From offering YouTubers “cash for clicks” or sponsored trips to China, the CCP has amped up efforts for propaganda videos produced that take a positive tone on the country, while discrediting their critics.
“As a survivor of communist China’s Cultural Revolution, I’d like to warn the leaders of American corporations: China learned disastrous lessons from destroying freedom of speech, and America cannot afford to repeat its mistake.” warns Yukong Mike Zhao.
This is a new kind of war against civilians for control of their minds. Governments are relying increasingly on controlling public “narratives” and vilifying dissent.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance employs former Chinese Communist Party officials, including individuals with military ties, to executive roles and grants party members preferential treatment in hiring processes. Its founder has also pledged to use ByteDance to “promote socialist core values” and devotion to the Chinese Communist Party, which recently acquired an official stake in the company.
