China is paying Twitter to publish propaganda against Hong Kong protesters

Twitter has caught itself in a propaganda war after it was found running ads from China’s state-backed media outlet Xinhua News attacking Hong Kong protesters.

The promoted tweets (aka ads) — which were captured on social bookmarking site Pinboard — delve into how the escalating violence in the territory has “taken a heavy toll on social order,” while some others were about Hong Kong citizens allegedly calling China is “our motherland.”

Xinhua News has also been running multiple ads on Facebook related to the unrest in Hong Kong — all starting August 18 or after — targeting countries like the US, China, India, and Mexico.

The recent wave of anti-government protests in Hong Kong were triggered by a bill (since suspended) that would allow people accused of crimes against mainland China to be extradited.

Every day I go out and see stuff with my own eyes, and then I go to report it on Twitter and see promoted tweets saying the opposite of what I saw. Twitter is taking money from Chinese propaganda outfits and running these promoted tweets against the top Hong Kong protest hashtags pic.twitter.com/6Wb0Km6GOb

— Pinboard (@Pinboard) August 17, 2019

While the former British colony enjoys a special status that grants people rights and freedom not seen in the mainland, the move has attracted criticism because of potential concerns that China is tightening its grip over the region.

In addition to undermining Hong Kong‘s judicial independence, the proposal could also be used to target civilians who speak out against the Chinese government.

But it’s been long established that China likes to keep a close watch on social networks, homegrown and elsewhere, in an attempt to stifle dissent. The New York Times reported earlier this year that the country has been cracking down on people who post criticism of the government on Twitter, even though the service is officially blocked inside its border.

In June, Twitter apologized after it suspended hundreds of accounts that were critical of the Chinese government days before of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The company said that the accounts “were not mass reported by the Chinese authorities.”

CCTV has yet to show a shot of the anti-police-violence march today. Instead it’s all five-star flags, calls for peace and misleading quotes about HK breaking away from China. Stuff just about everyone in China can get behind. Best quote: “I love China, I love HK.” Controversial! pic.twitter.com/6YxFjlyHN4

— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) August 18, 2019

China’s efforts to shape political conversations on platforms regardless of its presence in the mainland became evident after it was found to be the second-largest country for Facebook ad revenue after the US.

While one can understand that Twitter relies on advertising for revenues, profiting from disinformation by sending out anti-Hong Kong protest messages sets a wrong precedent.

For social media services like Facebook and Twitter — which have come under scrutiny for their outsized influence on worldwide election processes — showing propaganda-disguised-as-ads further risks eroding trust among people, especially when it’s trying its best to establish as the go-to place for news.