Key Points
Facing global criticism for its authoritarian regime, oppression, treatment of ethnic minorities, and aggressive behaviour towards neighbours, the regime of President XI Jinping has cultivated a large pool of foreign influencers and content creators who peddle the Communist Party of Chinas (CCP) online propaganda, counter-narratives, and sell the China dream...
Beijing has set up multilingual influencer incubator studios, tapped into a vast network of international students at Chinese universities, and created competitions among ambitious creators to push the pro- party-states narrative and combat global perception of China, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)...
For instance, US influencer Jerry Kowal who enjoys 2.6 crore followers on YouTube and Chinese social media platforms like Bilibili, Douyin, Xigua, and Toutiao has made several videos hailing Chinas response to Covid-19 while berating Americas...
Many foreign influencers have realised that appealing to Chinese nationalism can fast-track their popularity and hence revenue as Chinas internet regulations encourage users to promote the CCPs propaganda..
Content created by Chinese state media and foreign influencers about contentious subjects like Xinjiang has exploited mainstream social media companies algorithms that prioritise fresh content and regular posting..
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