China on campaign to manipulate Internet for its interests: Reports
Flood global social media with fake accounts used to advance an authoritarian agenda.
Make them look real and grow their numbers of followers.
Seek out online critics of the state – and find out who they are and where they live.
China’s government has unleashed a global online campaign to burnish its image and undercut accusations of human rights abuses.
Much of the effort takes place in the shadows, behind the guise of bot networks that generate automatic posts and hard-to-trace online personas.
Now, a new set of documents reviewed by a news agency reveals in stark detail how Chinese officials tap private businesses to generate content on-demand, draw followers, track critics and provide other services for information campaigns.
The documents, which were part of a request for bids from contractors, offer a rare glimpse into how China’s vast bureaucracy works to spread propaganda and to sculpt opinion on global social media.
They were taken offline after the agency contacted the Chinese government about them.
On May 21, a branch of the Shanghai police posted a notice online seeking bids from private contractors for what is known among Chinese officialdom as public opinion management.
Officials have relied on tech contractors to help them keep up with domestic social media and actively shape public opinion via censorship and the dissemination of fake posts at home.
It was only recently that officials and the opinion management industry have turned their attention beyond China.
Shanghai police were looking to create hundreds of fake accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and other major social media platforms.
The police department emphasized that the task is time-sensitive, suggesting that it wants to be ready to unleash the accounts quickly to steer the discussion.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES