Revealed: China's Secret Propaganda Campaign to Get Americans to Watch Its Tyrannical Olympics
With the Chinese government committing blatant human rights abuses, many Americans have decided they have no interest in watching the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
As is often the case with communist governments, the Chinese Communist Party is not taking “no” for an answer.
The Washington Free Beacon reported Monday that the Chinese consulate in New York City has devised a plan to leverage social media influence in the United States to push the Games.
The consulate hired the public relations firm Vippi Media for $300,000, according to data filed with the U.S. Department of Justice.
For that price, the PR firm will hire popular personalities on Instagram, TikTok and Twitch to promote the Beijing Olympics, the Free Beacon reported.
While advertising is common for large events such as the Olympics, this scheme is a bit more diabolical than the typical marketing strategy.
Instead of advertising the Beijing Games themselves, China’s communist leaders are paying American “influencers” to parrot their desired points.
This is a concerning step toward Chinese propaganda becoming commonplace on social media.
While the main topic right now is just the Olympics, what would stop the Chinese government from paying influencers to push communist propaganda on other issues?
Indeed, the Free Beacon reported that in addition to the Games, the Chinese consulate’s contract with Vippi Media also stipulates the firm will hire influencers to “promote China-U.S. cooperation on issues like climate change.”
Allowing a communist government to pay Americans to push its policies is a dangerous game.
We have already seen what China does to people in its own country who do not parrot what they are told.
In addition, China has been paying social media companies to push pro-Chinese propaganda for some time now.
An April study from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found “a stark increase in the Chinese Government and state media’s use of US social media networks to push alternative narratives and disinformation” since early 2020.
Among the lies was propaganda aimed at softening the appearance of the Chinese genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the study said.
Paying U.S. influencers to promote a sporting event is one thing. Paying to help cover up genocide is quite another.
To the CCP, though, it is all connected. Every campaign to push propaganda is part and parcel of its larger plan, which is to suppress any dissent and paint itself as the arbiter of truth.
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