A recent analysis of YouTube search results found that users looking for videos relating to the Genocide Games are being bombarded with Chinese propaganda videos.
Wired reports that fans who attempted to watch the Beijing Winter Olympics on Google-owned YouTube are being shown Chinese propaganda videos. According to an analysis of YouTube search results by Wired, users who searched for “Beijing,” “Beijing 2022,” “Olympics,” or “Olympics 2022” are being shown pro-China propaganda videos within the first few results.
BEIJING, CHINA – FEBRUARY 04: Flag bearers Tingyu Gao and Dan Zhao of Team China carry their flag during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Beijing National Stadium on February 04, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
This photograph taken on June 23, 2021 shows a placard representing barbed wire shaping Olympics Rings seen next to a sign of the Olympics Museum during a protest organised by Tibetan and Uyghur activists against Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in Lausanne as some 200 participants took part to the protest. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
The propaganda videos were first noticed earlier this month by John Scott-Railton, a researcher at the University of Toronto’s research laboratory, Citizen Lab. Scott-Railton found that after watching skating and curling videos he was automatically served a video by a pro-China account on YouTube. “I found myself on a slippery slide from skating and curling into increasingly targeted propaganda,” he said.
YouTube spokesperson Farshad Shadloo said that the “vast majority of videos” appearing in search results were posted by “trusted sources” like NBC Sports.
The second most popular video that appears when searching the term “Beijing” is called “What the Chinese Think of the US Boycott of Beijing Olympics and Uyghur Issues” and was posted by an influencer named “Asian Boss.” The video claims to interview “ordinary Chinese citizens” in Shanghai, asking them their opinion on the U.S. decision to ban government officials from appearing at the Beijing Olympics.
In the video, one interviewee suggests that the reason U.S. officials are not attending the Olympics is that they are jealous of China’s economic success. The interviewee states: “Look, my jeans are over 30k RMB (US$4.7K),” he says. “I doubt even if some foreigners can afford this.”
As previously reported by Breitbart News, it is common for China to use YouTubers and especially western influencers as propaganda tools:
Most of the influencers have lived in China for many years and claim that their aim is to counter the West’s negative perceptions of the country. They claim that their videos are made entirely independently and not influenced by the Chinese government.
But even if that’s the case, it doesn’t stop Chinese diplomats and government officials from heavily promoting the pro-Beijing content. Six of the most popular pro-Beijing influencers have garnered more than 130 million views on YouTube thanks in part to promotion by the Chinese government.
Sometimes, anti-China videos also creep into Genocide Games coverage. Two anti-China videos were published by a group called The Beauty of Life which was linked to the Falun Gong Chinese spiritual movement that was banned by the Chinese Communist Party in 1999. In comparison, pro-China videos posted by YouTubers from the West whose work was previously promoted by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also ranked highly in search results.
Read more at Wired here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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