Beijing’s influence campaign on the world’s media has “serious implications for the survival of open, democratic societies,” says a new report. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ramped up its efforts to shape content and narratives worldwide in its favor, according to Beijing’s Global Megaphone, a new report from independent watchdog Freedom House.
Since 2017, the world has seen the emergence of new and more brazen tactics to influence the media by Chinese diplomats, state-owned news outlets, and CCP proxies, the report says. “Chinese state media content reaches hundreds of millions of television viewers, radio listeners, and social media users abroad, in many cases without transparency as to its origins,” said report author Sarah Cook, a senior research analyst at Freedom House.
“Meanwhile, journalists, news consumers, and advertisers in countries ranging from Sweden to Russia, South Africa, the United States, and Australia are encountering intimidation or censorship of political content that the CCP considers undesirable,” Cook said. “Beijing’s media influence not only distorts the information environment in the affected settings, but it also undermines international norms and fundamental features of democratic governance, including transparency, the rule of law, and fair competition,” she further said.
The report says that CCP and various Chinese government entities have long sought to influence public debate and media coverage about China outside the country, particularly among Chinese-speaking communities and through the obstruction of foreign correspondents within China, but the reach, aggressiveness, and complexity of the current tactics are new.
These efforts combine widely accepted forms of public diplomacy with more covert, corrupt, and coercive activities that undermine democratic norms, reduce national sovereignty, weaken the financial sustainability of independent media, and violate the laws of some countries, the report found.
“Governments, journalists, technology companies, and civic activists are responding with initiatives to counter these efforts and protect the free flow of information, and they have scored some victories,” Cook said. “Nevertheless, the fact remains that an economically powerful authoritarian state is rapidly expanding its influence over media production and dissemination channels around the world. This has serious implications for the survival of open, democratic societies,” she added.
Beijing’s overseas media activities
The report found the following changes in Beijing’s overseas activities since early 2017 deserve special scrutiny:
- Russian-style social media disinformation campaigns and efforts to manipulate search results on global online platforms have been attributed to China-based perpetrators.
- Tactics that were once used primarily to co-opt Chinese diaspora media and suppress critical coverage in overseas Chinese-language publications are now being used to influence mainstream media in various countries.
- Beijing is gaining control over crucial parts of some countries’ information infrastructure, as Chinese technology firms with close ties to the CCP build or acquire content-dissemination platforms used by tens of millions of foreign news consumers.
- Chinese-owned social media platforms and digital television providers in multiple regions have engaged in politicized content manipulation to favor pro-Beijing narratives.
- Chinese officials are making a more explicit effort to present China as a model for other countries, and they are taking concrete steps to encourage emulation through training for foreign personnel and technology transfers to foreign state-owned media outlets.
Watch this recent ABC News In-depth video report about how the Chinese regime ramped up their coverage of the situation in the region of Xinjiang in a bid to counter-narratives aired by Western outlets:
