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China Twitter

Army of Fake Fans Boosts China's Messaging on Twitter (apnews.com) 70

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
China's ruling Communist Party has opened a new front in its long, ambitious war to shape global public opinion: Western social media. From a report: Liu Xiaoming, who recently stepped down as China's ambassador to the United Kingdom, is one of the party's most successful foot soldiers on this evolving online battlefield. He joined Twitter in October 2019, as scores of Chinese diplomats surged onto Twitter and Facebook, which are both banned in China. Since then, Liu has deftly elevated his public profile, gaining a following of more than 119,000 as he transformed himself into an exemplar of China's new sharp-edged "wolf warrior" diplomacy, a term borrowed from the title of a top-grossing Chinese action movie. "As I see it, there are so-called 'wolf warriors' because there are 'wolfs' in the world and you need warriors to fight them," Liu, who is now China's Special Representative on Korean Peninsula Affairs, tweeted in February. His stream of posts -- principled and gutsy ripostes to Western anti-Chinese bias to his fans, aggressive bombast to his detractors -- were retweeted more than 43,000 times from June through February alone. But much of the popular support Liu and many of his colleagues seem to enjoy on Twitter has, in fact, been manufactured.

A seven-month investigation by the Associated Press and the Oxford Internet Institute, a department at Oxford University, found that China's rise on Twitter has been powered by an army of fake accounts that have retweeted Chinese diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times, covertly amplifying propaganda that can reach hundreds of millions of people -- often without disclosing the fact that the content is government-sponsored. More than half the retweets Liu got from June through January came from accounts that Twitter has suspended for violating the platform's rules, which prohibit manipulation. Overall, more than one in ten of the retweets 189 Chinese diplomats got in that time frame came from accounts that Twitter had suspended by Mar. 1. But Twitter's suspensions did not stop the pro-China amplification machine. An additional cluster of fake accounts, many of them impersonating U.K. citizens, continued to push Chinese government content, racking up over 16,000 retweets and replies before Twitter kicked them off late last month and early this month, in response to the AP and Oxford Internet Institute's investigation.
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Army of Fake Fans Boosts China's Messaging on Twitter More

Army of Fake Fans Boosts China's Messaging on Twitter

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  • Nicer to the Chinese than to previous POTUS (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @06:39PM (#61374606)

    All you need to know about the leadership of Twitter.

  • The story has no mention of the fifty-centers or "professional" or "paid" or even "AstroTurf". This is the best the AP could dig up after 7 months of "investigation"? Or they just didn't want to read the books or other websites that give lots of details about how Xi does it?

    Then again, it isn't just the Chinese, so maybe that was the rub? "We only do high-class propaganda here at AP!"

    As I see it, there are lots of fakers and idiots running around the Web. Some of the jackasses are braying loudly because the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      s/MOST annoying fakers/MOST annoying liars and hypocrites and Sophists/

    • Their investigation is utter complete and unmitigated rancid SHIT.

      Plug into google BOTOFERMA spelled in Cyrillic. There is an excellent documentary which the powers that be tried to ban about 10 times off youtube. Why? Because the guy there quite openly explains that he is selling services to all of the usual suspects. The West as well as Russia, China. It is a contracted service - somewhere in the depths of what used to be one of the USSR republics.

      Racks and racks and racks of cheap smartphones all plu

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        Well, you got me to check the original story for some more keywords, and no matches came up. I also searched for some other X-as-a-service criminal enterprises in the cyber world. More nothing in the source.

        However I'd already concluded that the research was either deficient or incompletely reported. I'm tilted to the side that they don't even know what to look for, though it seems remarkable that AP can't hire any good help--in contrast to the bad guys hiring all the people they need at every level of expe

  • Not just Twitter... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @06:41PM (#61374614)

    Please note that ANY story or comment or story on Slashdot critical of China is met by fierce opposition.

    China has posters embedded on ever the more obscure social media sites to try and control public image.

    • Re:Not just Twitter... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by shmlco ( 594907 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @06:52PM (#61374654) Homepage

      Yeah, go back and read all of the apologists in the recent article regarding China's booster that's DESIGNED to rely on an uncontrolled deorbit.

      • I think that might be smart, since they may have enough info to know it won't hit anything, but they don't want anyone else to be able to recover the materials. (Of course, it could just be the latter.)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        China should have had a plan to safely dispose of it, but what gets me is the hypocrisy. The US and Russia did the same thing, and worse. The US won't work with China and Russia wants payment.

        Most of these stories about how bad China is fail to mention that other nations do the same shit. I'm not singling out the US here, although it just happens that a lot these stories come from there, because the UK and European countries are involved in this too. Like all the allegations of spying against Huawei, as if

    • SuperKendall [slashdot.org]: “Please note that ANY story or comment or story on Slashdot critical of China is met by fierce opposition. China has posters embedded on ever the more obscure social media sites to try and control public image.”

      This ain't Faux News, please take this and any other neocon propaganda and shove it where the sun don't shine.

  • I vote for that to replace "A bag of rice fell over in China"!
    Who's with me? :D

  • Yea! the Twits @ Twitter are fine with China and their concentration camps. Twitter a class company!

  • The real question... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by enigma32 ( 128601 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @06:50PM (#61374648)

    The real question is: Does anyone in the Western world sincerely buy their BS?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Yes

    • Re:The real question... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @07:18PM (#61374706)

      We shouldn't have to be exposed to it. The CCP and its minions, including its shills in the US, should be ostracized just like North Korea.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        The problem with that idea is that you end up ostracizing yourself. If you erect a firewall between yourself and China it cuts you off as much as it does them.

        Communication and the free flow of information benefits everyone. Being able to see how we live, our freedom, causes social change in China. Contrary to what you may have been told the government there does not block stuff like that, it is only really interested in stuff that relates to China directly.

        Not just information/culture either. The rest of t

        • I don't know, it worked pretty well in the last cold war. The CCCP probably would have lasted longer if they had free and open trade with a free world. By enabling China all we are doing is propping up their regime while at the same time implicitly allowing their crimes.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Did it work well? The USSR ended mostly because of work Gorbachev did. The only major trade related effect was the US convincing the Saudis to lower the price of oil, which hurt the USSR by depleting its currency reserves.

            If anything the attempt to isolate the USSR only prolonged the cold war, since every country had to pick a side and enough picked communism to keep it viable for decades. The eventual dissolution was mostly because the Soviets picked three successive leaders who all lasted less than two ye

            • Gorbachev sped things along but by the time he was around the USSR's days were numbered. There were economically stagnant and near collapse anyways. I think his biggest contribution was making it all go down a lot more peacefully than it had any right to.

            • You make some good points here. But I think you're underestimating the impact that the poor supply of staple items had on the populace. The coup only failed because "the people" intervened in a massive way that made it impossible for the plotters to arrest Yeltsin and company without massive bloodshed visible on an international stage. Gorbachev opened the door for things to improve, but the state of the economy at the time was a major factor in why it happened so quickly. Is that all due to trade restricti

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                I've been to China. They block a lot of services, but not simply stuff that shows what life in the West is like.

                • They block a lot of services, but not simply stuff that shows what life in the West is like.

                  Oh right, just anything that disagrees with their narrative and becomes well-known enough to be a threat.

                  Also, I specifically asked if you've lived there because there have been noticeable changes there over the years. I started traveling to China/Taiwan/Japan/others almost 15 years ago, and spent years living in multiple places on that side of the world, including a fair amount of time in China. There has been a very noticeable change in the depth and breadth of their censorship, all tailored to make sure

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                    The censorship simply isn't as you describe. I have family in China, they know about this stuff and see criticism of the government. In fact we sometimes discuss things like politics, where they get news about things happening in the West. Offered to send me toilet paper when brexit was about to hit.

                    Of course much of it is portraying democracy as chaotic and dysfunctional, but on some stuff the view is much more balanced. They knew that the UK was the first country in the world to get COVID vaccine, for exa

                    • I definitely agree it's not as bad as North Korea. But your impression doesn't reflect reality, either. I'd urge you to go seek out some more information. There are plenty of first-hand accounts of the rapidly intensifying totalitarian regime there, some of them spanning many years, wherein you can see how things have deteriorated. I know Chinese with PRC relatives that think they receive globe-spanning news coverage----but they don't realize that their news (from state-owned media, despite the appearance o

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                      There are plenty of reports of China becoming more open too. Over time it's true to say that China has liberalised, both economically and socially. Bikini pool parties, people can be openly gay, and an aspiration to something approximating a Western lifestyle. Those things are undeniable evidence of the influence the outside world is having, with for example the gay rights movement being modelled on that in other countries, with things like Pride and the flag being obvious examples.

                      Here's another example fo

                    • Over time it's true to say that China has liberalised, both economically and socially.

                      Yes, China has come a long way from when Mao was in charge. But here's your big misunderstanding: liberalization in China has all been going backward since Xi came to power. Compared to 40 years ago there is a huge amount of freedom there. Compared to 10-15 years ago? It's much more restrictive now. In 2008 I was considering living in Shanghai long-term. I'm now quite glad I didn't do that. Most expats I knew there have gotten out.

                      Re: Slashdot: it has sometimes been blocked in China, in my personal experien

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                      Interestingly 2008 was the year when homosexuality was decriminalized. It seems difficult to argue that things have gone backwards when people are not just open about being gay, but actually proud of it now.

                      By the way, I'm not American.

                    • Xi assumed office in 2012. That would be after 2008.

        • Considering the number of free speech advocates here saying that payment processors should be completely neutral and provide services to everyone equally it's interesting that they don't feel the same way when it comes to Chinese companies.

          Maybe those free speech advocates aren't so progressive that they confuse the interests of chinese companies, with the interests of their fellow citizens to participate in society without corporations acting as the opinion police.

      • Good news. You don't *HAVE* to be exposed to it. Just don't look.
    • Yes of course there are plenty of people that will gladly eat up any bullshit placed in front of them and ask for more. Chinese aren't all that good at it, at least not when targeting western consumer. If you want to see true masterclass have a good look at Russian propaganda machine, now they are really very good at peddling bullshit indeed.

    • Does anyone in the Western world sincerely buy their BS?

      Yes. There's as many "I Saw the Truth and It Set Me Free!" types in the extreme-left as there are in the extreme-right. One of those are the MLM (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) folk. They're as fond of the CCP, of its five-year plans, of bowing to Xitler's every Pooh-censoring snowflakery, and of worshiping Mao, as any QAnoner is of doing the same towards Trump. Look enough on the long tails of ideological nonsense and you'll find anything and everything. That's unavoidable when we're talking hundred of millions

  • ... to assert that clearly, China builds the world's best glass-floor bridges, the only ones that provide a real thrill: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/a... [nbcnews.com]

  • I wonder how many were have here. Judging from the high-school hystrionic postings of the current batch of eds -- especialy msmash -- I have to assume they're all on someone's agitprop payroll.

    Lots of posters here too. There's one I know revealed himself to be two posters, one person.. one persona is German, the other American, supposedly.

    I just chose some time ago to assume everyone's lying, about everything, all the time.

    What y'all need to figure out, and quickly, is whose lies are worse than others.. b

    • Amen Brother.

      Just need to pay attention for long enough to see what's going on.

    • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

      What y'all need to figure out, and quickly, is whose lies are worse than others.. because not all lies are the same. What truly matters isn't the lie, but the motivation behind it. What does the lying entity gain?

      In the end? Not a thing - the most that I can imagine is that a hundred years frmo now, social media will be used as a textbook example of an asshole magnet.

      Old Billy Shakespeare, put it well:

      "a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

  • just manipulating the public perception. nothing to see here. move along citizen. :D

  • Twitter is just catching up. [slashdot.org]
  • that there is a sizable contingent here on Slashdot as well.

    Watch what happens to this post.

  • The internet/telecommunication cartel in the US has similar ethics to the totalitarian rulers of China. They both use the same tactics to manipulate public discourse.

    Broadband companies funded 'fake' net neutrality comments, investigation finds [thehill.com]

    American broadband companies funded a campaign that filed millions of fake comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its proposal to repeal net neutrality regulations, an investigation by New York's attorney general found.

    Authorities said the

  • in the US. Then maybe it should stop humanitarian crimes against it's own citizens.

  • IQ 45's army of fake followers?

  • This is just another good reason to ignore social media.

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