Only one week until the Olympics
China is getting some bad press
But they have the solution
And it’s not what you’d expect
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
The Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together.
As the Beijing Winter Olympics are set to begin next week,
the Chinese Communist Party is truly living up to the Olympic spirit.
By detaining human rights activists faster.
Piling up the fake snow even higher.
Making their genocide denials stronger.
And threatening foreign athletes, together.
I don’t know about you, but after seeing all that, I really want to
watch some ice dancing!
But for some reason, the Beijing Olympics are facing some bad publicity.
Like all of the stories about how athletes from
different countries are being told to use burner phones while in China.
It’s like they’re afraid of being spied on or something.
Which, yeah. People are literally writing
“what to expect” articles on China’s espionage plans for the Olympics.
And that’s not the only issue. I already told you about how Chinese officials are
warning foreign athletes not to speak up about China’s human rights, or they’ll face punishment.
But Olympic athletes have also been warned not to criticize China by…human rights activists.
You know things are bad when *human rights activists*
are telling people not to speak up. These are the people who speak up when no one else will!
And even they’re like, “Don’t do it, people.”
The message to Olympians seems to be: you are an elite athlete about to represent your country
in the world’s most prestigious competition—and also a potential hostage for the Chinese regime.
Plan accordingly.
Does this make anyone else think Beijing is not the best place to have the Winter Olympics?
Unfortunately that bobsled has already sailed down the ice luge…thing.
But the Chinese Communist Party isn’t taking this bad publicity lying down.
They’re fact-checking Western media headlines about the Olympics.
Spoiler alert: They’re false.
But it’s not enough to just fact check the Western media’s unfair
lies. Chinese state-run media are also busy rounding up praise for the Olympics.
Look! The Olympics are hailed by global party leaders.
Global party leaders like…a member of the Communist Party of Nepal.
The Chinese regime was not able to get an endorsement from global party leaders like
The Beastie Boys.
Remember the ‘90s, when celebrities used to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party?
Let’s bring that trend back.
But speaking of celebrities, the Chinese Communist Party is smart.
They know they can’t just rely on Chinese state-run media to hype the Olympics.
That’s why they’re bringing out the big guns: influencers.
I’ll explain after the break.
Welcome back.
Influencers. They’re like celebrities, but with less money and fame.
Which is why they rely on things like selling t-shirts to make a living. Like
this t-shirt celebrating the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Let everyone know about Beijing’s fake snow, and real genocide. Get your shirt at
chinauncensored.tv/merchandise. I’ll put the link below.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party is spending 300,000 dollars to get US
influencers to share positive social media posts to boost China’s image ahead of the Olympics.
Personally, I think this shirt does a great job of that. Xi Jinping might disagree.
“An army of western social media influencers, each
with hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok, Instagram or Twitch,
is set to spread positive stories about China throughout next month’s Winter Olympics.”
Ok, an army might be overstating it.
How do we know China is paying social media influencers? Because of documents
submitted to the US government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
They show the Chinese Consulate in New York City signed a 300,000 dollar contract
with a company called Vippi Media “to strategize and execute an
Influencer Marketing campaign” promoting the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
How? Vippi Media would find at least 8 influencers with at least 100,000
to 500,000 followers on Twitch, Instagram, or Tiktok. Those influencers would produce
24 pieces of content promoting China and the Olympics before and during the games.
Like I said, not exactly an army.
But what’s interesting is the type of content these influencers are expected to produce.
According to the Vippi Media contract, 70 percent is about the Olympics and Chinese culture.
But 20 percent of the content is supposed to be about US-China
cooperation. Including cooperation on climate change.
And 10 percent of the content is supposed to promote stuff from the Chinese Consulate.
Like promoting stuff from the Consulate’s social media accounts.
And even having Zoom calls and livestreams featuring
the Chinese Consulate and top influencers.
Zoom calls with influencers and the Chinese consulate.
That is some real “how do you do, fellow kids” energy.
I gotta be honest, this influencer marketing campaign doesn’t sound super
influential. However, Vippi Media promised at least 3.4 million impressions on social media.
But this contract is a fascinating look into the propaganda priorities
of the Chinese Communist Party. As it’s laid out, this marketing campaign is about using the
soft power of the Olympics and Chinese culture to carry more sharp power political messages
about US-China relations, like how the US needs to cooperate with China.
And it’s also about softening the image of the Chinese consulate after all that
negative publicity about China’s aggressive Wolf Warrior diplomacy.
Now this isn’t the first time the Chinese Communist Party has
tried to use Western social media influencers to carry their message.
More after the break.
Welcome back. I did an entire episode on how Chinese officials are paying YouTubers
to make propaganda. Check it out below.
But with the Party’s social media push for the Olympics,
they’re paying a third party consulting firm, Vippi Media. Vippi Media is this guy, Vipp Jaswal.
He’s a former Fox News executive, and he describes himself as,
among other things, an ex-hostage negotiator.
Perfect for working with the Chinese Communist Party.
I was impressed though at how he wrote he was “registered with the
United States Department of Justice to conduct business with sovereign nations.”
Now that’s actually something you have to do if you want to legally do business with
foreign governments. You have to register as a foreign agent. But Jaswal manages to
make it sound like he received some kind of distinguished recognition. That’s marketing!
When the Guardian asked Jaswal about his contract with the Chinese Consulate,
Jaswal said yeah he was aware of the “controversies” in Xinjiang and Hong Kong,
but claimed he’s just trying to “highlight the integrity and dignity of the Olympics.”
And Jaswal claims he’s received up to 50 pitches from influencers who want to be involved,
including former Olympians.
Jaswal is no stranger to working with Chinese officials. In 2018, he was a keynote
speaker at state-run CGTN’s global media summit. He’s also been interviewed by CGTN several times.
So it’s no surprise Jaswal is running this marketing campaign for the Chinese Consulate.
Like I said earlier though, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be very influential.
But in a way, Chinese officials might not care. 300,000 dollars is a drop in the bucket compared
to the tens of millions of dollars the Chinese regime spends each year on foreign propaganda.
Most of that money goes to US-based branches of their state-run media, like CGTN and China Daily.
And let’s not forget the millions of dollars they’ve paid to advertise
in American newspapers and magazines.
But China has also done other more below-the-rader things.
Like pay 4.4 million dollars to a Washington DC radio station to broadcast propaganda.
“As part of the deal, Potomac Media’s WCRW, an AM station, airs content from China
Global Television Network and a series of talk shows that portray China in a positive light.”
Really? 4.4 million dollars for an AM radio station?
Am I in the wrong line of work? Should I be doing AM radio?
Ok, probably not. Anyway, it’s clear that the Chinese Communist Party is
casting a wide propaganda net. A few million to radio stations here,
a few hundred thousand to Twitch and TikTok influencers there.
Look, if the Chinese Communist Party is just throwing money
around…I’ve heard of this new social media influencer marketing company.
The guy who heads it uses an advanced AI to help things go viral. Really viral.
They’re going to really get their money’s worth.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from a fan who supports China Uncensored on
the crowdfunding website Patreon or the exclusive social media platform Locals.
Captain Kidman asks on Locals:
Population growth rate in China has yet again declined. Although they
did replace the two-child policy with a new three-child policy back in May 2021.
What could China do next to solve this problem? Do they even care?
Yes Captain Kidman, they care. They really care. Like the link you posted shows,
China hit a 61-year low in their population growth rate.
In the next few decades, China will face a demographic crisis, where they have too
many elderly people, and not enough young people working who can support the economy.
There’s two things they can do about this. One is to drastically increase immigration,
which at the moment is unlikely. And the second is to increase the birth rate.
They’re trying to do that. But it’s not so easy to convince people to have more babies.
Which is why I’ve said before that if the Chinese Communist Party gets really desperate,
the new One Child Policy is going to be every couple must have at least one child.
Do it for the motherland.
Thanks for your question Captain Kidman. And for supporting China Uncensored by joining
our exclusive community on Locals. If you haven’t checked out Locals, it’s free to join. And we have
exclusive content on there that’s not on YouTube. Check it out at chinauncensored.locals.com.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.