Chinese Media Company Paid Twitter To Promote Ads Attacking Hong Kong Protesters

Politics affects real life as well as the internet, as China's news agency Xinhua had shown.

The official state-run press agency of the People's Republic of China is the biggest and most influential media organization in the country. And here, it was found to have purchased ads on Twitter to promote tweets attacking the protesters in Hong Kong.

The demonstrations that began in March to protest a since-suspended extradition bill, has later have grown to include other demands, like the release of imprisoned protesters, inquiries into police conduct, the resignation of Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam and a more democratic process for electing Legislative Council members and the chief executive.

The promoted tweets from the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, were spotted and shared by the Twitter account of Pinboard, the bookmarking service founded by Maciej Ceglowski, and other users:

Companies and government entities in buying ads on social media networks isn't anything new.

As for China, its government has been furiously clamping down anything that stands in its way, including critics who voice their dissents.

On Twitter, the social media is blocked beyond Hong Kong. But the attempt was meant to control political conversation on social networks whether or not most Chinese can see them. In that regard, this is just an extension of China's ongoing strategy to shape political discussions on the platforms.

With the ads capable of reaching millions of people, the purpose of the Xinhua ads can also encourage protesters to think that support for their cause is dwindling. Furthermore, the ads can also help China influence international observers.

This is putting Twitter in an awkward position.

Twitter itself has only an estimated 10 million Chinese citizens on its platform, with the government also keeping an eye on those who use VPNs to access blocked services.

While the social site is no stranger to attempts at political manipulation, the ads from Xinhua risks Twitter in alienating Hong Kong protesters. Allowing such ads to run can hurt the platform and free speech advocates. On the other hand, blocking ads from a major government-supported publication could provoke a harsh response with consequences.

Finding itself between the escalating clash between China’s government and the protesters in Hong Kong, a spokesperson for the company said that the ads are flagged and have been removed for violating its advertising policies.

Specifically, the ads had broken its “inappropriate content” rules.

Later, the social media announced that it has banned more than 900 accounts purported to be linked to a China-sponsored disinformation campaign against the citizens of Hong Kong, and started to extend its policies to ban ads from all state-sponsored news sources globally.

On its blog post on August 19th, Twitter said that: