Influencers and TikTokers, Maoists 2.0

The uses of advertising channels change over time. One country has understood this well: China. Its advertising section is now on our favorite apps and social networks.

Do you want to learn Chinese but do not have enough money to enroll in traditional courses? No problem, you will take online courses. Very quickly, you come across profiles on TikTok, Youtube or Meta of young Chinese women offering short videos to teach their language. You learn sentences easily but sometimes these language lessons are followed by annoying videos. In one, your professor justifies the ethnic extermination of Tibetans, and in another, placing Uyghurs in concentration camps. It also accuses the decadent West of being responsible for all the wars taking place at the present time.

Congratulations! I have just been phished by the Chinese Propaganda Department (CCPD). The leaders of the Chinese Communist Party have realized that Chinese propaganda lacks modernity and must now be extended to foreign countries. To achieve these goals, a new strategy was launched. It relies on the use of influencers from all walks of life: lifestyle, vlogs, language courses, etc. A large number of trivial topics are discussed, but everything is filled with pro-China propaganda.

The majority of these influencers are young women, and the most popular are them Vika meWhich gathers 1.5 million followers on its social networks under the guise of Mandarin lessons. The young woman explains to her Western audience that Tibetans and Uighurs do not suffer any oppression from the Communist Party. Another standard bearer is called Li JingjingIt is a lifestyle influencer. They are the tip of the iceberg because many other influencers of the same type exist, and unlike the two examples we mentioned, not all of them have been identified as Chinese propaganda organs.

Another focus of the CCPPD is simply recruiting Western influencers to carry out Chinese government-sponsored operations. This is what the FBI revealed during the Vippi case. Vippi Media is an influencer management agency that acts as an intermediary with brands wishing to place products.

In 2021, a new type of client came knocking on Vippi’s door: the Chinese consul in New York. He then wants Vippi to organize a campaign to promote China in view of the 2022 Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing. Very quickly the two parties reached an agreement, In the amount of $300,000, of which $210,000 is prepaid. Through its influencers, Vippi will promote China. But now, both parties were unaware that the FBI was monitoring them and the punishment fell: Phoebe received a letter from the US Department of Justice. The company must change its status and register as a foreign agent and must submit its binding contract to the Chinese consulate.

Vippi continues his work in China but is now known to everyone. According to the US government, at least 4 million Westerners have been targeted Vibe campaign. Another campaign was discovered, which is the one the company tried to implement hong kong pear technology, She sent a tempting offer to several influential people who would film a video to promote Hainan Province in exchange for a fee. But for these two exposed campaigns, how many campaigns fall under the radar of Western media and intelligence services?

Other Western influencers are hired full-time by Beijing, such as New Zealand journalist Andy Burheman or YouTuber Jason Lightfoot, who specializes in blogging tourist destinations. They post videos online in which they denigrate the Western way of life, praise the way of life in Communist China, and call for abandoning Taiwan.

Because Beijing’s ultimate goal with this new strategy is to swing Western public opinion in favor of its policy. But unlike Moscow, which tries to change its views from above by creating a network of influence among political and economic elites, Beijing attacks from below by speaking directly to the population. The secondary goal is to divide Western societies as much as possible, between Baizu (the Chinese word for Western progressives) and the rest of the population. The more Western countries are internally divided, the less they are able to respond to international events caused by Beijing.