Confidential directives from Chinese authorities to local propaganda and new media workers revealed that officials paid trolls to manipulate social media discourse on Covid-19, according to a report.
Chinese officials worked extensively to suppress ‘uncomfortable news’ about Covid-19, according to the report.
In the report by the New York Times and ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative newsroom, Chinese authorities ordered paid trolls to flood social media with partisan conversations and deployed security forces to silence unauthorized voices.
These Chinese officials had ordered not to send notifications alerting readers to the death of Li Wenliang, the doctor who warned about the outbreak, who later died of Covid-19. These officials also instructed social platforms to phase out the doctor’s name from trending topic pages and activated legions of fake online commenters to flood social sites with distracting chatter.
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A special directive for news websites and social media platforms said: “… don’t use push notifications, don’t post comments, don’t provoke speculation. Safely control the fervor in online discussions, do not create hashtags, phase out trending topics, strictly control harmful information. “
The report mentioned that at a time when digital media was deepening divisions in Western democracies, China is manipulating online discourse to enforce the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) consensus.
The documents clearly describe China’s effort to maintain strict control over the dissemination of information. It takes a huge bureaucracy, armies of people, specialized technology made by private contractors, constant monitoring of digital media and social media platforms, according to the report.
Although China has been criticized by the United States and other countries for trying to hide the extent of the outbreak in its early stages, these documents indicate that Chinese officials tried to guide the Covid-19 narrative to make the virus appear less severe and make it The authorities seem more capable.
Various media outlets in China have also been ordered not to reproduce reports about donations and purchases of medical supplies abroad as they may disrupt China’s procurement efforts.
“Avoid giving the false impression that our fight against the epidemic is based on foreign donations,” read one directive.
The report credits Chinese President Xi Jinping with creating the China Cyberspace Administration in 2014 to centralize the management of internet censorship and propaganda, as well as other aspects of digital politics.
The death of Dr. Li showed the terrible cost of the Chinese government’s instinct to suppress inappropriate information, the New York Times report mentioned.
Read also: Covid-19: what you need to know today
Following Dr. Li’s death, a gag order from the China Cyberspace Administration (CAC) was leaked on Weibo, China’s Twitter-equivalent platform, fueling anger among the people. Although the agency allowed people to allow expressions of pain, a directive warned that any account that tried to sensationalize the story to generate traffic online should be treated “harshly.”
Additionally, the report reported that China’s government departments have a variety of specialized software at their disposal to shape what the public sees on online platforms.
According to an analysis of computer code and documents from one such program, Urun, the company’s products can track trends online, coordinate censorship activity, and manage fake social media accounts for posting comments.
The report also said that the CAC ordered the offices to begin purging internal reports, particularly sentiment around the novel coronavirus, after some confidential public opinion analysis reports were posted online.
China has been widely criticized around the world for its alleged role in spreading the new coronavirus that has infected more than 75 million people around the world. More than 1.6 million people have lost their lives to the virus.
While some accuse him of being an accomplice, others consider him guilty of spreading. (AND ME)
Washington [US]December 20 (ANI): Confidential directives from Chinese authorities to local propaganda and new media workers revealed that officials paid trolls to manipulate social media discourse about Covid-19, according to a report.
Chinese officials worked extensively to suppress ‘uncomfortable news’ about Covid-19, according to the report.
In the report by the New York Times and ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative newsroom, Chinese authorities ordered paid trolls to flood social media with partisan chatter and deployed security forces to silence unauthorized voices.
These Chinese officials had ordered not to send notifications alerting readers to the death of Li Wenliang, the doctor who warned of the outbreak, who later died of Covid-19. These officials also instructed social platforms to phase out the doctor’s name from trending topic pages and activated legions of fake online commenters to flood social sites with distracting chatter.
A special directive for news websites and social media platforms said: “… don’t use push notifications, don’t post comments, don’t provoke speculation. Safely control the fervor in online discussions, do not create hashtags, phase out from trending topics, strictly control harmful information. “
The report mentioned that at a time when digital media was deepening divisions in Western democracies, China is manipulating online discourse to enforce the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) consensus.
The documents clearly describe China’s effort to maintain strict control over the dissemination of information. It takes a huge bureaucracy, armies of people, specialized technology made by private contractors, constant monitoring of digital media and social media platforms, according to the report.
Although China has been criticized by the United States and other countries for trying to hide the extent of the outbreak in its early stages, these documents indicate that Chinese officials tried to guide the Covid-19 narrative to make the virus appear less severe and make it The authorities seem more capable.
Read also: New variant makes Covid-19 ‘out of control’ in UK, flights banned
Various media outlets in China have also been ordered not to reproduce reports about donations and purchases of medical supplies abroad, as they may disrupt China’s procurement efforts.
“Avoid giving the false impression that our fight against the epidemic depends on foreign donations,” read one directive.
The report credits Chinese President Xi Jinping with creating the China Cyberspace Administration in 2014 to centralize the management of internet censorship and propaganda, as well as other aspects of digital politics.
The death of Dr. Li showed the terrible cost of the Chinese government’s instinct to suppress inappropriate information, the New York Times report mentioned.
Following Dr. Li’s death, a gag order from the China Cyberspace Administration (CAC) was leaked on Weibo, the Chinese platform equivalent to Twitter, fueling anger among the people. Although the agency allowed people to allow expressions of pain, a directive warned that any account that tried to sensationalize the story to generate traffic online should be treated “severely.”
Furthermore, the report reported that China’s government departments have a variety of specialized software at their disposal to shape what the public sees on online platforms.
According to an analysis of computer code and documents from one such program, Urun, the company’s products can track trends online, coordinate censorship activity, and manage fake social media accounts for posting comments.
The report also said that CAC directed the offices to begin purging internal reports, in particular sentiment around the novel coronavirus, after some confidential public opinion analysis reports were posted online.
China has been widely criticized around the world for its alleged role in spreading the new coronavirus that has infected more than 75 million people around the world. More than 1.6 million people have lost their lives to the virus.
While some accuse him of being an accomplice, others consider him guilty of spreading.
.
