TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese civil society organization on Monday (April 8) presented evidence of Beijing's strategies to concoct an “alternative worldview” for Mandarin Chinese speakers and use TikTok to amplify this construct.
Yu Chih-hao (游知澔), a software designer and co-director of the Taiwanese Information Environment Research Center, or IORG, delivered a presentation on Taiwan's experience of Chinese interference at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday. He said his organization analyzes the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) influence and impact on Taiwan's information environment through its activities.
He said that CCP information manipulation is creating an “alternative worldview” for Mandarin speakers in Taiwan and across the globe. He added that this is conducted through the five following strategies:
- Discredit Taiwan's democratic governance
- Discredit Taiwan's allies
- Divide the Taiwanese public
- Reinforce the perception that Taiwan is a party-state
- Glorify China's power and governing model
Yu said that an example of methods used to follow these strategies includes the launch of fake polls to try to sway public opinion during elections. He cited reports by the Financial Times and Reuters as stating the CCP worked with Taiwanese media to “orient our public discourse.”
Yu said that a major tactic by CCP propagandists is to stoke “U.S. skepticism.” He said that 84 narratives on the subject have been detected since 2021, including eight types that discredit the U.S. and U.S.-Taiwan relations
Recent examples of narratives include:
- U.S. instructs Taiwan to build a biowarfare lab in Taiwan
- U.S. will help Taiwan president to escape when war breaks out
- U.S. is cause of the Israel-Palestinian conflict
- U.S. weapons sales, military coordination, and support packages are pushing Taiwan toward war
Yu said IORG believes this skepticism is mirrored by favorable propaganda about China. For example, the U.S. is portrayed as a “fake friend” that will abandon Taiwan, while China is the “real family” and has helped Taiwan.
His group found there are CCP proxies circulating content that is identical to that of state-media Douyin accounts. The similarity of the content and timing of release indicate coordinated propaganda efforts by CCP operatives in Fujian Province.
The group concluded that this campaign was successful in amplifying CCP propaganda on TikTok.
In terms of evidence, the group tallied 106 instances of identical footage posted by the “Two Tea Eggs” TikTok account and Douyin videos. For example, a propaganda video on the Kinmen Chinese speedboat capsizing incident first posted on YouTube, was quickly posted on the Two Tea Eggs TikTok channel and shared on Taiwan-related Chinese state media Douyin accounts.
They found that sharing the content on Douyin amplified the reach of the video by 100% while placing it on TikTok increased the reach nearly two-fold. This made the Chinese disinformation video on the Kinmen speedboat sinking the most viewed video on the subject.
In the IORG report on China's TikTok proxies, the group said that given more Taiwanese use TikTok than Douyin, “cultivating TikTok proxies is a reasonable and effective strategy for PRC content to reach its intended Taiwanese audience.”
The group concluded that “data-driven research on TikTok content and account activities is essential to assist the Taiwanese public in assessing the risks associated with using TikTok.”
