#Mainlandization #CivilService
HK Authorities To Implement Exchange Programme with China for All #CivilServants
After drastically changing the electoral system, Hong Kong Chief Executive #CarrieLam said on an interview with China media that Hong Kong had to “enhance” its public service system, education system and media environment.
Talking to China's state media #CCTV, Lam revealed more details about the civil servants' "Temporary Post Exchange Programme" between China and Hong Kong.
“Very soon, the Hong Kong SAR Government is going to sign relevant agreements with Guangdong and Shenzhen to allow civil servants to exchange posts temporarily.”
#PatrickNip, Secretary for the Civil Service in Hong Kong, announced that all civil servants must attend one Temporary Post Exchange programme in their 3-year probation to be considered for appointment on permanent terms.
Source: Apple Daily #May10
https://bit.ly/2SBOnEl
#FailedState #MadeinChina
HK Authorities To Implement Exchange Programme with China for All #CivilServants
After drastically changing the electoral system, Hong Kong Chief Executive #CarrieLam said on an interview with China media that Hong Kong had to “enhance” its public service system, education system and media environment.
Talking to China's state media #CCTV, Lam revealed more details about the civil servants' "Temporary Post Exchange Programme" between China and Hong Kong.
“Very soon, the Hong Kong SAR Government is going to sign relevant agreements with Guangdong and Shenzhen to allow civil servants to exchange posts temporarily.”
#PatrickNip, Secretary for the Civil Service in Hong Kong, announced that all civil servants must attend one Temporary Post Exchange programme in their 3-year probation to be considered for appointment on permanent terms.
Source: Apple Daily #May10
https://bit.ly/2SBOnEl
#FailedState #MadeinChina
#FakeNews #MadeinChina
#ChinaDaily Caught Promoting China with Stolen Photo of #Switzerland, After Criticizing Western Media's Credibility
Source: Twitter #May19
Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29768
#ChinaDaily Caught Promoting China with Stolen Photo of #Switzerland, After Criticizing Western Media's Credibility
Source: Twitter #May19
Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29768
#FakeNews #MadeinChina
#ChinaDaily Caught Promoting China with Stolen Photo of #Switzerland, After Criticizing Western Media's Credibility
China Daily, China's state-owned newspaper, released a satirical cartoon via its Twitter account on May 10, 2021, suggesting that "western media lacks credibility".
The account subsequently shared a promotional video on sightseeing in China, which showed a natural landscape with the hashtag “#ChineGlamour”. However, German and French TV station #ARTE（Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne) discovered that the landscape image was taken by a travel blogger, and was in fact recorded in #Brienz, Switzerland. The image is then flipped horizontally, and the blogger's watermark cropped out.
The blogger criticised China Daily’s #plagiarism, and mocked them for promoting China with a stolen picture of Switzerland. China Daily had since deleted the video without apologies.
#IntellectualProperty #Originality #Credibility #Theft
Source: Twitter #May19
https://twitter.com/chinadaily/status/1391573916276039682?s=21
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10225478008796046&set=a.3424228683399&type=3
#ChinaDaily Caught Promoting China with Stolen Photo of #Switzerland, After Criticizing Western Media's Credibility
China Daily, China's state-owned newspaper, released a satirical cartoon via its Twitter account on May 10, 2021, suggesting that "western media lacks credibility".
The account subsequently shared a promotional video on sightseeing in China, which showed a natural landscape with the hashtag “#ChineGlamour”. However, German and French TV station #ARTE（Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne) discovered that the landscape image was taken by a travel blogger, and was in fact recorded in #Brienz, Switzerland. The image is then flipped horizontally, and the blogger's watermark cropped out.
The blogger criticised China Daily’s #plagiarism, and mocked them for promoting China with a stolen picture of Switzerland. China Daily had since deleted the video without apologies.
#IntellectualProperty #Originality #Credibility #Theft
Source: Twitter #May19
https://twitter.com/chinadaily/status/1391573916276039682?s=21
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10225478008796046&set=a.3424228683399&type=3
Twitter
China Daily
Western media’s credibility vanishes #ChinaDailyCartoon
#CNN Exclusive : Reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility, 130km from Hong Kong
//The #US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an "imminent #RadiologicalThreat," according to US officials and documents reviewed by CNN.
The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in #Guangdong province in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from Framatome the French company to the US Department of Energy obtained by CNN.
#Framatome had reached out to the US in order to obtain a waiver that would allow them to share American technical assistance in order to resolve the issue at the Chinese plant. There are only two reasons why this waiver would be granted, and one is an "imminent radiological threat," the same verbiage used in the June 8 memo.
The memo claims the Chinese limit was increased to exceed French standards, yet it remains unclear how that compares to US limits.
"It is not surprising that the French would reach out," according to Cheryl Rofer, a nuclear scientist who retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2001. "In general, this sort of thing is not extraordinary, particularly if they think the country they are contacting has some special ability to help."
"But #China likes to project that everything is just fine, all the time," she added.
...the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant published a statement on its website Sunday night local time, maintaining that environmental readings for both the plant and its surrounding area were "normal."...//
Read the full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/14/politics/china-nuclear-reactor-leak-us-monitoring/index.html
Source: CNN #Jun14
#Taishan #NuclearPowerPlant #MadeinChina #NuclearCrisis #Radioactivity #Leak
//The #US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an "imminent #RadiologicalThreat," according to US officials and documents reviewed by CNN.
The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in #Guangdong province in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from Framatome the French company to the US Department of Energy obtained by CNN.
#Framatome had reached out to the US in order to obtain a waiver that would allow them to share American technical assistance in order to resolve the issue at the Chinese plant. There are only two reasons why this waiver would be granted, and one is an "imminent radiological threat," the same verbiage used in the June 8 memo.
The memo claims the Chinese limit was increased to exceed French standards, yet it remains unclear how that compares to US limits.
"It is not surprising that the French would reach out," according to Cheryl Rofer, a nuclear scientist who retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2001. "In general, this sort of thing is not extraordinary, particularly if they think the country they are contacting has some special ability to help."
"But #China likes to project that everything is just fine, all the time," she added.
...the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant published a statement on its website Sunday night local time, maintaining that environmental readings for both the plant and its surrounding area were "normal."...//
Read the full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/14/politics/china-nuclear-reactor-leak-us-monitoring/index.html
Source: CNN #Jun14
#Taishan #NuclearPowerPlant #MadeinChina #NuclearCrisis #Radioactivity #Leak
CNN
Exclusive: US assessing reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility | CNN Politics
The US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an “imminent radiological threat,” according to US officials and documents reviewed…
#InternationalRelations #Regime
#China Pressures #Ukraine by blocking #COVID19 #vaccine shipment
//China pressured Ukraine into withdrawing its support for a call for more scrutiny of human rights in China’s western region of Xinjiang by threatening to withhold Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines destined for Ukraine unless it did so, diplomats told The Associated Press on Friday, June 15, 2021.
Ukraine briefly joined a statement by over 40 countries, presented by Canada at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, urging China to allow immediate access for independent observers to Xinjiang. Some human rights groups have alleged Chinese mistreatment of Muslim Uyghurs and others in the region.
On Thursday, Ukraine pulled its name off the list of supporting states after Chinese authorities warned Kyiv that they would block a planned shipment of at least 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Ukraine unless it did so, said diplomats from two Western countries. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Ukraine has agreed to purchase 1.9 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech. As of early May, Ukraine had received 1.2 million doses, according to Health Minister Maxim Stepanov.
In the past, China’s government has been no stranger to pressuring other countries in Geneva diplomatic circles or in national capitals either to line up behind its statements or avoid backing statements that criticize, question or seek scrutiny of human rights in the country...//
Read full article:
https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-china-europe-ukraine-health-a0a5ae8f735b92e39c623e453529cbb9
Source: Associated Press #Jun25
#Uyghurs #CCP #WolfWarrior #Diplomacy #MadeinChina #Sinovac
Image: Stand News
https://bit.ly/3ykp09J
#China Pressures #Ukraine by blocking #COVID19 #vaccine shipment
//China pressured Ukraine into withdrawing its support for a call for more scrutiny of human rights in China’s western region of Xinjiang by threatening to withhold Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines destined for Ukraine unless it did so, diplomats told The Associated Press on Friday, June 15, 2021.
Ukraine briefly joined a statement by over 40 countries, presented by Canada at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, urging China to allow immediate access for independent observers to Xinjiang. Some human rights groups have alleged Chinese mistreatment of Muslim Uyghurs and others in the region.
On Thursday, Ukraine pulled its name off the list of supporting states after Chinese authorities warned Kyiv that they would block a planned shipment of at least 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Ukraine unless it did so, said diplomats from two Western countries. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Ukraine has agreed to purchase 1.9 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech. As of early May, Ukraine had received 1.2 million doses, according to Health Minister Maxim Stepanov.
In the past, China’s government has been no stranger to pressuring other countries in Geneva diplomatic circles or in national capitals either to line up behind its statements or avoid backing statements that criticize, question or seek scrutiny of human rights in the country...//
Read full article:
https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-china-europe-ukraine-health-a0a5ae8f735b92e39c623e453529cbb9
Source: Associated Press #Jun25
#Uyghurs #CCP #WolfWarrior #Diplomacy #MadeinChina #Sinovac
Image: Stand News
https://bit.ly/3ykp09J
AP NEWS
AP Exclusive: Diplomats say China puts squeeze on Ukraine
GENEVA (AP) — China pressured Ukraine into withdrawing its support for a call for more scrutiny of human rights in China's western region of Xinjiang by threatening to withhold Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines destined for Ukraine unless it did so, diplomats…
#France suggests #China should halt nuclear reactor after problems
//French power group #EDF (EDF.PA) said on July 22, 2021 that it would halt the Taishan nuclear reactor it operates with a Chinese partner if similar problems around fuel rod seals were to occur in France, suggesting the plant should hit pause.
The state-controlled French group stopped short of directly calling on China to stop operations, and said the venture it runs with China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), the majority shareholder in the plant, should decide.
China said there was no leak, and refuted a report that it has raised limits on permissible levels of radiation outside the plant.//
Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/edf-says-partners-must-decide-taishan-reactor-shutdown-2021-07-22/
Source: Reuters #Jul22
#CCPRules #MadeinChina #Taishan #NuclearPlant
//French power group #EDF (EDF.PA) said on July 22, 2021 that it would halt the Taishan nuclear reactor it operates with a Chinese partner if similar problems around fuel rod seals were to occur in France, suggesting the plant should hit pause.
The state-controlled French group stopped short of directly calling on China to stop operations, and said the venture it runs with China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), the majority shareholder in the plant, should decide.
China said there was no leak, and refuted a report that it has raised limits on permissible levels of radiation outside the plant.//
Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/edf-says-partners-must-decide-taishan-reactor-shutdown-2021-07-22/
Source: Reuters #Jul22
#CCPRules #MadeinChina #Taishan #NuclearPlant
#Covid19 #Pandemic
#US Intel agencies scour reams of genetic data from #Wuhan lab in Covid origins hunt
//US intelligence agencies are digging through a treasure trove of genetic data that could be key to uncovering the origins of the coronavirus -- as soon as they can decipher it.
This giant catalog of information contains genetic blueprints drawn from virus samples studied at the lab in Wuhan, China which some officials believe may have been the source of the Covid-19 outbreak, multiple people familiar with the matter tell CNN...
Officials conducting the 90-day review hope this information will help answer the question of how the virus jumped from animals to humans. Unlocking that mystery is essential to ultimately determining whether Covid-19 leaked from the lab or was transmitted to humans from animals in the wild...
Investigators both inside and outside the government have long sought genetic data from 22,000 virus samples that were being studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That data was removed from the internet by Chinese officials in September 2019, and China has since refused to turn over this and other raw data on early coronavirus cases to the World Health Organization and the US.
The question for investigators is whether the WIV or other labs in China possessed virus samples or other contextual information that could help them trace the coronavirus' evolutionary history.
For now, senior intelligence officials still say that they are genuinely split between the two prevailing theories on the pandemic's origins, or some combination of both scenarios. CNN reported last month that senior Biden administration officials overseeing the 90-day review now believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild -- a dramatic shift from a year ago, when Democrats publicly downplayed the so-called lab leak theory.//
Source: CNN #Aug5
Read full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/covid-origins-genetic-data-wuhan-lab/index.html
#CovidOrigin #MadeinChina #Investigation #WuhanPneumonia #WuhanLab
#US Intel agencies scour reams of genetic data from #Wuhan lab in Covid origins hunt
//US intelligence agencies are digging through a treasure trove of genetic data that could be key to uncovering the origins of the coronavirus -- as soon as they can decipher it.
This giant catalog of information contains genetic blueprints drawn from virus samples studied at the lab in Wuhan, China which some officials believe may have been the source of the Covid-19 outbreak, multiple people familiar with the matter tell CNN...
Officials conducting the 90-day review hope this information will help answer the question of how the virus jumped from animals to humans. Unlocking that mystery is essential to ultimately determining whether Covid-19 leaked from the lab or was transmitted to humans from animals in the wild...
Investigators both inside and outside the government have long sought genetic data from 22,000 virus samples that were being studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That data was removed from the internet by Chinese officials in September 2019, and China has since refused to turn over this and other raw data on early coronavirus cases to the World Health Organization and the US.
The question for investigators is whether the WIV or other labs in China possessed virus samples or other contextual information that could help them trace the coronavirus' evolutionary history.
For now, senior intelligence officials still say that they are genuinely split between the two prevailing theories on the pandemic's origins, or some combination of both scenarios. CNN reported last month that senior Biden administration officials overseeing the 90-day review now believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild -- a dramatic shift from a year ago, when Democrats publicly downplayed the so-called lab leak theory.//
Source: CNN #Aug5
Read full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/covid-origins-genetic-data-wuhan-lab/index.html
#CovidOrigin #MadeinChina #Investigation #WuhanPneumonia #WuhanLab
CNN
Exclusive: Intel agencies scour reams of genetic data from Wuhan lab in Covid origins hunt | CNN Politics
US intelligence agencies are digging through a treasure trove of genetic data that could be key to uncovering the origins of the coronavirus – as soon as they can decipher it.
#Cybersecurity #FakeNews
Facebook takes down China-based network spreading false COVID-19 claims
//The parent company of #Facebook and #Instagram said on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, it has taken down more than 600 accounts, pages and groups connected to a Chinese influence operation spreading #COVID19 #disinformation, including an account purporting to be a fictitious Swiss biologist.
The China-based network was one of six #Meta, formerly know as Facebook, removed in November for abusing its platforms, a reminder that bad actors around the world are using social media to promote false information and harass opponents.
The China-based operation came to light after the company was alerted to an account purporting to be a Swiss biologist named Wilson Edwards (no such person exists). The account posted claims on Facebook and Twitter in July that the U.S. was pressuring World Health Organization scientists to blame China for the COVID-19 virus. The posts alleging U.S. intimidation soon appeared in Chinese state media stories.//
Image: Stand News
Source: NPR #Dec1
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/01/1060645940/facebook-takes-down-china-based-fake-covid-claims
#FakeIdentity #MadeInChina #CCPControls #CCP #Regime
Facebook takes down China-based network spreading false COVID-19 claims
//The parent company of #Facebook and #Instagram said on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, it has taken down more than 600 accounts, pages and groups connected to a Chinese influence operation spreading #COVID19 #disinformation, including an account purporting to be a fictitious Swiss biologist.
The China-based network was one of six #Meta, formerly know as Facebook, removed in November for abusing its platforms, a reminder that bad actors around the world are using social media to promote false information and harass opponents.
The China-based operation came to light after the company was alerted to an account purporting to be a Swiss biologist named Wilson Edwards (no such person exists). The account posted claims on Facebook and Twitter in July that the U.S. was pressuring World Health Organization scientists to blame China for the COVID-19 virus. The posts alleging U.S. intimidation soon appeared in Chinese state media stories.//
Image: Stand News
Source: NPR #Dec1
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/01/1060645940/facebook-takes-down-china-based-fake-covid-claims
#FakeIdentity #MadeInChina #CCPControls #CCP #Regime
#LegCoElection #CCPCharacteristics
In Hong Kong: 41 Privileged voters’ power is 7,200 times a single-vote holder’s under new #LegCo electoral system
//At least 41 ‘privileged voters’ will be able to influence 1.47% of LegCo seats in Sunday’s ‘improved’ election, finds a FactWire analysis. The voting power of each of these 41 four-vote holders is comparable to that of 7,215 Geographical Constituency voters who hold one vote each.
The #LegCoGeneralElection, scheduled for Sunday, December 19, will be the first one under the ‘improved electoral system’, relevant amendments having been passed in May of this year.
Under the Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Bill of 2021, the total number of seats in LegCo has been increased from 70 to 90. The numbers of seats in Geographical Constituencies (#GC) and Functional Constituencies (#FC) have been reduced from 35 to 20 and 30 respectively, while the newly-formed Election Committee Constituency will comprise 40 new seats.
The FC’s composition will also see changes. The District Council sector has been abolished, and three new sectors introduced: namely, ‘Commercial (third)’, ‘Technology and innovation’, and ‘HKSAR deputies to the NPC, HKSAR members of the National Committee of the CPPCC, and representatives of relevant national organisations’. In some sectors, individual electors have been replaced by corporate electors.
The electorate of the Election Committee Constituency comprises 1,500 Chief Executive Election Committee (#EC) members, each assigned a ‘block vote’ to select 40 candidates, albeit there are only 1,448 EC members in the current term, owing to vacancies in its LegCo members subsector and the fact that certain members have,ex officio, dual eligibilities.
Under the new electoral system, EC members will be significantly influential as some of them are qualified to vote in the EC Constituency, their own GC districts and two FC sectors (as individual and corporate electors respectively) at the same time, adding up to as many as four votes per person.//
Read the full article:
https://bit.ly/3s87FRI
Source: FactWire #Dec15
#Regime #AuthoritarianRule #CCPRules #PoliceState #MadeinChina
Related news:
Hong Kong Authorities Ban Citizens from Displaying "Hong Kong Add Oil" on Outfits
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31621
In Hong Kong: 41 Privileged voters’ power is 7,200 times a single-vote holder’s under new #LegCo electoral system
//At least 41 ‘privileged voters’ will be able to influence 1.47% of LegCo seats in Sunday’s ‘improved’ election, finds a FactWire analysis. The voting power of each of these 41 four-vote holders is comparable to that of 7,215 Geographical Constituency voters who hold one vote each.
The #LegCoGeneralElection, scheduled for Sunday, December 19, will be the first one under the ‘improved electoral system’, relevant amendments having been passed in May of this year.
Under the Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Bill of 2021, the total number of seats in LegCo has been increased from 70 to 90. The numbers of seats in Geographical Constituencies (#GC) and Functional Constituencies (#FC) have been reduced from 35 to 20 and 30 respectively, while the newly-formed Election Committee Constituency will comprise 40 new seats.
The FC’s composition will also see changes. The District Council sector has been abolished, and three new sectors introduced: namely, ‘Commercial (third)’, ‘Technology and innovation’, and ‘HKSAR deputies to the NPC, HKSAR members of the National Committee of the CPPCC, and representatives of relevant national organisations’. In some sectors, individual electors have been replaced by corporate electors.
The electorate of the Election Committee Constituency comprises 1,500 Chief Executive Election Committee (#EC) members, each assigned a ‘block vote’ to select 40 candidates, albeit there are only 1,448 EC members in the current term, owing to vacancies in its LegCo members subsector and the fact that certain members have,ex officio, dual eligibilities.
Under the new electoral system, EC members will be significantly influential as some of them are qualified to vote in the EC Constituency, their own GC districts and two FC sectors (as individual and corporate electors respectively) at the same time, adding up to as many as four votes per person.//
Read the full article:
https://bit.ly/3s87FRI
Source: FactWire #Dec15
#Regime #AuthoritarianRule #CCPRules #PoliceState #MadeinChina
Related news:
Hong Kong Authorities Ban Citizens from Displaying "Hong Kong Add Oil" on Outfits
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31621
Telegram
📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#LegCoElection #Censorship
Hong Kong Authorities Ban Citizens from Displaying "Hong Kong Add Oil" on Outfits
The postponed Hong Kong Legislative Council elections will take place on December 19, 2021, despite the majority of the pro-democracy camp was detained…
Hong Kong Authorities Ban Citizens from Displaying "Hong Kong Add Oil" on Outfits
The postponed Hong Kong Legislative Council elections will take place on December 19, 2021, despite the majority of the pro-democracy camp was detained…
#Propaganda #CCP
Buying Influence: How China Manipulates #Facebook and #Twitter
//...a new set of documents reviewed by The New York Times reveals in stark detail how Chinese officials tap private businesses to generate content on demand, draw followers, track critics and provide other services for information campaigns. That operation increasingly plays out on international platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which the Chinese government blocks at home.
The documents, which were part of a request for bids from contractors, offer a rare glimpse into how China’s vast bureaucracy works to spread propaganda and to sculpt opinion on global social media. They were taken offline after The Times contacted the Chinese government about them...
A separate document reviewed by The Times shows that the same local branch of Shanghai police purchased video-making services from a different company in November. The police asked the supplier to provide at least 20 videos a month and to distribute those on domestic and overseas social media. The document referred to the task as original video production that would be used to fight the “battle of public opinion.”
Earlier this year, a New York Times and ProPublica analysis showed howthousands of videos portraying members of the Uyghur ethnic minority living happy and free lives were a key part of an information campaign that Twitter ultimately attributed to the Chinese Communist Party...
Work like what Shanghai Cloud Link pitched is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Local governments and police across China have put out similar requests for services to influence overseas social media, but often in vague terms. Occasionally, specifics are revealed.
In 2017, for instance, the police in Inner Mongolia purchased software that allowed government trolls to post directly to multiple social media sites, inside and outside of China, according to documents reviewed by The Times.
In another case, a contractor had downloaded hundreds of access credentials for Facebook’s public feed, allowing it to collect data about who commented on which posts and when.//
Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/20/technology/china-facebook-twitter-influence-manipulation.htmlb
Source: New York Times #Dec20
#Manipulation #PublicOpinionManagement #SocialMedia #Meta #Disinformation #MadeinChina #CCPRules
Buying Influence: How China Manipulates #Facebook and #Twitter
//...a new set of documents reviewed by The New York Times reveals in stark detail how Chinese officials tap private businesses to generate content on demand, draw followers, track critics and provide other services for information campaigns. That operation increasingly plays out on international platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which the Chinese government blocks at home.
The documents, which were part of a request for bids from contractors, offer a rare glimpse into how China’s vast bureaucracy works to spread propaganda and to sculpt opinion on global social media. They were taken offline after The Times contacted the Chinese government about them...
A separate document reviewed by The Times shows that the same local branch of Shanghai police purchased video-making services from a different company in November. The police asked the supplier to provide at least 20 videos a month and to distribute those on domestic and overseas social media. The document referred to the task as original video production that would be used to fight the “battle of public opinion.”
Earlier this year, a New York Times and ProPublica analysis showed howthousands of videos portraying members of the Uyghur ethnic minority living happy and free lives were a key part of an information campaign that Twitter ultimately attributed to the Chinese Communist Party...
Work like what Shanghai Cloud Link pitched is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Local governments and police across China have put out similar requests for services to influence overseas social media, but often in vague terms. Occasionally, specifics are revealed.
In 2017, for instance, the police in Inner Mongolia purchased software that allowed government trolls to post directly to multiple social media sites, inside and outside of China, according to documents reviewed by The Times.
In another case, a contractor had downloaded hundreds of access credentials for Facebook’s public feed, allowing it to collect data about who commented on which posts and when.//
Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/20/technology/china-facebook-twitter-influence-manipulation.htmlb
Source: New York Times #Dec20
#Manipulation #PublicOpinionManagement #SocialMedia #Meta #Disinformation #MadeinChina #CCPRules