China deploying online influencers amid Beijing Winter Olympics boycott threats: Report

Amid growing calls for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a recent report has revealed that the Chinese government hired a firm to recruit social media influencers as part of a new digital operation. According to OpenSecrets’ review of Foreign Agents Registration Act Records, China’s Consulate General in New York paid around $210,000 in advance on November 23 to a consulting firm based in New Jersey as part of a $300,000 contract that spans through March 2022. 

In a bid to promote the upcoming February sporting event and the 2022 Paralympics, the Chinese government is paying US-based Vippi Media to hire influencers who are to be “activated to drive viewership, mass awareness and premium content” for China. 

It must be noted that the report of China’s new influence operation comes at a time when the country has been facing a backlash over alleged human rights abuses in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang. It even comes after China’s censorship and propaganda campaigns attempted to change the narrative around the disappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who accused a Chinese Communist Party official of sexual misconduct. Previously, China also censored the #MeToo hashtag on social media and also detained a journalist on a charge of “inciting subversion of state power”. 

China's influence operation to promote 'Beijing and China elements'

Now, according to OpenSecrets’ report, China is recruiting social media influencers to promote “Beijing and China elements”, including Beijing’s history, cultural relics, modern life of people, new trends, Chinese athletes’ preparations and “touching moments”. The influencers are expected to share at least 20% of the posts focused on “cooperation and any good things in China-US relations”. Their content is also expected to highlight “cooperation” on issues like “climate change, biodiversity, new energy” and “positive outcomes”. 

Further, the report revealed that as part of the Chinese government’s new campaign, a single “celebrity” influencer targeted would have to have more than two million Instagram followers or more than 2.5 million TikTok followers. It said that there will be five tiers of social media influencers recruited to provide services. They range from “celebrity” influencers with aforementioned Instagram and TikTok followings to “nano” influencers with less than 10,000 followers on either platform. Moreover, China’s new campaign will also recruit influencers on Twitch and will measure success on the interactive live streaming platform through viewership, impressions and live chat engagement.

It is to mention that this is not China’s only online influence operation. Previously, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, had announced that it had removed hundreds of accounts linked to influence operations that originated in China. The operations were reportedly spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and even claimed that the US pressured the WHO to blame the origins of the virus on China. Chinese state media, including the CGTN and People’s Daily, featured the posts in stories with headlines like “Claim emerges of ‘intimidation’ from the US”. 

(Image: AP)