind these YouTube videos, Facebook posts and podcasts are so murky even the creators of them claim they didn’t know the Chinese government was funding the project.
John St. Augustine, a Chicago radio host, told the AP that a friend of his own, New World Radio, Falls Church, Virginia invited him to host a podcast called The Bridge with a Beijing team. They discussed music and daily life in America and China and invited music industry workers to join them.
He claims he did not know that CGTN paid New World Radio $389,000 for the podcast. According to documents filed with Justice Department, the station was also paid millions to broadcast CGTN content 12 hour a day.
St. Augustine stated, “How they did that, I didn’t know.” “I was paid by an American company.”
Patricia Lane, co-owner of New World Radio, stated that the station’s relationship to CGTN ended in December.
Recently, the Justice Department sought public input about how to update FARA to reflect the changing world of social media and its transparency issues.
FARA unit chief Jennifer Kennedy Gellie stated that messaging is no longer in leaflets or hardcopy newspapers. It’s tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram photos.
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An increasing number of English-speaking influencers have also created an online niche, promoting pro-Chinese messages in YouTube videos and tweets.
CGTN wanted to increase its influencer network so it invited English speakers into a competition for a month-long job as social media influencers in London or Nairobi. CGTN reported in September that thousands applied. They described the event as a chance for young people to get to know China.
Jason Lightfoot, a British video blogger, raved about the chance in a YouTube video advertising the event.
Lightfoot stated that CGTN gave him “so many crazy experiences that will never be forgotten for the rest of your life” in a video he claimed was filmed at Huawei’s campus.
Lightfoot did not respond to our requests for comment. He does not reveal this relationship with CGTN via his YouTube profile. There he has accumulated millions of views with headlines such as “The Olympics Backfired upon USA — Disastrous Regret” and “Western Media lies about China.”
These videos often coincide with other pro-China bloggers such as Cyrus Janssen (a U.S. citizen who lives in Canada). Janssen and Lightfoot shared videos that celebrated Gu’s win in the Olympics. They used identical images of Gu to make posts that attacked the U.S.
Lightfoot published the following on February 10. Janssen also uploaded a video entitled “Is Eileen Gui a traitor to America?” American Expat shares the truth
Janssen stated in emails to the AP that his videos were intended to educate people about China. He also claimed that he has never received money from the Chinese government. Janssen did not provide any details on his partnerships with Chinese tech companies, but he did respond to questions about the AP’s salary. The AP also found videos of Janssen appearing on CGTN broadcasts.
Western influencers regularly decry the distorted American media coverage about Beijing and life there. For example, some posts have mocked Western concerns about the safety of Peng Shuai (Chinese tennis player), who disappeared after making sexual assault allegations against an ex-high ranking member of China’s ruling Communist Party. In a controlled interview, she denied any wrongdoing by Chinese officials. She also said that her initial accusations had caused an “enormous misunderstanding.”
YouTuber Andy Boreham ridiculed her abrupt change of heart in a video where he used language that was reminiscent of the MeToo movement. He said, “I wonder what happened #BelieveAllWomen.”
Boreham, a New Zealander, is a columnist for Shanghai Daily. Twitter recently labeled Boreham’s account as Chinese-state affiliated media. His YouTube account is still unlabeled. YouTube stated in a statement that it does not label individuals working for state-funded media with labels that are state-affiliated media.
Lightfoot posted a YouTube video last year in which he marveled at the footage of “clean, modern and peaceful streets” in China. Lightfoot then posted video footage of the gritty, trash-strewn streets that he claimed were in Philadelphia.
He says, in narration, that he thought the video was from a movie when he first saw it. It was either a zombie movie, or an end-of-the world movie. It’s not. This is the truth. This is America.
According to YouTubers Matthew Tye (American) and Winston Sterzel (South African), many videos are being made by China.
They have evidence.
They were included in an email pitch sent to many YouTube influencers last year by a company called Hong Kong Pear Technology. In an email, the company asked for influencers’ participation in a promotional video about China’s Hainan Province, a tourist destination.
Tye and Sterzel, both of whom spent many years in China and were vocal critics against its government, believe they were mistakenly included in the pitch.
They were intrigued and engaged in a back-and forth with the company, pretending to be interested in the offer. A company representative quickly followed up with another request: that they post a propaganda clip claiming that COVID-19 originated in North America, not China.
According to emails shared with AP, a Joey employee wrote that they could offer $2000. This is negotiable given the nature of the content.
After Tye and Sterzel requested articles to back up their false claim, emails were stopped.
A Pear Technology employee confirmed that he had contacted Tye & Sterzel but added that he didn’t know much about the client and suggested “it might have been from the government?” ?”
Sterzel and Tye say that the exchange reveals the truth about how China propagates propaganda through those who make a profit.
Sterzel stated in an interview that there is a simple formula for success. It’s not to praise China, praise China and discuss how great China is.
