Fergus Ryan @fryan Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Fergus Ryan

@fryan

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5,657

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China analyst @ASPI_CTS Crossposting everywhere but hanging out at 🦋 🧧 Join my newsletter:

https://t.co/ueSc9GQooH

Joined May 2007

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

11 months

China's influencer market is booming & foreigners are getting in on the action. While many avoid politics, a growing cadre, tempted by traffic, profits & plaudits are aligning their content to CCP-approved narratives. A 🧵 on the foreign vlogger to CCP propagandist pipeline.

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

2 years

If you spent any time on China-watching Twitter in 2021, you probably came across these two women. Party-state media, Chinese diplomats & foreign vloggers tried to make out they were just an ordinary account. We took a closer look & found out that wasn't quite right. 🧵

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

8 years

@realDonaldTrump 7 million fewer than Obama's first ceremony

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Trump's inauguration is watched by 30.6 million viewers — 7 million fewer than Obama's first...

The inauguration of President Trump was watched by 30.6 million television viewers on Friday, 19% below the audience of 37.8 million for President Obama’s first swearing-in ceremony in 2009.

www.latimes.com

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Fergus Ryan

8 years

@goldy_levy @realDonaldTrump @latimes but fewer than Obama's first one which is what I'm saying.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

李子柒在 YouTube 上坐拥 1720 万粉丝，是至今为止粉丝最多的中国网红，但这个平台上还有数以千计的其他中国账户。等等， YouTube在中国不是被屏蔽了吗？咋回事？下面告诉你咋回事儿：🧵

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Chinese influencer Li Ziqi has 17.2 million followers on YouTube. She's the biggest by far, but there are thousands of other China-based accounts on the platform. But wait. Isn't YouTube blocked in China? What gives? Here's how it all works. 🧵

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

8 years

it's called twitter

@VICE

VICE

8 years

This dating app helps people find love based on their mutual hatred of things:

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Fergus Ryan

8 years

@carltischer @goldy_levy @realDonaldTrump @latimes your mother must be so very proud.

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

5 years

@dannolan he doesn’t want to fly to nyc every week to do impressions on SNL under a Sanders presidency

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

2 years

如果2021年，你花点时间看中国内容相关的推特，那你很有可能会遇到这两个姑娘。中国党媒，外交官和一些洋五毛会告诉你，这只是个普通人的账号。我们仔细研究了一下，其实不是这么回事儿。 🧵

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

5 years

Meanwhile, China blocks: 🛑 Facebook 🛑 Google 🛑 Twitter 🛑 Snapchat 🛑 Reddit 🛑 Tumblr 🛑 Pinterest 🛑 Slack 🛑 Twitch 🛑 Discord 🛑 Dropbox 🛑 Quora 🛑 Medium 🛑 Wikipedia 🛑 Vimeo 🛑 Flickr & many more. What was that you were saying about "discrimination", ambassador?

@ASPI_CTS

ASPI Cyber, Tech & Security

5 years

#CyberDigest | China cries discrimination as Abbott urges UK to think again on Huawei | @RichAFerguson |

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Hu Jintao gets shuffled off the political stage in a fairly undignified manner. Note how he tries to swipe Xi Jinping's notes. He does not seem well at all.

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

8 years

@carltischer @goldy_levy @realDonaldTrump @latimes and what's your opinion on string theory I wonder? Do enlighten me Carl.

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@fryan

Fergus Ryan

2 years

This is a handy feature for Chinese protestors when the police ask to inspect their phones. ☭

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

TikTok suspended @x_feroza 's account for a month for posting this creatively subversive video about "reeducation camps" in Xinjiang.

@ferozaazizz

Feroza Aziz

5 years

Here is a trick to getting longer lashes! #tiktok #muslim #muslimmemes #islam

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

@PaulineHansonOz once I was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens, when my girlfriend kicked me out in one of those crushing scenes

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Fergus Ryan

6 years

This is pretty amazing. A photo taken with a ~ 24.9 billion pixel ~ camera from Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower. You can literally zoom in on anything - people's faces, car regos etc. Check it out.

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

Amazing. These French soccer fans were so annoyed that their game was rescheduled to accommodate Chinese broadcasters that they choreographed a massive FREE TIBET flag tifo in protest.

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Fergus Ryan

4 years

Here's a pic of Bytedance employees attending a CCP study session. They regularly get together to study Xi Jinping's speeches & pledge loyalty to the party.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Xi Jinping surely has the most nicknames of any other world leader.

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

Must-read letter from bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers including @AOC & @tedcruz to NBA commissioner on China. “You have more power to take a stand than most of the Chinese govt's targets & should have the courage and integrity to use it” it reads.

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Fergus Ryan

4 months

Some Chinese bookstores have become subtle protest sites against Xi Jinping by strategically placing his books next to other titles that create implicit messages of dissent.

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

Thrilled to launch 'Borrowing mouths to speak on Xinjiang', a new @ASPI_ICPC paper I co-authored with @arielbogle , @Nrg8000 , @AlbertYZhang & @DariImpio ! 🎨 by the brilliant @badiucao Here are some of the key findings 🧵👇

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

A young black woman's experience on Chinese social media. If you say anything bad about Xi Jinping it gets censored immediately, why are these racist comments allowed to flourish?

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Actually, both women worked for a Chengdu-based agency, the name of which translates to ‘Chengdu Grey Man Culture Communications’ (成都灰灰侠文化传播有限公司)—a company heavily involved in Xinjiang-related propaganda work. Here they are in a 'Chengdu Grey Man' recruitment ad:

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

On Weibo, Zhao Lijian’s wife thanked Elon Musk for reversing her Twitter suspension. Weibo users want to know why she’s allowed to use Twitter when they’re not. h/t @wangzhian8848

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

Protestors in Sydney CBD calling for Hong Kong to scrap a proposed extradition bill with China.

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Fergus Ryan

6 years

Wouldn't a Huawei phone suffice?

@globeandmail

The Globe and Mail

6 years

Huawei’s detained CFO pledges to wear tracking device if granted bail

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

这对防火墙外的信息环境产生了巨大的扭曲。我们建议：美国社交媒体平台应停止允许 MCN 通过中国网红的内容获利，因为它们实际上是在补贴党国宣传。

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

So, ‘9/11 was an inside job’ is an official Chinese Foreign Ministry position now?

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

There's a lot more detail about the 'Story of Xinjiang by Guli' saga in our new @ASPI_ICPC report 'Frontier Influencers: The new face of China's propaganda' The amazing cover art is by the brilliant @badiucao ✨

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

Kimberley Chen & Namewee have been blocked on Weibo & removed from PRC streaming platforms after releasing their duet 'Fragile' which satirises PRC nationalists. Meanwhile, they're #20 on YouTube's Music Charts right now...

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

The women, who introduce themselves in the above video as 'Elder Guli' & 'Younger Guli', two 'Uyghur sisters from Xinjiang', featured in the ‘Story of Xinjiang by Guli’ (SOXBG) set of accounts on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram & TikTok. All of those platforms are blocked in China.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

FBI director Robert Wray outlines his concerns about TikTok to Congress. As many have long pointed out, it’s not just about data collection. The use of the recommendation algorithm for influence operations is an equal if not greater concern.

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

这位是我好朋友Melissa Smith. 她是从小在新疆长大的。她的几个朋友们也是。

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

The agency builds up accounts with ethnic minority influencers & then strikes deals with brands & organisations to promote their messages via the accounts. They even turn ordinary people into internet influencers—which is what they did with this Xinjiang government official.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

The PRC's propaganda system involves repeating the official view of those in power. When this view abruptly changes, the propaganda must also change swiftly, which can be quite jarring for the audience. This desperate 180, captured by @serpentza , is a classic example.

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

Big news: ASD concluded in March that China’s Ministry of State Security was responsible for a cyber-attack on parliament & the Liberal, Labor & National parties but decided not to go public in order to avoid disrupting trade relations with Beijing.

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Exclusive: Australia concluded China was behind hack on parliament, political parties – sources   

Australian intelligence determined China was responsible for a cyber-attack on its national parliament and three largest political parties before the general election in May, five people with direct...

www.reuters.com

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Fergus Ryan

7 years

peter dutton's nickname in local chinese media is 土豆哥 (Potato Brother)

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Fergus Ryan

8 years

@KellyannePolls did he say "grab them by the pussy"?

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

Edward @Snowden is calling on Chinese speakers to translate the parts of his book that have just been censored in China. 👇

@Snowden

Edward Snowden

5 years

If you can read simplified Chinese and another language Permanent Record has been translated into (or know someone who does), tag them on this thread and see if they can help restore the missing passages to the Chinese edition. Here we go. From Chapter 18, p. 183 of the Chinese:

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Fergus Ryan

4 months

Chinese media officials repeatedly try to block Cheng Lei from being filmed at press event with Australian PM Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. by ⁦ @ByClare ⁩

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

长话短说，李子柒一类的网红是通过党国信任的，叫做MCN的机构发布视频的。具体到李子柒，在她和国内MCN公司微念发生矛盾而停更前，她的海外视频是通过葡萄子（北京）文化传媒公司发布的。葡萄子是一个YouTube 认证 MCN，位于北京，隶属于马来西亚娱乐公司 Prodigee 传媒。

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

A Chinese TV show has removed all cigarettes from actors hands in post-production and the result is kinda eerie

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Fergus Ryan

4 years

. @Pepsi has joined hands with @PDChina , the official newspaper of the CCP to "celebrate some of the brave people fighting the pandemic on the frontline and to pay respect to their spirit of love." Here's their “Salute our Heroes” limited edition gift box:

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

Trey Parker & Matt Stone issue a faux apology about Southpark's ban in China: “Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes & into our hearts...We too love money more than freedom & democracy. Xi doesn't look like Winnie the Pooh at all.”

‘South Park’ Scrubbed From Chinese Internet After Critical Episode

After 'South Park' mocked Hollywood for shaping its content to please the Chinese government, that same government has responded by deleting all clips, episodes and discussions of the show.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

@newscomauHQ what’s this then?

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Fergus Ryan

6 months

Weird. The metadata in this letter from Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy, to the @committeeonccp lists the author as 郑涵 (Zheng Han). It would be useful to know who Zheng Han is & where they are based.

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Fergus Ryan

6 years

So, this breaks @twitter and @PeriscopeCo Terms of Service, right?

@mmfa

Media Matters

6 years

On Periscope, which is owned by Twitter, Alex Jones tells supporters to get their “battle rifles” ready against antifa, the mainstream media, and “Chicom operatives”

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Fergus Ryan

7 years

@GovMikeHuckabee Your son killed a dog.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

We found this procurement notice showing 'Chengdu Grey Man' won a Ұ996,000 bid from Shayar County’s Culture, Sports, Radio, Television & Tourism Bureau to turn Renagul Rahman (热娜古丽·热合曼), an official from the bureau, into an influencer on Douyin & other video platforms.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

The final frames of the complete video reveal that it was ‘co-presented’ by the Information Office of the International Department of the CCP Central Committee & the Xinjiang Cyberspace Administration (a local bureau of China’s chief internet regulator & censor).

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

As soon as news of Trump's Huawei ban came out yesterday, these accounts stopped retweeting NBA clips and started tweeting exactly the same pro-Huawei message.

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Fergus Ryan

6 years

Peppa Pig blocked on Chinese video app after becoming a 'subculture icon' by @mikehwalsh with quotes from me

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Fergus Ryan

1 year

TikTok has identified 22 separate covert influence operations on its app originating in countries as various as Russia, Azerbaijan, Ireland, Georgia, Kenya, and Taiwan. But there has been one glaring exception: China.

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Fergus Ryan

4 years

this has strong meme potential

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@KatekuiBeijing

KateKui

@KatekuiBeijing

4 years

Last stand up on “no genocide in Xinjiang “ for Biz Beats CGTN in old town, with lots of kids watching .... I think I will be back to this place for a vacation later! #Xinjiang #UyghurGenocide #Uyghurs @CGTNGlobalBiz

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Fergus Ryan

8 years

@realDonaldTrump where are you getting this from Donny? Infowars?

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

TikTok's in-app browser can snoop on all of your keyboard inputs: Credit card details, passwords, you name it. TikTok can see it. And Beijing-based engineers can access that data too.

@KrauseFx

Felix Krause

2 years

🔥 New Post: Announcing InAppBrowser - see what JavaScript commands get injected through an in-app browser 👀 TikTok, when opening any website in their app, injects tracking code that can monitor all keystrokes, including passwords, and all taps.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Having such an active presence on a Western social media platform is highly unusual for young Uyghur women, & ordinarily would be fraught with danger. So, naturally many ppl questioned the authenticity of the SOXBG accounts, notably anti-CCP YouTubers @serpentza & @laowhy86

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Fergus Ryan

4 months

CCP propagandist Andy Boreham deleted this thread about the Tiananmen Square massacre. As we outlined in our report on CCP-friendly foreign influencers, his bosses have ultimate control over what content he's allowed to post.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Here's Renagul Rahman after 'Chengdu Grey Man' transformed her into an internet influencer.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

It turns out they were right to be suspicious. Twitter suspended the @XinjiangGuli account in late May 2021.

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Fergus Ryan

11 months

No wonder this parody of the pandering influencers by @KenanHeppe got over 20M views!

@KenanHeppe

Kenan Heppe

2 years

Some of my Chinese sketches got tons of views on Twitter, and I didn’t even know, haha. This got 20+ million views in China, too.

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

@MatthewJshow @realDonaldTrump He's not going to plug your podcast, Matthew - no matter how much you debase yourself with your desperate and pathetic bootlicking. 😀

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

the absolute gall of this guy lmao

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Fergus Ryan

4 years

When the Global Times reported @SpokespersonCHN ’s “I cant breathe” tweet on Weibo, thousands of Chinese people responded with the words “I can’t tweet”.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Rahman now has 868k followers on Douyin. Occasionally, Chinese foreign ministry officials tweet out her videos. Here's one that was posted by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying:

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@SpokespersonCHN

Hua Chunying 华春莹

@SpokespersonCHN

2 years

Young man and women from Xinjiang’s Tourism Bureau take on the outfit change challenge. Ethnic outfit rocks!

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Fergus Ryan

4 years

China's ambassador to Australia says the virus isn't necessarily from Wuhan, says its source should be addressed by scientists & medical experts, but rules out an independent investigation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Fergus Ryan

6 years

i'm a QAnon person now

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Among Facebook's 25 most-liked accounts, four are Chinese party-state media outlets. There are no other media outlets in the top 25.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

A man is interrogated & humiliated for badmouthing the police on WeChat. Add it to the pile of videos from China that nobody will have the opportunity to verify. Sure looks real to me, though.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

The short answer is that influencers from Li Ziqi down go through special agencies that are trusted by the party-state. When she was still posting videos, Li did it through WebTVAsia, a Beijing-based YouTube-certified MCN* owned by Malaysian entertainment company Prodigee Media.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

When Zhang Weiwei (reportedly Xi Jinping's favourite scholar) wants to chat with foreigners about his Xinjiang denialism, who does he reach out to? Aleksandr Dugin, the Russian neo-fascist. Horseshoe theory in practice.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

MCN 👉 葡萄子管理运营着 600 多个 YouTube中国账户，其中包括《人民日报》

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

If you enjoyed this thread: 1. Follow me @fryan , & my co-authors @DariImpio & @HsitingPai_ASPI for more threads 2. RT the tweet below to share this thread with your followers

@fryan

Fergus Ryan

2 years

If you spent any time on China-watching Twitter in 2021, you probably came across these two women. Party-state media, Chinese diplomats & foreign vloggers tried to make out they were just an ordinary account. We took a closer look & found out that wasn't quite right. 🧵

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

That has a hugely distorting effect on the information environment beyond the Great Firewall. Among our policy recommendations: US social media platforms should stop allowing MCNs to monetise content from creators based in the PRC as they are effectively subsidising propaganda.

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

#WhereIsZhangGaoli

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

She also took part in the 'A Date With China' propaganda tour of Xinjiang that we covered in our previous report 'Borrowing Mouths to Speak on Xinjiang'. Here she is coaxing German influencer Patrick Köllmer into criticising foreign media coverage of Xinjiang.

@fryan

Fergus Ryan

3 years

Patrick Köllmer, a German influencer, model, TV host & long-term guest on Jiangsu Television’s ‘A Bright World’ (世界青年说) TV program, also joined the tour. Clips of Köllmer criticizing foreign media coverage of Xinjiang were later tweeted out by Chinese diplomats.

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Fergus Ryan

6 years

Thrilled to finally launch our latest project: 'Mapping China's Tech Giants'! 😃 📄 Report: 🗺️ Interactive map:

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

事实上，这俩姑娘都为成都一家机构工作，名叫“成都灰灰侠文化传播有限公司”，是一家深度参与涉疆宣传的公司。她们在“成都灰灰侠”的招聘广告中：

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Before 'Younger Guli' ever arrived on the scene, 'Elder Guli's online success had already led to awards & interviews with Xinjiang Daily, China Nation magazine, People's Daily & Cosmo .

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Fergus Ryan

4 years

Anyone using Clubhouse should probably know that Agora ($API), the Chinese company providing back-end communication services to the app, listed this risk in its own S-1 filing:

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Her propaganda videos were mainly used domestically, but English-language versions of some of the videos were also created in order to target global audiences.

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

'A database containing the personal details of 56.25 million US residents – from names and home addresses to phone numbers and ages – has been found on the public internet, served from a computer with a Chinese IP address'

Why is a 22GB database containing 56 million US folks' personal details sitting on the open...

If CheckPeople could take a look at this, that would be great

www.theregister.com

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

It appears that 'Chengdu Grey Man' shut down the YouTube & TikTok accounts. The Instagram account pivoted to a new brand 'xinjiangtibet' featuring 'Younger Guli' & Ding Zhu.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

...while 'Younger Guli' started churning out English-language videos for the foreign market in which she parroted CCP talking points & directly challenged foreign media reports about human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

The same thing happened with a video featuring 'Elder Guli' before the SOXBG set of foreign accounts were created. In March 2021, Chinese foreign ministry spox @zlj517 tweeted a video that featured 'Elder Guli'. But the video was missing some crucial final frames.

@zlj517

Lijian Zhao 赵立坚

4 years

Let us visit #Xinjiang to enjoy its peaceful life, hospitable people, tranquil mountains and beautiful lakes!

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

'Elder Guli', whose real name is Hurshidem Ablikim, featured in several videos produced by Chengdu Grey Man that were commissioned by the party-state. When ZLJ tweeted that video of her, she was the only influencer behind the SOXBG domestic accounts.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

So why are companies like Xiaowu trusted to offer this service? Because they are closely linked to the CCP. How close? Well, here are some pics of their internal party meetings. In the first two pics, they're actually carrying out a criticism & self-criticism session. ☭

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Someone forwarded me a screenshot of his profile in greyscale, presumably mourning for Jiang. Didn't believe it at first, then I checked. It's real.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

Soon after ZLJ's tweet, the SOXBG foreign accounts were created & 'Elder Guli' was joined by 'Younger Guli'. The "sisters" featured in a few videos together to create the impression they were a duo but in reality, 'Younger Guli' had replaced 'Elder Guli'.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

显而易见，小五这类传媒公司，跟党走是他们的第一要务，也是生存关键。这是小五党支部在开展批评和自我批评。

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Fergus Ryan

5 years

Amid Xinjiang's surveillance lockdown, every message is monitored for its extremist potential. On WeChat, some Uyghurs are using coded emoji: 🥀 = someone's been arrested 🌑 = they've gone to the camps ☀️ = “I'm alive” 🌼= “I've been released”

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Inside China’s Massive Surveillance Operation

In northwest China, the government is cracking down on the minority Muslim Uyghur population, keeping them under constant surveillance and throwing more than a million people into concentration camps.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

'Younger Guli' struggled to keep her story straight when she was asked by party-state media worker Li Jingjing & Canadian vlogger Daniel Dumbrill why she'd decided to become an influencer.

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Fergus Ryan

8 years

disagree with the WSJ. @seanspicer does deserve this treatment

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Fergus Ryan

11 months

The PRC’s censorship regime cloisters its ppl in an info environment that’s cut off from the rest of the world & primed with a nationalistic ideology. Nationalism sells, & foreigners know it. It's a shortcut to viral fame.

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Fergus Ryan

3 years

Nasdaq-listed Chinese video platform Bilibili @bilibili_en has seemingly banned Uyghur & Tibetan. I was just able to post "Interesting" in English & Mandarin, but Uyghur or Tibetan wasn't allowed. Error message = "评论内容包含敏感信息" (Comment content contains sensitive info)

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

🫠

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Fergus Ryan

11 months

Foreigners aren't just tools for Chinese propaganda; they're also involved in espionage activities. A must-watch & chilling clip. Great get by @IsobelYeung 👏

@C4Dispatches

Channel 4 Dispatches

11 months

"I don't feel safe in the UK.” For @C4Dispatches , reporter @IsobelYeung confronts a suspected Chinese government spy. The man, claiming to be a journalist, approached a Hong Kong dissident who escaped to the UK.

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Fergus Ryan

2 years

So why is this a problem? Well, remember the "countryside" category that Xiaowu caters to? That category includes scores of carefully vetted ethnic-minority influencers from places like Xinjiang & Tibet who are pushing out propaganda about those regions.

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