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(Reddit has been blocked in China since last August.)Ī Reddit spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that an initial check for signs of coordinated activity on /r/onguardforthee and /r/geopolitics did not uncover anything. Reddit’s CEO responded by telling users that Tencent does not have a board seat and that the company has not changed any policies as a result of the investment. Reddit users responded to the news by sharing memes that are banned in China to protest the investment, and to express concerns that Reddit may increase censorship on its platform.
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“Ironically, our freedom of press and an open internet is being exploited by an adversary to subvert democracy.”Īdding to the concerns for some is the fact that Reddit recently received a $150 million investment from Tencent, the Chinese technology giant that owns WeChat, the country's dominant social platform, among other properties. “Comments and articles pushing a pro-CCP narrative or praising Xi Jinping's ventures, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, are upvoted by either a coordinated effort or bots,” they said in a message sent via Reddit. The redditor with insight into /r/geopolitics said the activity goes beyond simply downvoting negative threads about China. “Recently, really I’d say in the last 18 months or so, you seem to have seen quite an upsurge in taking the battle overseas to the global internet.” And so Reddit would be natural forum for that,” he said. “They are trying to rally what they call ‘greater discourse power’ and control the discourse and the dialogue about China. But China expert Bill Bishop, who publishes the Sinocisim newsletter, told BuzzFeed News that the behavior on Reddit aligns with an aggressive Chinese effort to control the narrative about the country outside mainland China. There is currently no evidence that pro-China activity on Reddit over the past year is directly linked to the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party.
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(BuzzFeed News agreed to not identify Reddit users in this article by their full name or username so they could not be linked to their presence on Reddit, due to concerns about being targeted.) However, in our situation the pro-CCP effort vastly overshadows any operation by the Russians,” they said.
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“In the past, /r/geopolitics had been targeted by Russian trolls, who are generally the most well-known and active across various social media platforms. One source familiar with the moderation practices of the /r/geopolitics subreddit, which they say generates roughly 1 million visits a month, called the influx of pro-China accounts and activity “the most active and aggressive” effort they’ve witnessed to date. While a BuzzFeed News analysis indicates that some of these accounts appear to belong to Chinese citizens based overseas acting in support of their country, there are also indicators that something more coordinated could be taking place. Threads about sensitive topics such as Tiananmen Square, Huawei, or Falun Gong, the religious group classified by the Chinese government as a cult, are quickly seized upon by pro-China accounts. The sources say they’ve seen an increase in posts from newly created accounts that downvote anything critical of China, swarm threads to push pro–Communist Party views, or attack anyone criticizing the country. These public threads reflect growing concerns among redditors about what they say is coordinated activity on the site by pro-China accounts, according to a moderator and users who spoke to BuzzFeed News, and reflect intense discussions taking place behind the scenes among those who help oversee subreddits. That discussion followed an earlier one on /r/geopolitics about why articles critical of China were suddenly being downvoted or inundated with pro-China “shills.” One user accused of being a paid government actor joked that they earn “$1,000 from glorious China Communist Party not only for each post, but for each time I even think something critical about Canada.” (The thread was soon locked and removed by /r/onguardforthee moderators for rule violations.)
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“Go check out any thread about Huawei or the extradition, it's pretty insane,” wrote one person, citing the recent detention in Canada and ongoing extradition process of the CFO of Chinese technology giant Huawei.īut others mocked their fellow redditors for accusing anyone expressing even a moderately pro-China view of being a government troll. Many users agreed, saying they’ve seen threads about China downvoted or inundated with trolls posting comments they believe are in line with Chinese propaganda. In their view, the reason is that Chinese government-sponsored users are engaging in a coordinated effort to spread propaganda and bury anti-China messages on Reddit. Flywheelers tractor show 2021.Last week, a Reddit user posed a question on the Canadian news subreddit /r/onguardforthee: “Ever Wonder Why Canadian Subreddits Are Becoming Littered With Chinese Propaganda?”