If you’ve ever posted anything, ever, online that might be remotely critical of Russia, you’re probably familiar with Russia’s marching army of propaganda trolls. Any website with a “Russia” tag will be found by them eventually. And it was widely believed that China had a similar, largely internally focused operation. And it does, but the exact nature, and behavior, takes trolling to the next level.
Foreign Policy looks at the latest and most extensive research of China’s trolling operations, and it blows up quite a few assumptions. For example, it was widely believed that China employed wumao, translated roughly as “50-centers” because that’s what they were paid per social media post. Mostly, though, it appears China’s professional trolls are already holding down a government job somewhere else, and are just doing this out of “patriotic spirit.”
Secondly, instead of being angry at people, they flood any discussion of serious political issues with a degree of mindless vapidity Shares From Your Aunt can only stare at in awe and jealousy:
Of the posts the researchers analyzed, 80 percent were labeled “cheerleading,” and 13 percent “non-argumentative praise or suggestions.” These include such barn-burners as, “We all have to work harder, to rely on ourselves, to take the initiative to move forward” and, “We hope the central government provides us with even more support.”
In other words, they shut down conversation by offering mindless slogans. How did these academics find this government shills? They asked them if they were shills, and they confirmed it.
Of course, this isn’t to downplay the very real issues Chinese citizens face daily. Blandly replying government slogans to requests for more civil rights is a bit worrying in its own special way, and just as worrying is the implication that when you do run across somebody arguing for China’s current regime, they’re doing it of their own free will. But we guess at least they’re not making the Internet worse. That’s something, right?
(via Foreign Policy)