Facebook Has Become A Tool Used For Chinese Propaganda

Despite the social media site being banned in the country, Facebook has become a powerful propaganda tool for the Communist Chinese Party.

The genocide of the Uyghurs in China has been brought to public attention but China is moving to change the story by buying up ad space on Facebook. The Wall Street Journal reported that A Facebook spokesperson said that the ads in question did not violate any of Facebooks policies. Ironic that this is the same company that pushed hard to monitor who posts what content related to political movements after Russian disinformation artists were caught creating Facebook pages related to US politics.

From PJ Media: 

Hundreds of millions of people around the world are exposed to Facebook highlighting sponsored posts from the Chinese Communists that show Muslim ethnic minority Uyghurs happy and laughing the day away in China’s Xinjiang region.

This is not a question of posting the views of the Chinese government on trade, or geo-political issues, or on celebrations of the Chinese New Year, or any other sovereign national issue. There is truth. And there are lies. And if Facebook can’t tell the difference between “opinion” or “propaganda,” it should cease accepting ads from all governments everywhere.

“These ads provide a vehicle for Beijing’s propaganda,” said a spokesman for New York-based human-rights group Avaaz, which has studied Xinjiang and the Chinese government’s Facebook advertising practices. “Even if the amounts aren’t huge, it’s a direct profit stream” for Facebook, he said. “That’s what’s particularly troubling.”

But “troubling” to whom? Certainly not Facebook leadership that feigns surprise and shock that the Uyghurs are mistreated. Nor does it appear to trouble the Chinese government news service, CGTN.

Even Facebooks employees are upset over the selling of ads to China for the purposes of propaganda. Its clear that Facebook doesn’t want to mess up any relationship with China, there is to much money involved. While Facebook will never be available in China, the Communist Chinese Party will continue to buy ad space so long as it appears to be an effective tool. China is currently using this to cover-up mass murder but imagine all the other ways they could use this, they could attempt to move public opinion in the US and gain an upper hand in trade negotiations.

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