How China’s TikTok, Facebook influencers push propaganda

WASHINGTON (AP) - As China continues to assert its economic might, it is using the global social media ecosystem to expand its already formidable influence.

The country has quietly built a network of social media personalities who parrot the government’s perspective in posts seen by hundreds of thousands of people, operating in virtual lockstep as they promote China’s virtues, deflect international criticism of its human rights abuses and advance Beijing’s talking points on world affairs like Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Some of China’s state-affiliated reporters have posited themselves as trendy Instagram influencers or bloggers.

The country has also hired firms to recruit influencers to deliver carefully crafted messages that boost its image to social media users. 

And it is benefitting from a cadre of Westerners who have devoted YouTube channels and Twitter feeds to echoing pro-China narratives on everything from Beijing's treatment of Uyghur Muslims to Olympian Eileen Gu, an American who competed for China in the most recent Winter Games.