If Facebook is banned in China then who are these pages for?

In today’s modern World we cannot imagine life without social media, so who are these pages for if Facebook is banned in China?

There are only a few countries that have banned or restricted the use of the giant and one such civilization that has over a billion people cannot be a part of it even if they wanted to as the People’s Republic of China has banned Facebook since 2009.

At least that is how it is for the average Chinese who cannot login or utilize Facebook and other platforms without bypassing the Great Firewall of China through a VPN.

Throughout the World, news networks and channels have their pages on Facebook and other social media platforms which are not only a source of income for them but also one of the best possible ways to spread news across different regions and cater to regular and new audiences while interacting with them.

Companies have specific teams that interact with their customers and audiences on social media and it has become a vital aspect of the Public Relations of almost every company and organization in the World.

Hosting a wide range of news pages, channels, accounts, etc. Social media and especially Facebook has become a hub for the latest news, reaching millions in a matter of minutes.

The number one priority of news pages usually is to cater to their domestic audiences first unless a page is specifically made for both national and international audiences.

Big networks like CNN and BBC are watched and read throughout the World, they have pages that have a mix of domestic and international news and also have pages that cater specifically to local or international audiences.

Only a few countries are limiting the use of social media and the biggest of them all is China. We have seen absolutely nothing coming out of China when it comes to news and revelations, but that is changing as suddenly we are seeing a spike in Chinese news pages and accounts on social media platforms like Facebook.

Now, one would assume that they are willing to let their people mingle with the outside World but that is far from the truth as what China has started to do is just spread out information it wants you to know.

All the news pages are there for only one reason, to spread the news the Chinese government wants you to believe and that complies with their foreign and other policies.

The role of the Chinese “influencers”:

We are suddenly seeing a lot of Chinese influencers on social media as well and all of them have one weird thing in common, that is the similarity of the way their content is curated and projected, making it look as if they are just paid actors there to promote not only tourism to China (which would be fine) but also to spread propaganda in fields they aren’t even relevant to.

While influencers from the outside World are busy travelling throughout the World experiencing different cultures and free to post whatever they like. The Chinese “influencers” however feel controlled and predominantly use Chinese hashtags while engaging in topics no one other than the Chinese government would be interested in and believe. Instead of sticking to whatever the influencers do, the Chinese “influencers” are always projecting an image of China the way the Chinese government would like. It is as if they are controlled or are just paid actors.

But then again, if the average Chinese cant access Facebook from mainland China then who are these “influencers” making content for?

It is part of a largescale strategy that has a string of such actors projecting the “soft image” of a China that is afraid of letting its normal users interact with the World. While the state-controlled actors are making a lot of money off of social media giants like Facebook and YouTube, they are also propagating what they want people outside of China to believe and this is part of China’s long-term strategy.

The average Chinese cannot make use of the financial benefits and support social media platforms provide but the State controlled orgs and influencers are generating a lot of income while doing their job (Propaganda) efficiently.

Such “influencers” have been and are also running ads about elections and politics. Although, Facebook has started taking action against them but they don’t seem to be working as more pages are created so the loop continues.

In our view or as feedback, Facebook should put in a pop-up when such pages are opened so that the users are made aware of the page’s true intentions as even we (who were investigating) had trouble finding the “Page Transparency” tab which is only visible when you scroll down on the main page.

The tab however, is a substantial step towards Facebook’s goal of eliminating disinformation and propaganda from its network and it would have been difficult for us to collect the aforementioned evidence relating to the ads about elections, politics and where the page is getting funded from without Facebook’s decision to reveal them.

The people who would find out about a page’s transparency would avoid it but those who miss it and those who are unaware of the existence of such tactics are at risk.

People of neighboring countries are attracted to such posts and fail to recognize the scripted content made to “influence” them towards what the Chinese government wants them to believe. Those who are aware of such tactics ignore these pages or channels or accounts but there are millions on the internet falling prey to these unethical propaganda tactics and the most affected are of those neighboring countries where there is less to no awareness about catching or recognizing real news and sheer propaganda.

Role of the Chinese state-controlled media:

Apart from the influencers, “news” pages are also part of this strategy and are the ones leading it.

The images below show how the Chinese “news” pages have multiplied and they are there on a mission, the setting of their news is scripted in such a way so that it can fool the global governments in believing their existence on social media websites is only to send out a message to the other governments and especially their adversaries, but that is not the complete goal as their real target is to indoctrinate the minds of those who are unaware and can be influenced.

We have asked before and we will ask again. Who exactly are such pages for? Why would anyone other than the Chinese care about China and Russia joining hands to “combat US hegemony,” unless they want to send a message to the outside World.

Their previous strategy was to stop the information from getting to the outside World while also stopping information from coming in.

Now, that strategy has been changed. While little to no information goes into China, a lot of “crafted” information is starting to get out and that has a specific goal which is to show China’s “soft image” to gain the trust of the region and the people unaware of such tactics and to combat real information by spreading a lot of disinformation, diverting the subject and taking the whataboutism boat while purposely distorting historical facts to support their argument or crafted news piece.

In the Free World we want complete access to information and we would expect fair play as it is naturally expected from us, but it looks like the Chinese thinktanks have deemed the upgradation of the propaganda strategy best for their long-term benefit because stopping information in today’s online World is almost impossible, so totalitarian governments and especially the Chinese have started to distort information so that confusion spreads.

With the facts distorted, people pick their sides while the truth forever hides beneath the rubble of the endless arguments that would be based on misaligned historical or present facts.

If the “enemy” is exposing their lies or secrets then they won’t try to subdue or stop that information from reaching the domestic population, instead would propel so much disinformation that the facts are forever hidden beneath the never-ending arguments of the then divided people of the outside World.

The art of propaganda has taken a new turn in the age of the internet. Once known for exposing everyone and everything, the internet and especially the mainstream social side of it has become a playground for disinformation with people picking sides without knowing the entirety of the situation and submerge in never-ending arguments proving that the strategy is working.

Previously, this was the case with minor to non-political conspiracy theories but now there are government controlled pages with bots on stand-by to act as a source of credible information only to lie and misguide the masses.

Today, from the ancient Chinese “Art of War,” China has led the modern World to a new age of propaganda which would be dubbed as the “Art of Propaganda.”

Their strategy has evolved from controlling the domestic information, to controlling the domestic and distorting the international information. They are on the move to not only control the domestic newspaper but also the “e-paper” which would be read internationally.

Although, it is too early to predict whether China would succeed with this strategy but at the same time it is safe to say that it all depends on how the “big tech” handles this situation as the majority of the “people” interacting on such pages are bots, always ready to create the perfect atmosphere with the most wanted reactions and coming to China’s defense in the comments section when real people expose their propaganda and disinformation.

Banning such pages is not the complete solution for this problem as people also need to be made aware of such foul play. Once awareness campaigns are run all over the internet China would automatically back off, as continuing the strategy then would end up hurting the “soft image” they want the World to see and believe.

If the Chinese government sincerely wants China to be a part of the World socially then it needs to come clean and be truthful not to the World but to its own people.

Treat them with respect by telling them the truth and telling them everything they have done in the past, are presently doing and what they will do in the future. Let the Chinese be the judge of who and what they want to believe.

They must stop the control of information and let the facts spread and the truth prevail. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen… At least anytime soon and so we can only hope that the World is made aware of this strategy along with the tactics, and China is then forced to retreat.

The real loser:

The real loser out of all of this in the end (if China succeeds) would be the internet. Losing its spark of being the only source of all type of information to being the den of disinformation and information that no one would trust.

It is only the beginning of the new “Art of Propaganda” and we will see more of the same type of pages and “influencers” on social media so disinformation could spread faster and on a larger scale.

As time progresses, it will only get worse and drastic measures to educate the masses about this strategy must be taken to ensure not only the credibility of the internet and journalism remains but also to protect the foundations of the truth and safeguard the people’s trust in the information they receive.