Xinhua has more than 31 million followers on Facebook.
New York Times: China Spreads Propaganda to U.S. on Facebook, a Platform It Bans at Home
HONG KONG — China does not allow its people to gain access to Facebook, a powerful tool for disseminating information and influencing opinion.
As if to demonstrate the platform’s effectiveness, outside its borders China uses it to spread state-produced propaganda around the world, including the United States. So much do China’s government and companies value Facebook that the country is Facebook’s biggest advertising market in Asia, even as it is the only major country in the region that blocks the social network.
A look at the Facebook pages of China Central Television, the leading state-owned broadcast network better known as CCTV, and Xinhua, China’s official news agency, reveals hundreds of English-language posts intended for an English-speaking audience.
Each quarter, China’s government, through its state media agencies, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy Facebook ads, according to a person with knowledge of those deals, who was unauthorized to talk publicly about the company’s revenue streams.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: Truth be told .... the Chinese government is terrified when it comes to social media that it cannot control .... Facebook included. But as a tool to be used to send its message abroad .... they are addicted to it.
