Beijing [China], February 9 : A Chinese company in the southern city of Shenzhen has allegedly been assisting at least 123 websites in pushing the "pro-Beijing" agenda, Radio Free Asia reported, citing a recent research.
As per the report, the websites were operating in China but posing as local media outlets in 30 countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America to disseminate disinformation.
The RFA report quoted a recent study conducted by the University of Toronto, which claimed that Shenzhen Haimaiyunxiang Media Co. (Haimai), was involved in pushing China-supporting propaganda in the fields of business and politics.
The firm was also found responsible for vilifying reports from the meeting between former United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in 2022. The relations between China and the US were highly sensitive at that time.
The researchers of the University of Toronto used a technique named Domain Name System to track down suspected websites under a campaign named Paperwall intended to gather information on Haimai, the Chinese firm, which has a commercial registration in Shenzhen city, the RFA report stated.
The report further quoted Victor Ho, the former editor-in-chief of the British Columbia version of Sing Tao Daily.
According to Ho, "Beijing has a long history of fighting public opinion wars overseas. There are many seemingly neutral Chinese-language media in Canada that promote Beijing's 'big foreign propaganda,' but it is difficult for ordinary people to discern".
Ho added that pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media houses like Ming Pao, Sing Tao Daily, Today Commercial News, Chinese Canadian Times, Dawa News, Health Times, and New Star Times have been operating in Canada, seemingly having no relation to CCP.
"These are all localised names in Canada. There are 20 to 30 CCP's foreign propaganda media outlets in Canada, shaping the impressions of the Chinese community and many overseas Chinese, or Chinese Canadians, of the CCP," said Ho. Further, he also states that "if you are new here and undiscerning, you could be watching the CCP's 'big foreign propaganda' all the time, but thinking you are watching Canadian Chinese media. This is quite scary and shocking."
According to the RFA, the Paperwall also found that around 100 domains were backlinked by the Times Newswire. And the fake news network found in the Paperwall is huge; 32 of these target the readers of South Korea and Japan, 11 target the British media, and 30 cover the readers of the rest of the world.
Most of the "fake news" comes from Times Newswire, which RFA noticed dispatches press releases and news reports written in multiple languages, such as Korean, Japanese, and French, covering politics, economy, culture, current affairs, and sports.
The report also stated that Roma Journal, a website that targets Italians, is not legally registered as a news outlet in Italy.
It often publishes information about U.S. President Joe Biden's foreign visits. The same website has also reposted a large number of news stories from Chinese mouthpiece CGTN before and after Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August 2022. Several of these articles have demeaning headlines like "Pelosi is shortsighted and selfish, endangering Sino-US relations."
Taking the example of another website, the RFA report claimed that Conan Finance News, targeting British audiences, reprinted articles about Hong Kong, including those promoting "one country, two systems."
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