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China Social Networks Your Rights Online

China Fakes 488 Million Social Media Posts a Year To Deceive Its Citizens (bloomberg.com) 120

Posted by msmash from the influencing-people's-perception dept.
In an attempt to keep its citizens from seeing bad news and getting involved in sensitive political debates, China's government fabricates about 488 million social media comments a year, reports Bloomberg citing a study (PDF). The propaganda workers who post comments are known as Fifty Cent Party because they are believed to be paid 50 Chinese cents by the Chinese government for every comment they post. From the report: Although those who post comments are often rumored to be ordinary citizens, the researchers were surprised to find that nearly all the posts were written by workers at government agencies including tax and human resource departments, and at courts. The researchers said they found no evidence that people were paid for the posts, adding the work was probably part of the employees' job responsibilities. Fifty Cent Party is a derogatory term since it implies people are bought off cheaply. About half of the positive messages appear on government websites, and the rest are injected into the 80 billion social media posts that enter China's Internet. That means one of every 178 social media posts on China's micro blogs is made up by the government, the researchers said. The sites affected include those run by Tencent Holdings Ltd., Sina Corp. and Baidu Inc.
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China Fakes 488 Million Social Media Posts a Year To Deceive Its Citizens More

China Fakes 488 Million Social Media Posts a Year To Deceive Its Citizens

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  • I'd join the "Fifty Cent Party" (Score:3)

    by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Friday May 20, 2016 @09:04AM (#52148427)
    Too lazy to RTFA, but a "Fifty Cent" party sounds like a good time.

    >> China Fakes 488 Million Social Media Posts a Year To Deceive Its Citizens

    Hmm...that seems low. Here in the US, I'll bet we're at least over a billion on this statistic.
    e.g., http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/18/ap-perpetuates-tale-benghazi-attack-caused-anti-is/

    • The sad part (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20, 2016 @09:26AM (#52148621)

      The sad part is that if you asked around (in China), you would find that a large percentage, if not the majority, of Chinese people actually "support" these forms of oppression. THAT is the power of indoctrination. When you spend your entire life knowing nothing but authoritarianism and oppression, and being told constantly that it's for your benefit, you will have a very difficult time imagining the alternative. It's similar to how a life-long prisoner, upon being set free, finds that he just can't function properly outside of prison. The authoritarianism is actually comforting to them, and that's exactly how the rulers would have it. The only people who dare to imagine a better society are the radicals, and we all know what happens to radicals in China.

      • recurse/
        The sad part is that you replied to that post. /recurse

      • Re:The sad part (Score:5, Insightful)

        by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Friday May 20, 2016 @10:03AM (#52148897)
        >> The only people who dare to imagine a better society are the radicals, and we all know what happens to radicals in China.

        And back here in the US, those of us who dare to imagine a better society are mostly ignored and then arrogantly told that our preferred candidate should "do the right thing" (endorse the status quo) when we try to use our existing democratic process to advance our agenda. Sounds like becoming a radical might be the smarter course of action... :)
        • Radicalization is the problem. The two-party system effectively splits the voting population in half [ijreview.com], maximizing the influence of radicals on both ends of the political spectrum. This disenfranchises the bulk of voters in the center, who end up dissatisfied with the choice of candidates. It's why the two candidates with probably the highest disapproval ratings are going to be the nominees - because most of that disapproval is from the half of voters who aren't voting in that party's primary. (Trump is a

    • That does seem low. Only 488 million?? In a country with eighty billion social posts a year?
      I would have guessed a much higher number.

      • They have thousands of years of momentum.

      • That does seem low. Only 488 million?? In a country with eighty billion social posts a year? I would have guessed a much higher number.

        If your numbers are correct, that means that only about 0.61% of posts, about 1 in every 165, are government astroturfers. That really does seem low. I almost feel like those may be better odds than you get on Slashdot.

        Still, I mean, most social media posts nowadays are just pictures of food. That throws off the statistics, because the Chinese government probably doesn't feel the need to fake many of those. North Korea is another story. I heard that 19 out of the 26 posts on North Korean social media l

    • Sounds like a good name for a band, or a rapper.

  • Free!! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    fortunately in the US we have useful idiots that make the same types of postings free of charge!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Like you. Thanks for serving the country.

  • slackers. less than a billion followers, too.

  • All lies! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Our glorious country and it's beloved leaders would never do such a thing. Please report to a nearby office for re-education.

    • P.S.: I haven't gotten my money for this week, party dear, you still owe me for 3,000 posts. No hurry, just wanted to make sure you know I serve you well!

  • Oh, the irony... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Fifty Cent Party is a derogatory term since it implies people are bought off cheaply.

    And to think there are people in the world willing to do this for no money at all! Imagine being paid, even if it is 50c, for something that you would likely already do, anyway.

    • In India women are daily paid 5 us$ to collect the 1st big sack of tea leaves and us$ 2 for any extra sack (Munnar). In a cold and wet weather.

  • I can't help finding it slightly ironic that this academic study was apparently funded by the US federal government.

    "Our thanks to... DARPA (contract W31P4Q-13-C-0055/983-3) and the National Science Foundation (grant 1500086) for research support".

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      DARPA doesn't tell you how to conduct you research, it either funds you or does not. In this case, DARPA was willing to fund a study that either supported or debunked a claim about their bureaucracy polluting social media. The authors were quite up front about what they were studying in the abstract of their paper.

      • DARPA doesn't tell you how to conduct you research, it either funds you or does not.

        Yeah - just like Monsanto.

  • Where you would literally choke on the government's propaganda, ie the horribly polluted air.

    • China provides you with all the smog you could possible want and you still complain? They have NO smog at all in the western world, or at the very least they can only get it in really huge cities, and even then not always. In wonderful China you can now even have it in the countryside more often than not, and the Chairman and his people are toiling hard day and night to ensure that you will never have to exist without!

      Also, dear party, I haven't been paid for over two weeks... I mean, I had the pleasure of

  • Meanwhile in the USA... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wardrich86 ( 4092007 ) on Friday May 20, 2016 @09:15AM (#52148531)
    488 million accounts are being faked to help spread doom, fear, and other bad news over stupid, menial things like which bathroom people should use, and why unisex bathrooms are the worst idea in the history of the world.

    • Re:Meanwhile in the USA... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TheGratefulNet ( 143330 ) on Friday May 20, 2016 @09:22AM (#52148597)

      I'm very sure the US is NO DIFFERENT.

      we all suspect that various social media sites (this one included) are invaded by paid shills to slant the discussion in the direction that their funders wish.

      the US is definitely not above this. what's different is that its not blatant and official; but that does not mean it does not exist.

      lets also remember that over the last 20 years, the media has been bought by the government in all practical terms. when wa the last time you saw a hardball question thrown to a candidate by the mainstream 'news' ? when a story about privacy or terrorism is breaking, does the news side with the gov or the people?

      corporations are also 'people' now and they pay shills to tip the story balance in their favor via commentors.

      this should be taught in schools; that we are bombarded by info at all directions but that most of it, sadly, is propaganda and you have to be suspicious of everything you hear and see since, well, so many agendas are out there and news isn't news anymore, its paid PR spin.

      at least in china, they know this. in the US, many of us still think that news is real. many of us still think wrestling on TV is real, too (sigh).

      • Re:Meanwhile in the USA... (Score:4, Informative)

        by wardrich86 ( 4092007 ) on Friday May 20, 2016 @09:31AM (#52148667)
        You're right. After I made my silly bathroom post, I remembered reading about Hillary Clinton having her own Propaganda machine hitting sites like Reddit to try to convince people that she's not a bought-out liar.

        • The differences being that the Chinese government is expecting their campaign to be 0. effective and 1. meaningful.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I'm very sure the US is NO DIFFERENT.

        And you're very WRONG. The scale of the posts in China is much, much larger. Like comparing a molehill to a mountain. That, combined with the governments ability to wantonly delete any comments or websites that aren't "government approved", makes a huge difference compared to government and corporate activities in the Western world. Knowledge of this actually isn't that well known among the general Chinese population and you can sure that Chinese language versions of this story won't be available in the

        • Uh...wow...what exactly is going on with you? We have a real casualty of institutionalization here.
          How is it that you know any of this garbage you claim?

          It's also ridiculous to suggest that Slashdot matters enough for anyone to waste effort on "slanting discussions."

          This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
          SLASHDOT EXISTS TO CREATE "SLANTED DISCUSSIONS".
          Obviously it's worth the effort to some one to present information in a particular way otherwise this site would not exist.

          And anyway, do you not believe

      • Yes of course. Which is why any mention of Ferguson is wiped from the internet the way any mention of Tiananmen square is.

        And why in the US, politicans routinely vanish for weeks, and no one dares ask if they had a heart attack.

        And why in the US, reporters refuse to accuse a Secretary of State of having committed crimes, out of fear they will be arrested and charged.

        And why in the US, people that are not established, long standing, loyal members of a political party have zero chance of leading the country.

        • Before you reply, check to make sure you read what I actually wrote rather than what you assume an idiot would write

          But this effort turned out to be a waste, since the two are identical in this case

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        The question isn't whether members of the public are doing it, the question was whether any arm of government was doing it. If any arm of the U.S. government were to do it and it were discovered, there'd be no end to controversy and probably law suits.

        • How can you say something so completely stupid after seeing the public reaction to the unveiling of total surveillance?

          • There is no reaction because there is no total surveillance.

            Now go to bed and don't worry your pretty little mind about it. There are Top Men in charge.

            • yes I suppose humor is the best if not the only way to draw attention to this issue and make people care

        • I'm not sure how you slept through the last several years but you did. Snowden dumped the complete playbook and we found it to be the US Government inside of everything all the time. More than half of the countries we ally with in Europe have shit canned US services and ban new projects from landing on US servers. Not because "Ebil IBM and MS" but the more "EBIL UNCLE SAM".

          Several whistle blowers have been jailed, reporters have been jailed and threatened, and lawsuits have been filed by numerous parties

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I'm very sure the US is NO DIFFERENT.

        we all suspect that various social media sites (this one included) are invaded by paid shills to slant the discussion in the direction that their funders wish.

        the US is definitely not above this. what's different is that its not blatant and official; but that does not mean it does not exist.

        lets also remember that over the last 20 years, the media has been bought by the government in all practical terms. when wa the last time you saw a hardball question thrown to a candidate by the mainstream 'news' ? when a story about privacy or terrorism is breaking, does the news side with the gov or the people?

        corporations are also 'people' now and they pay shills to tip the story balance in their favor via commentors.

        this should be taught in schools; that we are bombarded by info at all directions but that most of it, sadly, is propaganda and you have to be suspicious of everything you hear and see since, well, so many agendas are out there and news isn't news anymore, its paid PR spin.

        at least in china, they know this. in the US, many of us still think that news is real. many of us still think wrestling on TV is real, too (sigh).

        Interesting how a story about China turns into a condemnation of the USA.

        PS. I'm not American.

        • Every discussion on slashdot that is based on negative coverage regarding any nation ALWAYS devolves into a US comparison and bashfest. It's like Godwin's Law, only I'm not sure what it's called. Slashdot's Law?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by s.petry ( 762400 )

          Interesting how a story about China turns into a condemnation of the USA.

          PS. I'm not American.

          You misread that post. That was a proactive denial of wrong doing, not a condemnation. Read it again.

      • Re:Meanwhile in the USA... (Score:5, Informative)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Friday May 20, 2016 @11:00AM (#52149367) Homepage Journal

        Thanks to Snowden we know for a fact that GCHQ, a sub-division of the NSA, does in fact do a lot of manipulation of social media. In fact they mention Slashdot by name.

      • Certain people have purchased media, and at the same time placed puppets into the Government. This is why no matter who we have in office the shit continues. We don't hear about horrible policies and are drown in "interest" stories (AKA Propaganda).

        This is not new, it started back in at least the 60s. Start to track the point where "Conspiracy" synonymous with "false narrative" and "Conspiracy Theorist" was used as an ad hominem against certain types of investigative reporters covering specific types of

      • Exhibit A: Robert Siegel ... paid by US taxpayers to advocate for The Party on NPR's All Things Considered.

        Exhibit B: The National Endowment for the Arts ... paid for by US taxpayers to advocate for electing Barack Obama.

        Exhibit C: The entire NPR network for sacking DEMOCRAT anchors who were not liberal enough (Juan Williams).

        Seriously ... give federal revenues a haircut. Waste, waste, corruption, and more waste.

  • Now we need the same for the C-USA (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    We need now the same kind of study to verify how many paid drones do so on the corporate states of america. I don't doubt the number of government-sponsored posts is very low in the USA, but the corporate propaganda drive there should never be underestimated...

    • I'm confused about your distinction between government and corporations.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sique ( 173459 )
        Corporation don't even try to convince you that you have a right to elect their board of directors. They name the price for the priviledge to vote and call it "price per share".

      • There still is. Corporations have to buy politicians who will then create laws.

        Only Trump can cut out the middle man! Vote Trump!

    • "the corporate propaganda drive "

      You refer to the Worldwide News Media.

  • Whats worse, them or the Putin / Russia shills? (Score:3, Informative)

    by oic0 ( 1864384 ) on Friday May 20, 2016 @09:21AM (#52148583)
    Seems on english speaking sites I run in to far more Putin shills.
  • At least money goes to the people and not to the managers.
  • Russian Trolls!

  • Over 1.33 million posts a day
    Almost 55,500 an hour
    Just over 9000 per minute....

    That's one way to bump up employment

    • And their form of job creation for the unemployables doesn't even clog the airports!

      We should copy... no wait, doesn't work for us here. You have to be literate for that kind of job.

      • And Americans trust government so little, that the fake posts don;t really affect much...

        • It would just have to come from Joe Average from Backwater, Missouri instead of Agent Brown from D.C.

          And yeah, of course a lot of them would be accused of being government shills. So what, people are accused of that already. If every company that I allegedly have a contract with would pay me a buck a month I could buy Apple.

  • 3 point back at you.
  • Here in the USA, we just pay Fox News to do all that for us.

  • Americans fake billions of social media posts every day to deceive other Americans.

  • So the question is, how many posts on this thread will be from the 50 cent party ?

  • Every forum or google search I've done on anything controversial in the last few years is rather obviously populated by people trying to bias opinions or spread obviously false (but oh, so *happy-talk*) information.

    Mentally, you filter it out. Many folks don't, I'm sure.

  • How can Tencent Holdings afford to pay fifty cents a post?

  • Expel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] from your country

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