Beijing employs 'influencers' to spread communism
- 4 years ago
BEIJING — China's United Front Work Department aims to enlist online 'influencers' to spread the core values of the communist party.
Officials from China's cyber administration along with propaganda specialists from across the country met to discuss ways to adopt influencers such as makeup teachers and stunt performers into their arsenal.
You Quan, the department head of the United Front, said, "We need to build an online personnel team, to guide them to play an active role in leading public opinion and other areas."
He added, "We will work hard to surround them by the Communist Party's side, to concentrate the wisdom and power for achieving the rejuvenation of the Chinese people and the Chinese dream."
From last year, China's United Front Work Department has since expanded, with it now getting a say in areas such as ethnic policies and religious affairs.
The term "online personnel" was defined as those who command influence among their followers, either by shaping public opinion or by encouraging the public to react to an event in a certain way.
Author and political commentator, Sonny Lo Shiu-Hing said that it wasn't at all surprising Beijing wanted to "woo" online influencers, because the communist party wants to control all media.
The United Front set out three recruitment tasks, train the influencers, encouraging them to produce "healthy content" and most worryingly make them actively engage in major online propaganda.
Officials from China's cyber administration along with propaganda specialists from across the country met to discuss ways to adopt influencers such as makeup teachers and stunt performers into their arsenal.
You Quan, the department head of the United Front, said, "We need to build an online personnel team, to guide them to play an active role in leading public opinion and other areas."
He added, "We will work hard to surround them by the Communist Party's side, to concentrate the wisdom and power for achieving the rejuvenation of the Chinese people and the Chinese dream."
From last year, China's United Front Work Department has since expanded, with it now getting a say in areas such as ethnic policies and religious affairs.
The term "online personnel" was defined as those who command influence among their followers, either by shaping public opinion or by encouraging the public to react to an event in a certain way.
Author and political commentator, Sonny Lo Shiu-Hing said that it wasn't at all surprising Beijing wanted to "woo" online influencers, because the communist party wants to control all media.
The United Front set out three recruitment tasks, train the influencers, encouraging them to produce "healthy content" and most worryingly make them actively engage in major online propaganda.