this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
71 points (98.6% liked)

Europe

11924 readers
735 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the admin that applied the rule (check modlog first to find who was it.)

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
federalreverse@feddit.org
poVoq@slrpnk.net
anzo@programming.dev
EuroMod@feddit.org
71
Trump administration plans $4 million for right-wing media in Europe, sources say (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 day ago by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to c/europe@feddit.org
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] tardigrade@scribe.disroot.org 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

External propaganda - meaning the disinformation and misinformation outside of the country contrary to the domestic propaganda within the country - emerged in China during the Yan’an period (1935-1947) as the Chinese Communist Party made its base in the northern province of Shaanxi, as the China Media Project writes in an excellent analysis, stating that the idea of external propaganda, if not yet the concrete term, emerged as early as the 1920s in China.

In the 21st century, it has been given a new push, of course. As Reporters Without Borders has found, Chinese state-media CGTN is trying to shape global narratives in 65 languages. State-owned propaganda outlet CGTN has

  • three content production centres in Washington D.C., London, and Nairobi
  • Reporters and correspondents based in more than 60 countries and regions, including Madrid, Moscow, Geneva, Brussels, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cairo, New York, Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai
  • Broadcasts available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian worldwide via satellite, cable, and IPTV (internet protocol television).
  • CGTN also owns one video news agency, CCTV +.

And CGTN’s influence extends across television, radio and online platforms (website and social media), reaching over 160 countries.

The CCP's existence as the '50 cent party' is well-known. One study published already in 2017 says that the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction:

The Chinese government has long been suspected of hiring as many as 2,000,000 people to surreptitiously insert huge numbers of pseudonymous and other deceptive writings into the stream of real social media posts, as if they were the genuine opinions of ordinary people. Many academics, and most journalists and activists, claim that these so-called “50c party” posts vociferously argue for the government’s side in political and policy debates. As we show, this is also true of the vast majority of posts openly accused on social media of being 50c ...

More recently, Russian propaganda abounds in Chinese social media debate on Ukraine.

France identified a network of fake news sites managed by Chinese state media back in spring.

The history of Chinese external propaganda has been evident for decades. You'll easily find a vast amount of very good sources.

[Edit for clarity.]

[–] bedwyr@piefed.ca 1 points 23 hours ago

Thanks will look into these links.

I did know about their domestic bullshit with their strict moderation and fake posts, I didn't know they had 2,000,000 of them, that is wild.

A lot of intelligence agencies now also pay established influencers for stuff. Like during covid when they were trying to fob blame onto the US, they blamed some DJ that had been to China in late 2019 for introducing the virus, benny bennassi, and hired US influencers to push that narrative. They trolled the hell out of some old lady that shared the last name despite having nothing to do with the DJ.

But Russia pays like the TImes of India to slip stories in they ghostwrote, the US hires influencers for stuff like this, sometimes openly too. I am sure China does a lot of that too.

A good share of what they do in other countries is target their expatriates that have criticized them.