Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

‘Never Trump?’ ‘Never Biden’ voters might loom larger.

How Jim Jordan tried to connect the dots on Biden’s $8 million book deal

Lawyer preparation suggests Trump won’t testify in New York trial

The world’s coolest hotels want to tell you a story

6 Airbnb red flags to spot before you make a booking mistake

Flying budget airlines might not be as cheap as it seems

The problem with diversity statements — and what to do about them

Russia shows resilience. There is more to do for Ukraine.

Trump promises tax cuts and fewer rules. CEOs shouldn’t fall for it.

Biden’s false claim that inflation was 9 percent when he took office

Did Obamacare ‘massively’ increase the cost of health care?

Would you eat this weird sandwich? Barry Enderwick would. 

She finished chemo then got a medical degree: ‘The dream is real now’

Puppy abandoned with heart-rending note is adopted, named Minerva

Kyle Finnegan’s rare hiccup helps Phillies to a 4-3 win in 10 innings

Joey Gallo returns, but Nats endure another quiet offensive night

Walter Johnson’s jersey from 1920 showdown with Babe Ruth sold at auction

Blue Origin to fly again as space tourism struggles to get off the ground

Why this company’s biggest fans turned against it

These ISIS news anchors are AI fakes. Their propaganda is real.

Carolyn Hax: Friends say to break other plans to avoid offending new man

Ask Amy: Should my husband get a say in what I do with my inheritance?

Ask Amy: Can’t a single woman eat alone without interruption?

The other side of Punta Cana: A crackdown on Haitians

Top White House aide to meet Netanyahu, who is under political pressure

Live updates: Rescuers struggle to find helicopter carrying Iranian president

In photos: The 149th running of the Preakness Stakes

Book Tour: At home with Amor Towles

Gov. Doug Burgum speaks in support of Trump

Trump

Lintao Zhang

SYDNEY — Beijing’s state-controlled propaganda units are forging ties with Chinese tech companies, including the sister company of popular e-commerce firm Temu, in what researchers say is likely a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/china-harvests-masses-of-data-on-western-targets-documents-show/2021/12/31/3981ce9c-538e-11ec-8927-c396fa861a71_story.html" target=_blank>coordinated effort to gather targeted data on foreign users</a> that can be used to bolster misinformation campaigns and other state propaganda work abroad.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a Canberra think tank, <a href="https://www.aspi.org.au/report/truth-and-reality-chinese-characteristics" target=_blank>released a report</a> on Wednesday that mapped extensive linkages between state-run propaganda groups and Chinese tech firms, including popular shopping and gaming apps with hundreds of millions of combined users in the United States and elsewhere.

U.S. lawmakers have in recent years raised concerns that the soaring popularity of Chinese-owned apps among American users could have national security implications.

“They use those companies to gain access to strategically valuable data sets, within China, but also globally, to process and use that data to contribute to propaganda work,” said Samantha Hoffman, a former senior analyst at the ASPI who led the research.

The <a href="https://chinainfoblocks.aspi.org.au/" target=_blank>report maps ties between over a thousand</a> Chinese government organizations and Chinese companies, including state-owned enterprises. It includes details of a cooperation agreement between the Chinese sister company of Temu — the breakout Chinese shopping app with over 100 million U.S. users — and a unit of the Communist Party-controlled media group People’s Daily, which shares commercial data with the Chinese government and police.

Information funneled to these state data agencies could offer Beijing valuable insights into patterns of preferences, behavior and decision-making that can be used in targeted misinformation campaigns among other applications, the report’s researchers say.

Hoffman says the findings highlight an urgent need for lawmakers to increase scrutiny of how user data is repurposed and consider registering internet companies with ties to China’s state-controlled propaganda groups as state agents — a restrictive designation applied to Chinese state media in the United States.

The report comes amid a crackdown on Chinese-owned apps in the United States — including TikTok — over fears that their data could be accessed and misused by the Chinese government. Under Beijing’s strict national data framework, companies are legally compelled to give authorities access to data stored in the country on request.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">President Biden</a> signed a bill into law last week that would compel TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the app. The legislation <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/tiktok-bill-isnt-just-about-tiktok/" target=_blank>also leaves space to target other apps</a> controlled by Chinese owners, including Temu.

Beijing has strongly condemned efforts by the United States to restrict Chinese apps on the grounds of national security.

“It is sheer robbers’ logic to try every means to snatch from others all the good things that they have,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in March, after the House passed the legislation to force Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest TikTok.

While links between Chinese propaganda units and the country’s tech products are becoming increasingly visible, there is little direct insight into how data harvested and shared is used.

“It’s hard to tell that story in so many ways because there’s never going to be that sort of smoking gun … and yet you can see that the propaganda system in China is investing heavily into these efforts, so it must matter,” said Hoffman.

Beijing tightly controls information through a web of state propaganda units, censorship restrictions, and technical infrastructure that separates Chinese internet users from information outside the country — including bans on all popular Western social media and news outlets.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has sought to retool its propaganda to control and influence narratives about the ruling Communist Party abroad, either by promoting positive messages or by undermining its critics. That drive has become increasingly visible through the aggressive expansion of Chinese state media abroad, as well as the proliferation of networks of pro-Beijing misinformation accounts on social media.

That process is aided by large-scale data collection conducted by a growing number of sophisticated groups, linked to China’s central propaganda authorities, that are investing in technology, creating state-controlled data-sharing platforms and building partnerships with Chinese tech firms operating abroad.

One of the leading entities behind this drive is the state-run People’s Daily media group, which in recent years has spawned units to oversee mass data harvesting and cloud services that in turn are made accessible to the government, police and other state clients looking to better understand perceptions of Beijing abroad and target critics.

Among the links uncovered by ASPI is a partnership between Pinduoduo — the sister company of Temu — and People’s Data Management, a unit of People’s Daily that facilitates state data sharing.

According to the <a href="https://www.peopledata.com.cn/html/ABOUTUS/" target=_blank>People’s Data website</a>, the unit says its role is to “break down data barriers between party committees, governments, enterprises and institutions at all levels,” and facilitate the flow of “social data” to the Chinese Communist Party. The project is part of a broader national drive to bring commercial and industrial data into state-run exchanges and cloud centers in aid of a guiding national principle called “party managed data.”

Pinduoduo is listed as an enterprise partner on the website of People’s Data. Pinduoduo, in a statement, denied it has a data-sharing agreement as part of its cooperation agreement with People’s Data, and said it works with the state propaganda unit to “to distribute editorial content like press releases.”

Boston-based Temu says it does not have a relationship with People’s Data, and says it stores U.S. user data on Microsoft Azure cloud services in the United States.

People’s Data is a unit of People’s Daily Online, a group that The Washington Post previously reported <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/china-harvests-masses-of-data-on-western-targets-documents-show/2021/12/31/3981ce9c-538e-11ec-8927-c396fa861a71_story.html" target=_blank>conducts extensive overseas surveillance</a> of Western social media targets on behalf of Chinese police and intelligence services, according to troves of government bidding documents.

ASPI researchers pointed to caveats in Temu’s data-sharing agreements that allow information to flow to affiliates — which Hoffman says could include Pinduoduo.

“Significant downstream data-access risks emerge if you follow the logic of the Party-state’s stated policy intent,” said Hoffman.

People’s Data did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Pinduoduo <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-suspends-chinas-pinduoduo-app-due-malware-issues-2023-03-21/" target=_blank>was suspended in the Google App store last year</a> over violations of Google’s privacy rules. The company is also facing <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/temu-class-action-lawsuit-illinois-data-privacy-concerns/" target=_blank>class-action lawsuits in Illinois</a> and New York over what users claim is unwarranted collection of unnecessary data.

The ASPI report also notes partnerships between People’s Data and Didi Chuxing — China’s top ride-hailing app, which operates in Australia, New Zealand and 10 countries in Central and Latin America — and Air China, the country’s top state-run airline.

State propaganda authorities are likewise expanding links with Chinese gaming, artificial intelligence and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/30/what-is-the-metaverse/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">metaverse</a> companies. In one case study, researchers point to links between a Communist Party national technology program and the popular international game and mobile app Genshin Impact, made by Chinese firm Shanghai miHoYo Tianming Technology.

Pro-Chinese misinformation campaigns have recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/02/16/x-meta-china-disinformation/" target=_blank>expanded on X</a>, while Meta in November <a href="https://apnews.com/article/meta-facebook-2024-election-misinformation-china-956019723463918043e060ac577270f7" target=_blank>cracked down on a network of thousands of Facebook accounts</a> set up in China that sought to boost the country’s image.

Chinese actors are increasingly developing new techniques, including <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/24/pro-china-influence-campaign-infiltrates-us-news-websites/" target=_blank>one campaign uncovered last year</a> that saw state-friendly articles placed on the websites of dozens of local U.S. newspapers.

“The more we understand this system and the more we can get on top of managing its implications, the more we’re able to control the negative effects of those efforts,” said Hoffman.

University of Technology Sydney, BA in Communications/Journalism 

University of Technology Sydney, BA in International Studies

Cate Cadell is a Washington Post national security reporter covering the U.S.-China relationship. She previously reported for Reuters News, where she was a politics correspondent based in Beijing.

Cate Cadell

washpost

China’s propaganda units harvest data from overseas tech firms

the-washington-post

China's Standing Committee Members Of The 20th CPC Central Committee Meet With Press

Staff

Getty Images

Foreign Policy

Intelligence

Justice

Military

National Security

prism://prism.query/site,/national-security&limit=20

Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.

The Washington Post's coverage of national security issues, including the military, intelligence, justice, and foreign policy.

prism://prism.query/site,/world/asia-pacific&limit=20

Asia

The Washington Post provides the latest information and analysis of breaking Asia news stories. Includes news coverage on China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Cambodia.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/world/&limit=20

World

The Washington Post World section provides information and analysis of breaking world news stories. In addition to our world news and video, Post World News offers discussions and blogs on major international news and economic issues.