Twitter and Facebook ban Beijing bots

Dear Access member,

Today’s words of the day are Twitter (推特 tuītè) and Facebook (liǎnshū 脸书), although when Facebook was blocked in 2009, wags on the Chinese internet began calling it 非死不可 fēisǐ bùkě, which means roughly: “You know it’s going to die!” 

One announcement: Our NEXT China conference is happening in New York City on November 21. Early bird tickets are on sale, and the roster of speakers is growing by the day. To learn more, visit events.supchina.com

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief 

1. Twitter and Facebook ban accounts pushing disinformation from Beijing  

China’s state media agencies have been buying large quantities of ads and promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter for years. But their budget seems to have spiked in recent weeks as Beijing has sought to tell its version of the events in Hong Kong. This morning Gizmodo published this story: China’s biggest propaganda agency buys ads on Facebook and Twitter to smear protesters in Hong Kong. 

And it appears Beijing has not just been buying ads. A few short hours after Gizmodo published that story, Facebook and Twitter made announcements.

• Twitter said a “significant” state-backed disinformation campaign had been using 936 accounts that were “specifically attempting to sow political discord in Hong Kong, including undermining the legitimacy and political positions of the protest movement on the ground.” The accounts were all suspended. You can download an archive of the suspicious tweets and accounts on Twitter’s announcement page. 

• By The China Project’s count, 326 of the accounts had over 10,000 followers, meaning that this disinformation campaign likely reached many millions of people. Twitter also said that a “spammy network of approximately 200,000 accounts” has been proactively suspended. 

• Twitter also banned state-owned media companies from buying ads, with a separate announcement. 

• Facebook made a similar announcement: “seven Pages, three Groups and five Facebook accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior as part of a small network that originated in China and focused on Hong Kong” were taken down, says the company. 

2. A weekend of peaceful demonstrations in Hong Kong 

Yesterday, “a sea of Hong Kong protesters marched through the dense city center in the pouring rain on Sunday, defying a police ban, in a vivid display of the movement’s continuing strength after more than two months of demonstrations, days of ugly violence and increasingly vehement warnings from the Chinese government,” reports the New York Times (porous paywall). Hong Kong Free Press has photos. 

• More than 1.7 million people joined the march according to the organizers, making it the second biggest rally since the protests began — on June 16, around two million people protested. 

• The demonstration began with a police-approved rally in Victoria Park where many of the protests have started. Then they walked to Central district, in defiance of a police order against it. 

• There was no violence. Per the Wall Street Journal (paywall): “The peaceful procession was in contrast to recent weekends which have seen bloody battles between protesters and police spread across the city and shuttered the city’s airport last Monday.” 

• The massive turnout shows “that the movement is far from fizzling out, increasing pressure on local officials and their masters in Beijing who have struggled to contain the social unrest,” says the WSJ. 

• On Saturday there was a counter protest in support of the police. The organisers and Chinese state media said an estimated 476,000 people attended the rally, but the Hong Kong Free Press reports that police “put the turnout at 108,000.” 

• China’s propaganda organs continue to churn out disinformation, some of it with the help of professional China-praisers like Martin Jacques, some claiming that all real Hong Kongers want is peace and to love China, and some supporting counter-protests by Chinese students in other countries. All of the state messaging suggests that young people in Hong Kong have no agency; see for example: The riots that have kidnapped the youth are the greatest evil. (All links in Chinese; see also What is China’s propaganda machine saying about the Hong Kong protests, by scholar Fāng Kěchéng 方可成 in the Washington Post.)

• For a taste in English from the China Daily and Global Times (whose ads are now banned from Twitter): 

  • Who is behind Hong Kong protests? 

  • Hong Kong society cannot remain silent as the city sinks; 

  • Law must hold all wrongdoers in HK to account;  

  • HK youth deceived by West. 

• And then there’s this rap video from state broadcaster CGTN, sent out with this tweet: “Hey Hong Kong protesters! Chinese mainland rappers have something to say”

Other news from Hong Kong:

Another airline succumbs to pressure from Beijing: “Finnair warned its flight attendants in Hong Kong against bringing it into disrepute and, citing a customer backlash, including cancellations, warned crews they would be removed from future flights for mentioning the company’s name in protest-related social media posts,” reports the South China Morning Post. 

“The Chinese government aims to transform Shenzhen into a global business center, in an apparent gambit to position the southern city as a model of stable prosperity compared with neighboring Hong Kong,” says Nikkei Asian Review (porous paywall). The State Council Information Office says “China will build the southern city of Shenzhen into a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

In his incoherent way, Donald Trump warned Beijing that trade talks might be affected by a violent crackdown in Hong Kong: “I think it would be very hard to deal if they do violence. If it’s another Tiananmen Square … I think it’s a very hard thing to do if there’s violence,” he said, per the South China Morning Post. As the New York Times notes (porous paywall), the troop buildup in Shenzhen remains a “stark warning” for Hong Kong.  

2. Huawei gets another temporary reprieve 

“Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday that his department will grant another temporary reprieve to Huawei Technologies, delaying the implementation of a penalty on the Chinese tech giant for another 90 days,” reports the Washington Post: 

Ross made the announcement during an appearance on Fox Business Network.

“It is another 90 days for the U.S. telecom companies,” Ross said. “Some of the rural companies are dependent on Huawei. So we’re giving them a little more time to wean themselves off. But no specific licenses are being granted for anything.”

On Sunday, President Trump suggested that his administration was not likely to grant another reprieve to Huawei, citing national security concerns.

One other noteworthy piece of news from various fronts of the U.S.-China techno-trade war, day 410: 

“FedEx Corporation, under pressure in China over its diversions of packages from Huawei Technologies, is seeking to defuse a delivery mishap involving a firearm, reports the South China Morning Post. 

In the latest case, a United States client sent a handgun via FedEx to a sports good company in the Fujian provincial capital of Fuzhou, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. The firearm never made it to the sporting goods company and was seized by local police, who are investigating the incident.

3. Beijing calls up sycophants for Xinjiang white paper quotes

On Friday we noted that Beijing had published a second white paper on Xinjiang, a defense of the internment camps system. Now Xinhua News Agency claims there has been global praise for China’s white paper on Xinjiang. The article quotes a variety of experts from Sri Lanka, Morocco, Russia, Thailand, and Rwanda who say the second white paper “is a significant step in the fight against terrorism and religious extremism.”

Less impressed by the white paper are the three Uyghur Chinese citizens in this New York Times video op-ed: China: Free our parents from concentration camps. 

—Jeremy Goldkorn

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Beidou and GPS
  China’s version of GPS now has more satellites than US original / Nikkei Asian Review (porous paywall)
  “China’s BeiDou satellite positioning system has overtaken its U.S. rival in size, a shift with potentially huge implications for both high-tech industry and national security.”

• Autonomous vehicles
  China dedicates a mountain highway to test self-driving cars / SCMP
  “China has dedicated a mountainous stretch of highway in eastern Shandong province for testing connected, self-driving vehicles.”

• TV: A profitable period drama
  Alibaba-backed streaming site’s period drama gamble pays off / Caixin (paywall)
  “Youku spent big on a popular Chinese period action drama that echoes the structure of the U.S. smash hit ‘24.’ Now, that investment appears to have paid off.”

• Homegrown animation
  China box office: ‘Nezha’ hurtles towards $600 million / Hollywood Reporter
  “With a running cumulative gross of $587.1 million, Nézhā 哪吒 is not only China’s biggest animated blockbuster ever — it has earned more than double the total of the market’s second-biggest animated hit, Disney’s Zootopia, which topped out at $236 million in 2016.”

• Huawei and 5G
  Huawei’s first 5G phone goes on sale in China as it pushes ahead with launch despite US pressure / CNBC
  “Huawei’s Mate 20 X 5G smartphone went on sale on Friday.”

• Dodgy TCM hospital
  Traditional medicine hospital in China accused of setting ‘sales targets’ for staff / SCMP
  “A hospital in central China has been accused of requiring its staff to meet admissions targets for patients, and of responding violently to reporters’ requests for comment.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Venezuelan oil
  China CNPC suspends Venezuelan oil loading, worried about U.S. sanctions: sources / Reuters via Yahoo
  “China National Petroleum Corp, a leading buyer of Venezuelan oil, has halted August loadings following the latest set of U.S. sanctions on the South American exporter.”

• European anxieties
  China is investing in Europe — but there are strings attached / Washington Post 

China has been investing in Europe in conjunction with its broadly defined Belt and Road Initiative. And it has focused special attention on Central European countries.

“They’re looking for a way to project their political influence,” said Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek.

For many European Union decisions, each country has an equal vote, meaning China needs to win over only a few leaders to nudge E.U. policy in a favorable direction.

• “Rumors and much cyberbullying” for filmmaker
  Chinese director Zhu Yu withdraws film from Taiwan’s Golden Horse awards / SCMP

Chinese documentary director Zhu Yu, who previously was ready to defy Beijing’s boycott of Taiwan’s Golden Horse awards, has withdrawn from the film festival.

The Beijing Film Academy graduate announced on an unverified Weibo account on Saturday that she and her film, Young People Question Taoism, would no longer be in the running for the high-profile awards… 

“I’m an ordinary citizen, not a celebrity … so nobody read about the news of me withdrawing from the competition,” she said. “In fact, there were many rumours and much cyberbullying – my safety has been threatened, so I’m making this clarification now.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Fake Chinese police cars in Australia
  Hoax Chinese police cars on the streets of Australia spark alarm / SCMP
  “Cars that resemble Chinese police vehicles have been spotted on the streets of Australia, sparking confusion and alarm amid growing tensions between Chinese communities in the country over the future of Hong Kong.”

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