China’s YouTube army of foreign fans takes on Western ‘lies’ about human rights abuses
- YouTubers with hundreds of videos reaching millions of viewers are being deployed as a weapon in the information war against China’s critics, experts say
- YouTube is inaccessible in China without a VPN. Yet, these videos are warmly received on Chinese social media and state outlets often republish their content
The China-based foreigners defending Beijing from Xinjiang genocide claims
Experts say they are being deployed as a weapon in the information war against China’s critics, with hundreds of videos reaching millions of viewers.
“I am trying to reach the people that have been brainwashed,” Fernando Munoz Bernal, a Colombian English teacher in southern China’s Dongguan and the owner of the “FerMuBe” channel, told AFP.
Western media seek to deflect from problems in their parts of the world by “creating enemies out of thin air” in China, Bernal said.
He is not alone.
“Does this look like oppression? Take a look at this buffet!” says Brit Jason Lightfoot, with 173,000 subscribers, in another video of the same genre as he visits a restaurant in Guizhou province.
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The vloggers deny being paid mouthpieces for the Chinese government, instead claiming to be on self-appointed missions to clear up misconceptions about a country they love.
Their backgrounds are often in fields unrelated to current affairs or politics, while their videos blend footage of everyday life with passionate commentaries defending China.
Bernal, who speaks some Chinese, said he was motivated by fear of a conflict between China and the West sparked by what he calls a “disinformation campaign” against Beijing.
“If there is a war, it’s my life at risk,” he told AFP.
YouTube can’t be accessed inside China without special VPN software.
Yet, like the other YouTubers, Bernal’s subtitled videos get a warm reception on Chinese social media platforms including Bilibili, while state media frequently republishes their content and features the vloggers online.
The same media often rips into unfavourable reporting by accredited foreign journalists.
“Where possible, the propaganda system is bound to integrate them into their own propaganda efforts,” Florian Schneider, politics researcher and director of the Leiden Asia Centre, said.
Bernal said he and other YouTubers shared “opportunities to collaborate with state media” but insisted he was not a propagandist for China’s Communist Party.
His videos have featured tours sponsored by the government-run China Radio International, where he interviews other YouTubers about criticisms of China and explores rural development projects.
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Lee Barrett of the “Barrett” channel, which has over 300,000 YouTube subscribers, recently addressed the question of state media repurposing his content for PR.
“If you’re making some content that the government likes, or whatever, what’s the problem with them reposting it?” he said in a video.
Barret declined to be interviewed by AFP after initially agreeing to speak.
Many of the vloggers started their channels with apolitical lifestyle videos, but their content has in recent months dovetailed with official narratives.
Lightfoot’s early videos were focused on his travels around Asia as he sampled street food and sang at karaoke lounges.
But last year, he began posting frequently on Western “lies” about China, while making spoof videos of an exaggerated, fictional “BSB news” network modelled after the BBC.
Beijing routinely condemns BBC reporting for alleged bias, accusing it of fabricating human rights abuses.
Lightfoot did not respond to AFP’s request for an interview.
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It is difficult to quantify the influence of the YouTubers outside China, with many of their commenters claiming to be grateful Chinese.
That raises a question about their target audience, says analyst Schneider, as the videos are “hardly going to convince anyone who is not already a believer”.
While researchers have said China uses fake accounts and “bots” to manipulate online traffic, AFP did not find proof that the YouTubers were part of this effort.