Exclusive | Meet the man fighting the Chinese internet’s fake news epidemic
- The founder of China Fact Check says misinformation about foreign affairs is rife on Chinese social media as many people cannot access international media
- Project found most of the fake stories are pro-Trump, and include false claims about voter fraud, George Soros and Black Lives Matter
So much fake news from other countries is spilling over onto Chinese social media that a Shanghai journalist has started a fact-checking project for Chinese readers, many of whom have limited English skills and little direct access to mainstream media.
“[Donald] Trump has not only influenced the US in the past four years, but he has also heavily influenced ordinary Chinese, including some well-educated ones, and undermined their trust in the mainstream media,” said Wei Xing, a Shanghai-based journalist and founder of Chinafactcheck.com.
Like many journalists in China, Wei is deeply troubled by widespread posts on Chinese social media, many of which look like reposts of news coverage in English, often dubbed with descriptions in Chinese that are exaggerated and inaccurate.
Chinese internet users who have limited English skills and no direct access to mainstream international media outlets – most of which are blocked by censors and need a VPN to access – are the main consumers of such posts.
They even include some well-educated Chinese friends and acquaintances of Wei, including university professors.