作者: Jeff Kao，ProPublica和Mia Shuang Li

文章來源：propublica.org

翻譯 / 簡評: freedust

PR: Roberts

簡評:

社交媒體已經在現代社會的普通社群生活和國家政治風向中扮演著舉足輕重的角色，對於一個自由民主的社會來說，擁有一個有健康真實聲音的社交媒體，是保證其公民權利至關重要的東西。 中共歹毒的注意到了在這其中，可以通過對謊言和包裝和行銷，遮蔽公眾的視野，誤導公眾的選擇，甚至造成公眾的偏見和仇恨。 本文通過詳實的數據和對使用者資訊細緻入微的查證，向我們展示了中共利用推特作為宣傳武器的種種惡行:或者駭客推特帳戶，綁架原來的帳戶為中共所用;或者通過行銷公司購買少數有影響力的賬戶發佈中共希望發佈的內容;或者外交官直接註冊推特渾水摸魚。 透過這些卑鄙的下作操作，攪亂民主社會試聽，對輿論導向進行有預謀的引導。 最早是香港運動，現在是武漢疫情，中共無所不用其極來混淆視聽、顛倒黑白。 中共的這些措施都是實施生化武器超限戰的急先鋒，沒有虛假信息的保護下，無論是瘟疫的傳播，還是實施中共邪惡計劃接下來的每一步，都將寸步難行，功虧一簣! 對於爆料革命的戰友，我們應該肩負起傳播真相的責任，發出真實的聲音，讓謊言和虛假無處遁逃，驅除中共罪惡本體，直至其灰飛煙滅!

How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus

中國是如何建立了Twitter宣傳機器，肆意妄為虛假宣傳冠狀病毒

by Jeff Kao， ProPublica and Mia Shuang Li for ProPublica

March 26， 5 a.m. EDT

於美國東部時間3月26日淩晨5點

ProPublica analyzed thousands of fake and hijacked Twitter accounts to understand how covert Chinese propaganda spreads around the globe.

ProPublica分析了數千個假冒和被駭客的Twitter帳戶，以瞭解中國的秘密宣傳是如何在全球進行的。

Kalen Keegan， a college student at the University of Nebraska Omaha， immediately noticed when her Twitter account unleashed a torrent of posts in Chinese. "My other account got hacked👍🏽，" the soccer player posted on a replacement account. The new author tweeting as @Kalenkayyy had strong views on geopolitics — all aligned with the Chinese Communist Party. It was obsessed with the protests in Hong Kong， offered uncritical praise of the Hong Kong police and accused demonstrators of fomenting a "color revolution" backed by an "anti-Chinese American conspiracy."

內布拉斯加州奧馬哈大學的學生卡倫·基根(Kalen Keegan)在她的Twitter帳號發佈了大量中文帖子之後，很快就注意到了。 "我的账號被黑了......"，這位足球運動員在她重新註冊的帳戶上發帖說。 新主人用@Kalenkayyy的名義發推並對地緣政治有其強烈的看法-全部與中國共產黨保持一致，沉迷於有關香港的抗議活動，對香港員警表示了全面的讚揚，並指責示威者煽動 "顏色革命"，實則是"美國的反華陰謀"。

As the coronavirus outbreak led to a lockdown of Wuhan and its surrounding cities in late January， the Hong Kong posts were suddenly deleted. The account continued to post relentlessly in Chinese， but it now focused on the burgeoning epidemic. About a month later， her Twitter profile began to change in other ways. The reference to her college disappeared and her headshot was replaced by a generic photo of two people kissing. By the end of the week，her Twitter transformation was complete. @Kalenkayyy was now a Chinese propaganda-posting zombie account belonging to someone purportedly named Kalun Tang.

1月下旬，當冠狀病毒的爆發導致武漢及其周邊城市被封鎖的時候，香港的帖子突然被刪除。 這個被駭客的賬號持續不斷地用中文發推，但現在關注的是迅速蔓延的疫情。 大約一個月後，這個Twitter內容開始有了新的變化。 有關她學校的全部內容消失了，頭像也變成一張兩人接吻的普通照片。 到那個週末，她推號的轉變全部完成。 @Kalenkayyy現在是一個殭屍帳號，完全變成中共的宣傳帳號，屬於一個稱為 Kalun Tang 的人。

Her new tagline? "When women arm themselves with softness， they are the strongest."

她的新簽名? "當女人用溫柔武裝自己時，她們是最強大的。 "

Later， the account deleted more of its tweets and unfollowed all of its former friends. It is currently temporarily restricted by Twitter for unusual activity.

隨後，該帳號刪除了更多的推文，並取消了所有好友的關注。此帳號目前因為有不尋常的活動暫時受到Twitter的限制。

Since August 2019，ProPublica has tracked more than 10，000 suspected fake Twitter accounts involved in a coordinated influence campaign with ties to the Chinese government. Among those are the hacked accounts of users from around the world that now post propaganda and disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak，the Hong Kong protests and other topics of state interest. They included a professor in North Carolina; a graphic artist and a mother in Massachusetts; a web designer in the U.K. ; and a business analyst in Australia. (It is unclear whether the current fake account holders hacked the accounts themselves or purchased them from elsewhere.) Suspected Chinese operatives have stepped up their efforts in recent days， according to private messages shared with ProPublica，offering influential Chinese-speaking Twitter users cash for favorable posts.

自2019年8月以來，ProPublica已追蹤了10，000多個可疑的假Twitter帳戶，這些帳戶參與了與中共國政府有關的增加其影響力的運動。 這其中包括來自世界各地被黑的使用者，現在都用來發佈有關冠狀病毒疫情、香港抗議活動和有關其他國家利益的宣傳和虛假資訊。 這其中有北卡羅來納州的一位教授，馬薩諸塞州的一位平面畫家和一位母親，英國的網頁設計師，和澳大利亞的業務分析師(尚不清楚這些虛假帳戶是被黑掉的還是從他人那裡買來的)。 一位沒有透露身份的人與ProPublic分享，最近幾天，可疑的中國特工加大了工作力度，為有影響力的中文Twitter使用者並發表有傾向性的推文的，提供現金獎勵。

These efforts appear to be aimed at disparate audiences outside the country. Most of the posts we found are in Chinese and appear aimed at influencing the millions of ethnic Chinese who live outside of China's borders. Others are in English. The tweets are seen by few people living in China; the Great Firewall blocks Twitter from the Chinese internet，though tech-savvy domestic users find workarounds.

這些嘗試似乎是針對國外的不同受眾。我們發現的大多數帖子都是中文的，目的似乎是要影響生活在中國境外的數百萬華裔。也有一些是英文。在中國居住的人很少看到這些推文。儘管中國有很多IT高手，但防火牆還是阻止了Twitter進入中國互聯網。

Twitter is well aware of China's influence operations. In August and September，the platform announced that it had suspended more than 5000 suspected Chinese state-controlled accounts and released data about them. Twitter also banned around 200，000 related accounts that had been created but were not yet very active.

Twitter很清楚中共國大外宣的運作。 在去年8月和9月，該平臺宣布暫停了5000多個疑似中共國政府控制的帳戶，並公佈了相關數據。 Twitter還封殺了約20萬個不活躍帳戶。

An analysis by ProPublica shows that the Chinese government's covert attempts to wield influence on Twitter have persisted. Our examination of an interlocking group of accounts within our data linked the effort to OneSight (Beijing) Technology Ltd.，a Beijing-based internet marketing company. OneSight，records show，held a contract to boost the Twitter following of China News Service，the country's second-largest state-owned news agency. The news service operates under the United Front Work Department，an arm of the Chinese Communist Party long responsible for influence operations in foreign countries. OneSight declined to comment and China News Service did not respond to our inquiries.

ProPublica的分析表明，中國政府對Twitter秘密施加影響的行為一直存在。 我們對數據中一個相互關聯的使用者組進行檢查，將其與位於北京的互聯網行銷公司OneSight(Beijing)Technology Ltd. 聯繫了起來。 記錄顯示，OneSight與中國第二大國有新聞代理中國新聞社簽訂了增加Twitter關注的合同。 該新聞機構在統戰部領導下運作，統戰部是中國共產黨的一個長期負責中共國外影響力運作的分支機構。 對於中國新聞社未有回復我們的詢問，OneSight 拒絕置評。

We asked Twitter whether it was aware of this continuing activity from Chinese-backed influence accounts. We identified some of the fake accounts， and sent a list of questions about the campaign. A spokesperson declined to respond specifically， instead providing the following statement: "Using technology and human review in concert，we proactively monitor Twitter to identify attempts at platform manipulation and mitigate them. If we identify further information campaigns on our service that we can reliably attribute to state-backed activity either domestic or foreign-led，we will disclose them."

我們詢問了Twitter，問他們是否知道來自中國支援的這些大外宣的推特帳戶的長期活動。 我們指出了一些虛假使用者，併發送了一系列相關的問題。这种一位發言人拒絕具體回應，而是提供了以下聲明:「我們使用技術和人工審查相結合，主動監視Twitter，以識別並減輕這種平台操縱的企圖。如果發現在我們平臺上有進一步的宣傳運動，並且確認是國家支援的活動，無論是國內還是國外，我們會關閉掉這些帳戶。

ProPublica's research tracked how the government-linked influence accounts that had targeted political dissidents and the Hong Kong protests turned their focus to the coronavirus outbreak. During the height of the epidemic in China，many of them became cheerleaders for the government，calling on citizens to unite in support of efforts to fight the epidemic and urging them to "dispel online rumors."

ProPublica追蹤研究了與政府有聯絡的用來施加影響的，以前是針對異見人士和香港抗議活動的現在卻突然將焦點轉向冠狀病毒爆發的帳戶。在中國疫情最嚴重的時期，這些帳戶成為了政府的啦啦隊，呼籲公民團結起來，為抗擊疫情做出努力，並敦促抵制網路傳謠。

With the epidemic spreading across the world，these accounts have sought to promote the Chinese government's image abroad and shore up its support at home. One typical recent tweet in Chinese proclaimed: "We were not scared during the outbreak because our country was our rearguard. Many disease-fighting warriors were thrust to the front lines. Even more volunteers helped in seemingly trivial yet important ways."

隨著疫情在全球蔓延，這些報導試圖提升中國政府在海外的形象，並在國內獲得支援。最近一條典型的中文推特宣稱:在疫情爆發期間，我們並不害怕，因為我們的國家是我們的後盾。許多抗疫戰士衝到前線。更多的志願者做著看似瑣碎但卻非常重要説明。

Another post in English trumpeted aid the Chinese government recently provided to Italy. It came from the Twitter handle @RNA_Chinese，an account that appears to have been an attempt to fool the casual reader into believing it was coming from the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia (@RFA_Chinese).

另一個用英語發佈的推特大肆宣揚中國政府最近向義大利提供的援助。該消息來自於@RNA_Chinese，該使用者似乎是在試圖欺騙漫不經心的讀者，使他們混淆這是來自美國政府資助的廣播公司亞洲自由電臺(@RFA_Chinese)。

Others accounts we found have taken a darker turn in response to the pandemic， using it as a vehicle for disinformation and attacks on Beijing's usual political opponents.

我們發現，其他一些帳號在評論疫情時採取了更黑暗的做法，將Twitter作為用來提供虛假資訊和攻擊北京政治對手的工具。

"We will completely wipe out the belligerent rioters，just like the coronavirus!" declared a user who called herself Melinda Butler. Her post slammed Joshua Wong，a leader of the Hong Kong protests who spoke out in support of a medical workers' strike in early February. Another post by Butler called on the Hong Kong Hospital Authority to "clean out" the striking "black medical workers，" alongside a graphic accusing protestors of wanting a "color revolution" in Hong Kong.

"我們將徹底消滅好戰的暴徒，就像冠狀病毒一樣! "一個自稱Melinda Butler的使用者宣稱。她發推猛烈抨擊了香港抗議活動的負責人王若秋(Joshua Wong)，王若秋在2月初曾經支援醫務人員罷工。Butler的另一篇推文呼籲香港衛生當局「清理」參加抗議活動的「黑心醫務工作者」，並附有圖片，指控抗議者希望在香港進行"顏色革命」。。

Yet another Butler tweet featured a graphic accusing foreign politicians of interfering in Chinese domestic affairs，including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi，Secretary of State Mike Pompeo， U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and a number of other U.S. legislators. Also included in the lineup was a State Department employee scapegoated by disinformation campaigns by Chinese state media during the Hong Kong protests. "Hong Kong belongs to China，" the graphic read in bold characters，"Resist meddling by foreign powers!" A logo for the People's Daily，the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee，was displayed prominently below.

Butler的另一則推特則以圖片為特色，指責外國政客干涉中國的內政，其中包括眾議院議長南希·佩洛西，國務卿邁克·蓬佩奧，英國外交大臣多米尼克·拉布以及其他一些美國立法者，還包括一名在香港抗議活動中被中國官方媒體的虛假宣傳活動所蒙蔽的國務院雇員。 圖形以粗體顯示「香港屬於中國」，「抵制外國勢力的干預! " 下方醒目顯示了中共中央官方報紙《人民日報》的徽標。

Butler's account showed all the signs of being a low-quality fake. The account was new，created in January 2020，and it offered no personal or biographical details. It followed no one else on Twitter and had a single follower for its obsessive posts about the coronavirus outbreak and the Hong Kong protests. The account has since been suspended by Twitter.

Butler的帳號有很明顯的低劣造假痕跡。該帳號是新帳號，於2020年1月創建，並且未提供任何個人或生平詳細資訊。它在推特上沒有關注其他人，並且因其關於冠狀病毒爆發和香港抗議活動的癡迷文章而只有一個關注者。此用戶此後已被Twitter暫停。

Butler's posts were written to sound like a Hong Konger — in vernacular Cantonese with the traditional Chinese characters widely used in Hong Kong. But whoever was writing the posts occasionally slipped and included some of the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China. And though the account was ostensibly created by a person named Melinda Butler，the profile photo showed a middle-aged Chinese woman wearing a beige baseball cap.

Butler看起來像是香港人，推文用粵語寫成，這是一種在香港廣泛使用的繁體中文。 但是， 但是，也偶爾會混進一些簡體字，簡體字是中國大陸使用的。 儘管該使用者表面上是由一個叫Melinda Butler的人創建的，但個人資料照片顯示的是一名戴著米色棒球帽的中年中國婦女。

That photo can be seen all over the internet — ProPublica found it used on nearly a dozen user accounts under a variety of monikers on various social media platforms. One account spammed horoscopes and product promotions on the social networking site Weibo. On a Chinese adult e-commerce site，another account bearing that photo left a positive review for a male enhancement spray called Blisswater: "After using this item the effect was especially clear. Our bedroom became much more harmonious， and I'm very satisfied. Thumbs up."

這張照片在互聯網上隨處可見。ProPublica發現，在各種社交媒體平臺上，有近12個使用者使用了這張照片。一個使用者在社交網站微博上發佈了大量星座運勢和產品促銷資訊。 在中國的一個成人電子商務網站上，另一個貼有這張照片的帳戶對一種名為「極樂水」的男士豐胸噴霧做出了正面評價:“使用這款產品后，效果尤其明顯。我們的臥室變得更和諧了，我很滿意。豎起大拇指。 "

Many of the fake Twitter accounts that ProPublica identified，such as Butler's， appeared to have been automatically generated using a bank of fake profile photos and usernames. But others，like Keegan's，belonged to real Twitter users at some point， indicating that the accounts had likely been hijacked. ProPublica wrote computer programs to document millions of interactions between the 10000 suspected fake accounts and trace an interrelated network of more than 2000. The true scale of the influence campaign is likely much bigger; our tracking suggests that the accounts we identified comprise only a portion of the operation.

ProPublica識別的許多假的Twitter使用者中，例如Butler，似乎是使用一堆假的個人資料照片和使用者名自動生成的。但是其他一些人，例如Keegan屬於真正的Twitter使用者，某些跡象表明是被駭客的。ProPublica編寫了計算機程序，記錄了10000個疑似假用戶之間的數百萬次互動，並跟蹤了2000多個相互關聯的網路。這個施加影響力的宣傳運動的真實規模可能更大。我們的跟蹤表明，我們識別出的使用者僅為其中的一部分。

We found a pattern of coordinated activity among the fake accounts that appeared to be aimed at building momentum for particular storylines. Central accounts with more legitimate-looking histories such as Keegan's would make eye-catching posts; for example， a political message accompanied by a bold graphic or a meme，or a provocative video. An army of obvious fake accounts would then engage the posts with likes，reposts and positive comments，presumably to boost their visibility in Twitter's algorithms.

我們在假賬戶中發現了一種協調活動的模式，這些模式似乎旨在為特定故事情節造勢。具有更合理歷史記錄的活躍帳號例如Keegan，發許多吸引眼球的推文。一個政治資訊伴隨著一個大膽的圖形或一個梗，或一個挑釁性的視頻。一大群明顯的虛假帳戶會點讚、轉發和正面評論來推動這些帖子，以提高其在Twitter演演演算法中的知名度。

Posts also used hashtags about trending topics such as the coronavirus outbreak or the Hong Kong protests to gain visibility for an account that had few followers. Other posts would use hashtags unique to the influence network，presumably to try to make them trend on Twitter. Remarkably，some of the fake accounts accumulated hundreds， and，in a few cases，thousands of followers (It's not clear whether the fakes were being followed by real people or other fake accounts.)

這些帖子還使用了有關冠狀病毒爆發或香港抗議活動等熱門話題的標籤，為一個幾乎沒有粉絲的賬號贏得了可見性。 其他帖子會使用對網路有影響力的獨有的標籤，大概是為了讓它們在Twitter上成為潮流。 值得注意的是，一些虛假賬戶積累了數百名，在少數情況下，甚至有數千名關注者(尚不清楚這些虛假帳戶是被真人還是其他假帳戶所關注)。

Those accounts' content and behavior closely mirrored the tactics of the Chinese government influence campaigns publicly unmasked by Twitter in August and September 2019. Elise Thomas，a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute，co-authored a report that discovered content and tactics that we found in the activities of the more recent influence network. In both instances， posts criticized the Hong Kong protests and government opponents such as Guo Wengui and were primarily made during working hours in Beijing. In addition，accounts with established histories suddenly began posting propaganda and disinformation in a different language. Thomas' analysis found covert Twitter campaigns by the Chinese government going back at least two years: "These actors appear to have been active for much longer than we previously realized，" she said.

這些帳戶的內容和行為與2019年8月和9月Twitter公開揭露的中國政府大外宣運動的策略非常相似。澳大利亞戰略政策研究所(Australian Strategic Policy Institute)研究員伊莉斯•湯瑪斯(Elise Thomas)與他人合著了一份報告，揭示了和我們在最近網路大外宣中發現的一樣的內容和策略。兩者都發現，批評香港抗議活動的，和批評郭文貴等政府反對派的，主要在北京上班時間發帖。此外，有些銷聲匿跡的使用者突然開始以另一種語言發佈宣傳和虛假資訊。湯瑪斯(Thomas)的分析發現，中國政府的隱秘Twitter運動至少可以追溯到兩年前:「這些演員活躍的時間似乎比我們以前想像的要長得多，」她說。

ProPublica uncovered additional evidence that these accounts operated as part of a Chinese government influence campaign. Posts in the network were often accompanied by a chorus of approving comments from obviously fake accounts. The same comments were used over and over to create false engagement. Comment texts were often lifted word-for-word from state editorials， which have long served as political lodestars for government agencies and party officials.

ProPublica還發現了其他證據，證明這些帳戶是中國政府大外宣行動的一部分。 網路上的帖子常常伴隨著來自虛假帳戶的一致贊同。 同樣的評論一次又一次地被用來制造虛假的互動。 評論文字往往是逐字逐句地從官方社論中摘抄而來，長期以來，這些社論一直是政府機構和黨內官員的政治指南。

While some hijacked accounts deleted old posts and laundered evidence from their profile，hints of their origins sometimes remained. One such example is @HKguardian，a Hong Kong account that claims to be a Twitter handle for a citizens' league protecting the city from the protesters.

儘管一些被駭客的帳戶刪除了舊帖子，並從他們的個人資料中洗去了證據，但有時仍能找到一些關於他們來源的蛛絲馬跡。一個這樣的例子是@HKguardian，這是一個香港帳號，聲稱是一個市民聯盟的Twitter賬號，保護這個城市免受抗議者的攻擊。

The Chinese-language account was created in 2009 but did not appear to make any posts until September 2019. We found several posts in Portugese from July 2009 when the account was first created. @HKguardian now has more than 4000 followers and the appearance of a legitimate account. It is currently temporarily restricted by Twitter for unusual activity.

該中文帳戶創建於2009年，但直到2019年9月才發表推文。從2009年7月該帳戶首次創建時起，我們發現了幾個用葡萄牙語發的帖子。 @HKguardian現在有4000多名關注者，並擁有一個合法的帳號。它目前暫時受到Twitter的限制，因為有不尋常的活動。

Some of the people banned by Twitter have popped up under new handles. Consider Amanda Chen，a widely followed account claiming to belong to the wife of a Hong Kong policeman. Its Twitter posts attracted attention from pro-Beijing media during the 2019 protests. The persona has tweeted under at least two other handles (@HKvigilance and @AmandaChen202) previously suspended by Twitter. Whoever she is，she now posts with the handle @Nuca12345，an account that was created a decade ago but had no activity before October 2019. @Nuca12345 has amassed more than 4，000 followers in its brief posting history. We have found no independent evidence that the real Amanda Chen exists.

Twitter禁止的某些人會用新的稱呼突然又重新出現。以阿曼達·陳(Amanda Chen)為例，這是一個有眾多關注者的使用者，聲稱自己是香港員警的妻子。它的Twitter帖子在2019年抗議期間引起了親北京媒體的關注。 該下用户在Twitter禁止前至少还在两个推号使用者在Twitter 禁止前至少還在兩個推號(@HKvigilance和@ AmandaChen202)下發佈了推文。不管她是誰，她現在都使用@ Nuca12345發推，此推號創建於十年前，但在2019年10月之前沒有任何活動。 @ Nuca12345在其簡短的發推歷史中已積累了4，000多個關注者。我們沒有發現獨立證據證明真正有Amanda Chen 存在。

While we cannot measure the exact reach and effectiveness of the campaign， it has attracted notice from its target audience. Skeptical internet users reported to Twitter suspected fake accounts that we had also identified. Many fake accounts within the network we identified were suspended，but it is unclear which of these suspensions resulted from users' reports，and which from Twitter's automated systems for detecting coordinated inauthentic behavior.

雖然我們無法準確衡量這項運動的影響範圍和效果，但它已經吸引了目標受眾的注意。持懷疑態度的互聯網使用者向Twitter舉報了那些我們也確認了的虛假帳戶。我們確認的網路中的許多虛假帳戶被停用，但目前尚不清楚哪些是使用者舉報導致的停用，哪些是Twitter自動系統檢測的不真實行為導致的。

The evidence linking the influence network to OneSight，the Beijing-based internet marketing company connected to the Chinese government，is circumstantial. In 2019，a handful of fake boosting accounts within the network we identified promoted OneSight's own social media marketing posts with likes. The data released by Twitter in September 2019 also included a number of posts connected to OneSight's Twitter account. Our review of the data we collected found no other similar company benefiting from similar boosting.

將網路大外宣與總部位於北京、與中國政府有關聯的互聯網行銷公司OneSight聯繫起來的證據是間接的。2019年，我們發現網路上有幾個虛假的推廣使用者，用點讚的方式推廣自己的社交媒體行銷帖子。Twitter在2019年9月發佈的數據還包括一些與OneSight的Twitter賬戶相關的帖子。我們對收集的數據進行了審查，發現沒有其他類似公司從類似的推動中受益。

Outside social media contractors have long been suspected of pushing Chinese government messaging abroad. Last year，ProPublica obtained a copy of a 1,244,880 renminbi (around $175,000) contract won by OneSight to increase the Twitter following of China News Service. We also found the influence network boosting the Twitter account of China News Service，as well as other Chinese state media Twitter accounts，including Xinhua and People's Daily.

外界一直懷疑是外部社交媒體承包商將中國政府的信息傳遞到海外的。 去年，ProPublica獲得了一份價值1244880元人民幣(約合17.5萬美元)的合同的副本，這份合同是由OneSight贏得的，目的是增加中國新聞社(China News Service)在Twitter上的粉絲數量。我們還發現，他們的網路宣傳運動不僅增強了中國新聞社(China News Service)的Twitter使用者，還增加了新華社和《人民日報》(People's Daily)等其他中國官方媒體的Twitter使用者。

The activities of the influence network were consistent with the timing of the government's handling of the epidemic and the themes it was publicly pushing. Discussions of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan began swirling on Chinese social media in early January， but the network made no mention of it，continuing to criticize the Hong Kong protests and attack political dissidents. On Jan. 29，six days after the Chinese central government imposed a lockdown on Wuhan，the influence network suddenly shifted its focus to the coronavirus epidemic. That same day，OneSight announced a new app that tracked virus-related information. The announcement was accompanied by a graphic declaring that OneSight would "transmit the correct voice of China" to the world.

這個網路大外宣運動與政府處理這次疫情的時機，以及公開宣傳的主題相吻合。 1月初，有關中國武漢的新型冠狀病毒的討論開始在中國社交媒體上激增，但該網路沒有提及，繼續批評香港的抗議活動並攻擊政治異見人士。 在中國中央政府對武漢實施封鎖六天后的1月29日，該網突然將重點轉移到了冠狀病毒的疫情上。當天，OneSight宣佈了一個跟蹤病毒相關信息的新應用。宣布的同時還附有一張圖片，宣佈OneSight將"向世界傳達正確的中國聲音"。

OneSight bills itself as the top overseas social marketing company in China. It contracts with domestic companies and government agencies to help them market their brands or goods on social media seen outside of China. Its website names prominent Chinese companies such as Huawei，Alibaba and Baidu as clients. Besides China News Service，its state media clients include China Daily，the English-language newspaper，and CGTN，China's foreign language TV news channel，both of which are run by the propaganda department of the Chinese Communist Party. The state-owned news service Xinhua News Agency is also a client.

OneSight自稱是中國頂級的海外社交行銷公司。它與國內公司和政府機構簽約，以幫助他們在中國境外的社交媒體上行銷其品牌或商品。它的網站明確指出華為，阿裡巴巴和百度等中國知名企業是它的客戶。除中國新聞社外，其官方媒體客戶還包括中國日報(一家英文報紙)和CGTN(中國外語電視新聞頻道)，這兩家公司均由中共宣傳部負責運營。國有新聞報社新華社也是它的客戶。

CEO Li Lei，who founded the company in October 2017 (about two years before the Australian report)，is a social media entrepreneur who，according to media interviews，previously worked at the Beijing city foreign propaganda department. In China， government propaganda departments exist at various levels of government and are responsible for a wide range of activities，including public information and public relations，as well as censorship and propaganda，both online and offline.

該公司首席執行官李磊於2017年10月創辦了這家公司(大約比澳大利亞的報導早了兩年)，他是一名社交媒體企業家，根據媒體採訪，他曾在北京市外宣局工作。 在中國，政府宣傳部門存在於各級政府，負責廣泛的活動，包括公共資訊和公共關係，以及線上和線下的審查和宣傳。

OneSight provides its clients social media marketing services and a social media monitoring and management tool. ProPublica's review of a free version of the tool found that it can be used to post messages en masse across a number of accounts on overseas social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. The tool is used by China Daily's official Twitter account. However，we did not find evidence of it being used within the influence network.

OneSight為客戶提供社交媒體行銷服務以及社交媒體監控和管理工具。ProPublica對該工具的免費版本進行了調查，發現該工具可用於在Twitter和Facebook等海外社交媒體平臺上的多個用戶中大規模發佈消息。中國日報的官方Twitter使用者也使用該工具。但是，我們找不到在網路影響力中使用它的證據。

OneSight's product tutorials show a familiarity with coordinated campaigns and government entity clients. One post tells clients how to regain access to Facebook if an account is suspended for behavior violating the terms of service. Another analyzed Huawei's Facebook followers，implying that OneSight could make its social media fans look more natural and healthy. It also posted an analysis of how to make the social media followings of local governments appear more realistic.

OneSight的產品教程展示了對協調活動和政府實體客戶的熟悉。其中一篇帖子告訴客戶，如果一個帳戶因為違反服務條款的行為而被暫停，如何重新訪問Facebook。 另一位分析師分析了華為在Facebook上的粉絲，認為OneSight可以讓它的社交媒體粉絲看起來更自然、更健康。它還發佈了一篇分析文章，分析如何讓地方政府的社交媒體關注顯得更貼近現實。

The Chinese government's information operations are not monolithic. Lotus Ruan，a researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and an expert on Chinese social media， explained that domestic censorship is "decentralized and fragmented， and the burden of information control is downloaded to private companies." Government agencies rely on private companies for social media work outside of the Great Firewall as well. During 2019，as OneSight won its contract with China News Service，China's Cyberspace Administration and Foreign Affairs Ministry also put out similar tenders. This follows a global trend of internet marketing companies being hired for political influence campaigns online.

中國政府的資訊行動並非單一的。多倫多大學公民實驗室的研究員，中國社交媒體專家蓮花·阮(Lotus Ruan)解釋說，中共國國內審查制度"分散且瑣碎，資訊控制的負擔被下放給私人公司。政府機構也依靠私人公司在防火牆之外進行社交媒體工作。2019年期間，隨著OneSight贏得了與中國新聞社的合同，中國網路空間管理局和外交部也進行了類似的招標。 這是全球趨勢，互聯網行銷公司被僱用從事在線施加政治影響的活動。

The Chinese government has also made an official push onto social media in recent years. Its diplomats are logging onto Twitter to help fight its PR battles，developing a combative， Trump-like approach to defending the regime online. On Twitter， government spokespeople have unapologetically spread disinformation about the coronavirus，even promoting the conspiracy theory that Americans brought it to Wuhan. In official social media，China typically seeks to project an image of a well-governed state and a responsible international actor，according to Matthew Schrader，China analyst at the U.S.-based think tank Alliance for Securing Democracy. However，Schrader said，"the party has been dipping its toe into outright disinformation when it has sought to deflect blame for its own policy missteps."

近年來，中國政府也推動了官方社交媒體的發展。其外交官正在登錄Twitter，為進行公關戰爭提供助力，開發一種好鬥的、類似於川普的方法來線上捍衛政權。在Twitter上，政府發言人毫不猶豫地散佈了有關冠狀病毒的虛假資訊，甚至提倡美國人將其帶到武漢的陰謀論。塑造成把自己美国的保护总部在在国际舞台上负责任的形象總部在 美國的保護 民主智庫聯盟的中國分析師馬修·施拉德(Matthew Schrader)表示，在官方社交媒體上，中國通常試圖把自己塑造成一個治理良好的國家和在國際舞臺上負責任的形象 。然而，施拉德表示，當該黨試圖為自己的政策失誤推卸責任時，它一直在涉足完全虛假的資訊。

Schrader says that government influence campaigns on the Chinese internet，leaning on the crutch of censorship，have largely been successful. But outside of its borders， without compliant platforms and coercive state power，similar covert propaganda campaigns，presumably by various departments and their contractors，appear to have trouble achieving the same success.

施雷德說，政府依靠審查制度在中共國互聯網上開展的影響活動基本上是成功的。但是在國外，沒有順從的平台和強制性的國家權力，類似的秘密宣傳運動，大概是由各個部門和他們的承包商發起的，似乎很難同樣取得成功。

Despite that，the Chinese government's efforts persist and evolve as the coronavirus spreads across the globe. Over the past few weeks，ProPublica obtained records of propositions to several prominent Chinese Twitter users from what appear to be fake accounts. One private message offered a user with more than 10,000 followers a payment to promote a video of Wuhan's battle against the coronavirus "for the public benefit."

儘管如此，隨著冠狀病毒在全球範圍內傳播，中共國政府的嘗試仍在繼續，並在不斷演變。過去幾周，ProPublica從一些貌似虛假的賬戶中獲得了一些中國知名推特用戶的記錄。一條私人資訊向一名擁有1萬多名關注者的使用者提供了一筆報酬，以推廣一段武漢抗擊冠狀病毒的公益視頻。

Another account calling itself an "international cultural exchange" company offered 1，700 renminbi (around $240) per post to the Chinese Australian artist Badiucao. The political dissident has nearly 70,000 followers on Twitter. After a day of feigned negotiations with the company，he obtained and shared with ProPublica a sample of what he would be asked to post — a 15-second propaganda clip. The video sought to show that the government defeated the coronavirus and everything is back on track. "This is what Chinese propagandists call a 'positive energy wave，'" he said. He didn't get the name of the company. It ultimately declined to provide a contract，replying: "Upon client review，your posting style does not fit this promotional topic."

另一個自稱為"國際文化交流"公司的帳戶向澳大利亞中國華裔藝術家巴迪考(Badiucao)提供了每條帖子1700元人民幣(約合240美元)的報酬。這位政治異見人士在Twitter上擁有將近7萬名追隨者。與公司進行了一天裝樣子的談判之後，他獲得了一份樣本，並與ProPublica分享了這份樣本。他被要求發佈一條15秒鐘的宣傳片段。該視頻試圖表明政府擊敗了冠狀病毒，一切都恢復了正常。他說:「這就是中國宣傳人員所說的『正能量』。 " 他沒有得到公司的名字。公司公司最終拒絕提供合同，並回答:「在客戶審查后，您的發帖風格不適合該促銷主題。"

Badiucao is confident，based on their interactions，that the company he was communicating with was working for the Chinese government. When asked why they would contact such an outspoken opponent of the regime，he speculated that the company used social media monitoring tools to identify their targets (evidence shows they reached out to Chinese-speaking Twitter users having more than 10,000 followers). But the company seemed unfamiliar with the diaspora community on Twitter，he said: "They're marketing pros，but they don't have a nuanced political understanding."

根據他們之間的互動，巴迪考確信與他交流的公司正在為中共國政府服務。當被問及為什麼他們要與他這樣的直言不諱的反對者接觸時，他推測該公司使用社交媒體監控工具來確定其目標(證據表明他們監控了擁有10000關注者以上的中文的Twitter使用者)。但他表示，該公司似乎並不熟悉Twitter上的海外中國人的分佈:"他們是市場行銷專家，但他們對政治的瞭解不大"。

Recently exposed to the coronavirus himself，Badiucao spoke to ProPublica from self-isolation in Melbourne. "I resettled in Australia because I wanted a free and safe environment. I believed in the democratic system here，" he reflected， "but with the virus，we're not even safe if we move away. And just like the coronavirus，values can be contagious as well."

最近，由於自己感染了冠狀病毒，Badiucao在墨爾本接受了ProPublica的採訪。"我重新定居在澳大利亞，因為我想要一個自由和安全的環境。我相信這裡的民主制度"，他想道，"但是這個病毒，使我們即使離開中國也不安全。就像冠狀病毒一樣，價值觀也會傳染。 "

編輯：【喜馬拉雅戰鷹團】