China, which is increasingly intervening on the international scene to counter criticism of its human rights record, is using “influencers” from oppressed minorities in the hope of clearing itself of suspicion.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) notes in a new report this week that the approach allows Beijing to make its case on Western social media through seemingly “authentic” videos that escape the heaviness of traditional propaganda.
A Chinese analyst quoted by the researchers argues that these influencers are comparable to a “guerrilla” which is active in “the international arena of public opinion” in support of the state media present on “the front line”.
As part of their research, ASPI specialists targeted some twenty “vloggers” present on YouTube, mostly young women from minority groups living in regions locked down by the regime, including Tibet and Xinjiang.
In normal times, a sustained online presence on YouTube would be potentially dangerous for people of this profile since Beijing blocks all access to foreign social media in China and targets people using a VPN to try to circumvent these restrictions.
Many people from Xinjiang in particular have been sentenced to long prison terms in the past simply for downloading a foreign app to their phone.
“Filtered” content
One of the study’s co-authors, Fergus Ryan, notes that influencers authorized to appear repeatedly on foreign networks such as YouTube, Facebook or Instagram are “carefully screened” and authorized to operate after being deemed “politically reliable. “.
Most of the videos, notes ASPI, show an “idyllic” image of the controversial regions by featuring women who are “modern”, in tune with the culture of the Han, a majority ethnic group in China, and loyal to the Communist Party. Chinese.
Delicate subjects such as politics or religion are glossed over in favor of scenes showing innocuous elements such as cooking or dancing, even when these cultural elements are directly inspired by religious practices.
This subtle propaganda is supplemented occasionally by “implicit” or “explicit” references to themes at the heart of the government’s program, including for example the promotion of intermarriage between members of the Han ethnic group and people from ethnic groups. minority.
The influencers cited sometimes directly address sensitive issues, for example denying the existence of large-scale abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang by taking the opposite view of several human rights organizations.
“People live and work in peace and joy. There is no genocide and forced labor,” notes in one of the videos a young woman presenting herself as a Uyghur who had tens of thousands of subscribers on YouTube and Twitter last year.
Confuse to better control
Mr. Ryan notes that the account “The History of Xinjiang by Guli”, now closed, was presented as a personal initiative when the reality was quite different.
SCREENSHOT FROM TWITTER
The two women who introduced themselves as the “Guli sisters” of Xinjiang.
ASPI determined that the vlogger and another woman briefly identified as her sister in previous videos, both falsely referred to as Guli for the occasion, were under an agency that supports the Xinjiang government in its propaganda efforts.
According to the report, influencers are usually overseen by such agencies, which are required by law to ensure that content posted online conforms to the “values of the Chinese Communist Party”.
The authors of the report note that the use of such YouTube accounts is set to grow, particularly if social networks are slow to be more responsive to these “insidious forms” of state propaganda.
Jessica Brandt, a Brookings Institution researcher who studies attempts at foreign interference and “techno-authoritarianism,” sees the ASPI report as another illustration of Beijing’s desire to “disguise” its information campaigns.
[La Chine a] learned that from Russia. The purpose of this approach is to lend a veneer of legitimacy to pro-Beijing messages.
Brookings Institution researcher Jessica Brandt
Mme Brandt adds that the practice seems to be gaining in importance.
Gloria Fung, a Canadian activist who has been under a lot of pressure from China because of her criticism of the regime, is not surprised by the use of influencers with no declared link to power.
She claims to have seen many pro-Beijing vloggers appear on YouTube during the period of protest that led to the imposition of a national security law in the former colony as well as in the subsequent period of repression.
Some, she says, even present themselves as pro-democracy activists before integrating pro-Beijing messages into their speeches.
“The goal is in particular to create confusion,” notes the activist, who insists on the need for the Canadian authorities to be more vigilant in this regard.
“China has become much more active in recent years in managing its international image. You have to be aware of that,” she warns.