Astroturf and sockpuppets · 2004-2017 · China

China's 50 Cent Party

Chinese officials have run teams of internet commentators since at least October 2004, when the Changsha propaganda department began hiring them. In 2007 Hu Jintao called for "positive publicity" online. In 2017 Gary King, Jennifer Pan and Margaret Roberts analysed leaked emails from one district and estimated the government fabricates about 448 million social media comments a year. They found most are cheerleading that changes the subject, not arguments with critics. The "50 cents per post" pay is a rumour, not found in their data.

Run by
China
Party and government propaganda offices at local level
Fabricated comments a year (estimate)
448 million
Estimate by King, Pan and Roberts, from leaked emails of one district
Strategy found
Distraction
Cheerleading and subject-changing, not arguing with sceptics
Time to exposure
Dec 2014
A blogger published over 2,700 emails from Zhanggong District, Ganzhou; study printed 2017

Timeline

  1. Oct 2004 · Context

    The Changsha CCP Propaganda Department begins hiring internet commentators, one of the earliest known uses.

  2. 23 Jan 2007 · Context

    Hu Jintao tells a Politburo study session to reinforce "ideological and public opinion front construction and positive publicity".

  3. 16 Jan 2014 · It worked

    After a televised "Internet exchange" with Ganzhou's CCP secretary Shi Wenqing, commentators are instructed to post seven discussion points.

  4. 2013-14 · It worked

    Leaked emails show the Zhanggong District internet office with three full-time staff and over 300 commentators, who China Digital Times says are cadres and officials.

  5. Dec 2014 · Exposed

    A blogger publishes the archive: over 2,700 emails from the Zhanggong District Internet Propaganda Office.

  6. 2017 · Exposed

    King, Pan and Roberts publish their study in the American Political Science Review (vol. 111, no. 3, pp. 484-501), estimating about 448 million fabricated comments a year and finding that the posts avoid arguing with sceptics.

Commentator teams existed from 2004, but the first large scale empirical analysis of what they post came 13 years later, from leaked emails.

“distract the public and change the subject”

Gary King, Jennifer Pan and Margaret E. Roberts, American Political Science Review 111(3), 2017, abstract

The playbook

  1. 1

    Hidden messenger

    Commentators posted as ordinary users; the study identified them from leaked internal emails, not from anything visible in the posts.

  2. 2

    Sockpuppet amplification

    Government staff wrote an estimated 448 million comments a year, which made official lines look like popular opinion.

Through the FATE framework

  • Focus8/10

    The stated goal is to change the subject, steering attention away from criticism.

  • Authority4/10

    Posts rely on symbols of the state, not on claimed expertise.

  • Tribe6/10

    Cheerleading for China and the Party builds national and in-group feeling.

  • Emotion5/10

    Mostly patriotic and positive messaging rather than fear or outrage.

Propaganda techniques used

Same playbook today

The same playbook can be run by anyone, on any side. We list every current PSYOP that matches China's 50 Cent Party, whoever is behind it.

No live PSYOP we track matches this playbook right now. When one does, it will appear here.