China’s newest propaganda soldiers?
YouTubers!
And they’re making big bucks in the process
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
The Chinese Communist Party is paying YouTubers to spread propaganda.
This is basically an open secret. Friend of the show, Matthew Tye, aka Laowhy86,
recently did a whole episode about how China tried to buy him off.
But now we’re finally getting to understand the scope of it,
thanks to this new report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
They found that “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.”
In other words, the Chinese regime is paying YouTubers to hawk their communist propaganda,
and then spreading those YouTube videos using state-run media channels.
One of these YouTubers, talking about Xinjiang, said, “There’s no proof of genocide.
There is no proof of atrocity. All this has been debunked many times.”
Another said, “No one in the West could possibly imagine that China would be this successful.
And this is the big reason why Western media is always attacking China.”
And then there's the YouTuber who said
“Maybe it was America [that was] first to infect the world with coronavirus.”
It’s like the Global Times is speaking through the mouths of Western expats.
Because to be clear, these aren’t Chinese people the Party got to set up YouTube accounts.
These are foreigners in China who have their own YouTube channels.
You’ll notice I didn’t show the videos or name names here.
Why? Because I’d rather not give more publicity to people who are willing
to team up with an authoritarian regime that’s committing genocide.
And look, I don’t know. Some of these YouTubers might genuinely believe
there is no genocide. Others might know something is going on, but they’ve decided to
keep sticking their heads in the sand.
Whatever these YouTubers believe,
one thing is clear: They are all being used by the Chinese Communist Party.
This is a propaganda tactic the Chinese Communist Party calls borrowing a mouth to speak.
Zhu Ling, the editor in chief of state-run China Daily said,
“We have always attached great importance to ‘borrowing a mouth to speak’
and used international friends to carry out foreign propaganda.”
Some of these YouTubers are directly getting paid to speak for the Chinese Communist Party.
Others say they haven’t taken money from the Chinese regime, but they are getting
perks like free travel and access. Their videos are also promoted by Chinese state-run media.
Still, it turns out, selling out to the Chinese Communist Party
hasn't made these channels that successful.
“Together, six of the most popular of these influencers have garnered more
than one million subscribers.” Wow, a million subscribers
between the top six of them. So how is the Chinese Communist Party using these
YouTubers to spread their propaganda? I’ll give you the rundown right after this quick commercial
break, which I sure hope is there because I’m certainly not getting any money from the Party.
Welcome back.
So let me give you the rundown of how the Chinese
Communist Party is using these YouTube influencers to push their propaganda.
The first big clue is that these YouTubers are allowed access to places
in China that Western journalists are banned from. Like Xinjiang.
That’s where China has put more than a million ethnic Uyghur Muslims into concentration camps,
which an independent tribunal just ruled was genoicde.
But guess what? When China is paying for your trip to Xinjiang,
you don’t get to see these massive concentration camps.
Which is fine, because you can actually see them from space.
But according to these YouTubers, Xinjiang is actually a great tourist destination,
with amazing cotton, and happy dancing Uyghurs.
In fact, SerpentZA did a video where he showed footage from these YouTubers
dancing with locals in Xinjiang, including them getting in each others’
shots because they were all on the same state-sponsored Xinjiang tour.
What kind of state-sponsored tour?
The Party provides, “free hotels and payment from city and provincial authorities”.
One YouTuber said, “They pay for travel, they pay for accommodation, they pay for food.”
But there’s a reason the Communist Party prefers to get all of these influencers
on state-arranged tours.
And it’s not just because state-run media reporters can then “happen to”
find these foreigners in Xinjiang and interview them for more propaganda.
It’s also because when the Party drives people around,
it’s easier to keep them away from things they shouldn’t see, like those concentration camps.
For example, according to the ASPI report, one Singaporean vlogger
accidentally filmed seven separate detention facilities as his plane was landing in Xinjiang.
Oops.
Despite going on these state-sponsored trips, while some of these YouTubers,
“acknowledge that they have accepted financial support from state entities…they
say this does not make them mouthpieces for Beijing.”
They might not think they’re a mouthpiece, but the Chinese Communist Party uses them like one.
That’s why the Party manipulates YouTube algorithms to drive traffic to these videos.
How? Well, the more a video gets shared on other social media platforms,
the more YouTube’s algorithms will push a video.
As a former Google engineer who helped develop these algorithms said, “Dictatorial countries
can centralize their understanding of the algorithm and use it to boost all their channels.”
The Chinese Communist Party is using its own massive social media network,
and in many cases also fake accounts, to amplify these videos.
One YouTuber had his video about Xinjiang “shared on Facebook and Twitter by at least
35 accounts run by Chinese embassies and official news outlets. In total,
the accounts have roughly 400 million followers.”
And on YouTube, more views means more money. And “Those eyeballs can also help influencers
land sponsorship deals with big brands, as several of the pro-China YouTubers have done.”
The New York Times reached out to YouTube for comment.
“YouTube told The Times that it hadn’t found evidence that these creators were ‘linked to
coordinated influence operations.’”
Then they must not be looking too hard.
YouTube does label channels run by government funded news organizations.
As you can see here in this video from CGTN.
“What’s happening inside the so-called re-education camps in Xinjiang?”
But if you’re an employee of Chinese state run media, and you have your own personal YouTube
channel, that channel won’t be labeled with that warning. At least a couple of these YouTubers
work for state-run propaganda outlets like the People’s Daily . Or my personal favorite
Chinese state-run media, the Global Times. We don’t know how well this propaganda
actually works. Or how much money the Chinese Communist Party is pumping into YouTube.
It’s probably only a fraction of the 1.3 billion dollars they spend each year on global propaganda.
But it’s working well enough that the Chinese regime is now looking to pay even
more social media influencers to promote the Beijing Olympics and “good US China relations.”
Imagine being a YouTuber and then having an entire government helping you drive
traffic to your channel, so you get more views, more ad revenue, more sponsorship.
Looks like I picked the wrong side. Standing up to
the Chinese regime really just doesn’t pay as well.
YouTube demonetizes us constantly for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party.
And it’s much harder to find brands that want to sponsor us.
So not selling out to the Communist Party makes things harder.
But at least I still have 1.7 million subscribers. And my dignity.
What’s that, Shelley?
Ok, at least I still have 1.7 million subscribers.
And all of you help us keep China Uncensored going.
By subscribing, watching our videos, liking our videos, and directly supporting our channel.
Viewer support makes up the majority of our funding—through
the crowd funding websites Patreon and Locals. We just couldn’t run the show without you.
I call you guys the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army—because you’re the antidote to the Communist
Party’s paid army of trolls. Your support lets me say it like it is about China and the Communist
Party. So as a way of saying thanks, I answer a question from one of you on Patreon or Locals.
Today’s question comes from SR Hadden on Patreon. “Hey Chris! Fellow NYU alum here.
Love the channel. My question is about what Taiwan could do to prevent or avenge a CCP
invasion would be to launch conventional missiles against the Three Gorges Dam.
CCP may take Taiwan anyway but it will cost them their empire to do so
and their victory would taste as bitter as defeat. Thoughts on that strategy?
Only a fellow NYU alum could come up with such a dastardly strategy.
But here’s the thing, Taiwan would never do something like that.
Blowing up the Three Gorges Dam would kill millions of innocent Chinese people.
That would also give the Party carte blanche to do whatever it wants in Taiwan
because the Chinese people would be furious.
And the international community would have a great excuse to stop supporting Taiwan.
Taiwan is a vibrant democracy that values human life and freedom.
It’s the Chinese Communist Party that considers people expendable.
Thanks for your question SR Hadden and thanks for your support.
And if you’d like to hear your question answered on the show, plus get some other perks,
you can join the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army on pateron.com/Chinauncensored
Or locals.com/chinauncensored.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.