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China Spreads Propaganda to U.S. on Facebook, a Platform it Bans at Home (nytimes.com)

Posted by msmash on from the china's-influence dept.

Paul Mozur, reporting for the New York Times: China does not allow its people to gain access to Facebook, a powerful tool for disseminating information and influencing opinion. As if to demonstrate the platform's effectiveness, outside its borders China uses it to spread state-produced propaganda around the world, including the United States (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternative source). So much do China's government and companies value Facebook that the country is Facebook's biggest advertising market in Asia, even as it is the only major country in the region that blocks the social network. A look at the Facebook pages of China Central Television, the leading state-owned broadcast network better known as CCTV, and Xinhua, China's official news agency, reveals hundreds of English-language posts intended for an English-speaking audience. Each quarter China's government, through its state media agencies, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy Facebook ads, according to a person with knowledge of those deals, who was unauthorized to talk publicly about the company's revenue streams. China's propaganda efforts are in the spotlight with President Trump visiting the country and American lawmakers investigating foreign powers's use of technology to sway voters in the United States.

5 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Shocked! by sycodon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Come on people. That foreign adversaries would try to further their agendas using social networks is about a surprising as gambling in a Casablanca.

    I bet even "friendly" nations are doing this to some extent too.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Shocked! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Also, is it any wonder that China blocks Facebook? This is why! China doesn't want to deal with foreign interference any more than anyone else does. So they block the channels that interference uses to propagate itself.

    2. Re:Shocked! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I would rather have foreign government propaganda than have American government censorship.

      Let's not forget that the major influence of the Russians on the American presidential election was their leaking of Hillary's collusion with the DNC ... which was the truth.

      Sure, Hillary might have won if the DNC collusion had remained secret ... but she also might have won if she had been more ethical and there had been no dirt to leak.

    3. Re:Shocked! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The issue (which a lot on the right gloss over and ignore-note that I am not necessarily calling you right wing)

      I did not vote for Trump, and I oppose pretty much everything he stands for. I am not defending Trump at all, I am defending the Constitution and the principle of freedom of expression. It is sad that so many people feel that is "right wing".

  2. First Russia, Now China. What Next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Since the Democrats can't seem to pin any sort of nefarious Russian influence on Trump winning the election, it's now on to the next boogie man. I suspect if they dig hard enough, they'll find that the Clintons took Chinese bribes, too.

    The narrative will then change again and they'll blame someone else. Who? Al Quaeda? ISIS?

    The New York Times is really getting pathetic with the obvious propaganda and lies it prints nowdays. It used to be more subtle.