Influencers Commissioned by China to Spread Disinformation

Fleur Harmsen

Tibet and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defense.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released a report on October 20, 2022 stating that the content shared on social media accounts of ethnic minority youth and female influencers was directly commissioned by the Chinese party-state. It explained that influencers are attempting to whitewash human rights violations in East Turkestan, Tibet and Inner Mongolia (Dolma, 2022).

In order to compile their report, the ASPI  examined 1 741 videos posted on 18 YouTube accounts by influencers from the troubled border regions with large numbers of followers on the accounts. The report showed how China is focusing on propaganda and disinformation in order to obfuscate its record of human rights violations that are largely flying under the radar of western social media platforms, news outlets and policymakers (Dolma, 2022). 

YouTube is blocked in China, influencers in mainland China cannot receive advertising revenue. However, through the arrangements with YouTube, multi-channel networks (MCN) have been able to monetise content for frontier influencers as well as for hundreds of other China based influencers. This has led to a troubling situation in which MCNs are able to monetise their activities, including the promotion of disinformation via their access to YouTube’s platform (Dolma, 2022).

The videos show a standardised and pristine image of these regions, where the influencers are sinicised and show loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. Idyllic natural environment is shown and cooking and dancing videos are also shared. Some influencers even push back on established international human rights abuse concerns in the regions, stating that people are happy, and that people with different ethnicities are living together “harmoniously” (Dolma, 2022).

A human rights based approach to the spread of misinformation can help explain how such practices violate international human rights law. The right to free and fair elections, stipulated under article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is threatened by the spread of disinformation. For an election to be free and far, voters need to have accurate information about the actions and endeavours of the candidate they can vote for. The whitewashing of China’s actions in ethnic minority regions disallows voters to know exactly the politics of the party. 

Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that all people have the right to pursue their social and cultural development freely. The expression and means to such development are left to the choice of the individual in question, and the pursuit shall be enjoyed without government interference. The whitewashing and overriding of experiences of discrimination in these regions for political ends disallows the right of peoples to pursue their social and cultural development freely as they cannot access truthful information.

The right to non-discrimiation is also threatened. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ratified by China in 1981, defines “racial discrimination” as any “distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin.” Article 2 of this same convention writes that states must actively pursue appropriate means to eliminate such discrimination. Disinformation in this context focuses on particular minority groups in China, undermining the human rights violations they suffer, and constructing a narrative regarding these locations that totally disregard the exclusion suffered by these communities due to Chinese political actions. 

Lastly, article 29 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), ratified by China in 1992, states that all children have the right to access education that is in conformity with the principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, notably people’s right to freedom of thought and the right to a “free and full development” of their personality. In addition, it also states that the access to education will prepare the child to bear the responsibility of living in a “free society” where tolerance, equality among peoples, ethnicity, nationality and religion is respected. This right is violated by the spread of disinformation, possibly subjecting children to acquire knowledge that is induced with political aims of the State. 

Sources and further reading:

Staff Reporter. (2022, October 27). Authorities allow Tibetans in Lhasa to travel in the region amid COVID wave. Radio Free Asia. Retrieved November, 1, 2022, from https://tibet.net/authorities-allow-tibetans-in-lhasa-to-travel-in-region-amid-covid-wave/