Many Chinese influencer accounts are linked to the state or its media outlets and work in lockstep with Beijing, the Associated Press recently reported.
“You can see how they're trying to infiltrate every one of these countries. It is just about volume, ultimately,” Clint Watts, president of research firm Miburo and former FBI agent, said, according to the Associated Press. “If you just bombard an audience for long enough with the same narratives, people will tend to believe them over time.”
Miburo, a NY-based firm committed to protecting democracy and ensuring media integrity, said in a January Substack post that there are at least 200 influencers in 38 different languages with connections to the Chinese government or state media.
The Associated Press article discussed how Chinese influencers on social media are involved in propaganda. Many accounts push the good sides of China out to millions of viewers while downplaying any criticism.
China has hired firms that employ influencers to push out messages through Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok, according to the AP. Many of these accounts belong to Chinese state media reporters that have rebranded themselves as influencers.
“Chinese media and journalists carry out normal activities independently, and should not be assumed to be led or interfered by the Chinese government,” Liu Pengyu, a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington, said in the article.
The campaigns are in line with Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping's views on advancing Chinese ideas, which he spoke about at the sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Nov. 11. Xi emphasized the internet as the "main arena" and "frontline of the ideological struggle,” Xinhuanet reported.
Jessica Brandt, a Brookings Institution expert on foreign interference and disinformation, told the AP that China promotes a positive vision to drown out its human rights record.
State-affiliated media have articulated the deliberate nature of the influencer strategy, Miburo reported. In 2016, Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of state-owned China Daily, spoke of the importance of “borrowing mouths” to speak favorably about China. In June 2021, the head of China Media Group (CMG) Shen Haixiong promoted using “multilingual internet celebrity studios” to enhance China’s image.
