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→2018 Taiwan election interference
The '''Chinese 50 cent Army''' ('''五毛''') also '''50 cent party''' or '''50c party''' is the nickname given to Chinese [[internet]] trolls who post [[disinformation]] on various [[social media]] platforms in Chinese. [[English]], and other languages. A 2021 report from the Jamestown Foundation claims the CCP holds 2 million paid internet commentators. It also has a network of 20 million part-time volunteers to carry out online trolling.<ref>https://jamestown.org/program/a-different-kind-of-army-the-militarization-of-chinas-internet-trolls/</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported in 2016 that the Chinese 50 cent Army makes about 450 million social media postings per year.<ref>http://archive.is/d32pI</ref> After the [[CCP global pandemic]] outbreak, the 50 cent Army was particularly active on [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]], promoting the [[CCP propaganda war]] and attacking critics of [[socialism]], [[communism]], and [[totalitarianism]].
[[File:50c army.PNG|right|350|thumb|Diagram of various offices and bureaus sending in copies of their internet postings to the central Propaganda Office. The Harvard study reported 99.3% of all 50c army members in its sample study were government employees. The CCP has 90 million members nationwide.]]
The '''Chinese 50 cent army''' ('''五毛''') also '''50 cent party''' or '''50c party''' is the nickname given to Chinese [[internet]] trolls who post [[disinformation]] on various [[social media]] platforms in Chinese. [[English]], and other languages. A 2021 report from the Jamestown Foundation claims the CCP holds 2 million paid internet commentators. It also has a network of 20 million part-time volunteers to carry out online trolling.<ref>https://jamestown.org/program/a-different-kind-of-army-the-militarization-of-chinas-internet-trolls/</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported in 2016 that the Chinese 50 cent Army makes about 450 million social media postings per year.<ref>http://archive.is/d32pI</ref> After the [[CCP global pandemic]] outbreak, the 50 cent Army was particularly active on [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]], promoting the [[CCP propaganda war]] and attacking critics of [[socialism]], [[communism]], and [[totalitarianism]].
In the [[2020 Presidential election]] in the [[United States]], the 50 cent Army heavily favored former [[Obama]] [[Vice President]] [[Joe Biden]] and ruthlessly attacked U.S. President [[Donald Trump]].
In the [[2020 Presidential election]] in the [[United States]], the 50 cent Army heavily favored former [[Obama]] [[Vice President]] [[Joe Biden]] and ruthlessly attacked U.S. President [[Donald Trump]].
The 50 cent Army, which is well known in [[Taiwan]] and [[Hong Kong]], are to said to be actually paid about .03 cents per posting by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] and Chinese military.
The 50 cent Army, which is well known in [[Taiwan]] and [[Hong Kong]], are said to be paid about .03 cents per posting by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] and Chinese military.
==History==
==History==
==2018 Taiwan election interference==
==2018 Taiwan election interference==
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, from Tsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told ''[[Al Jazeera]]'' in 2018<ref>https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/23/fake-news-rattles-taiwan-ahead-of-elections/</ref>,
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, from Tsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told ''[[Al Jazeera]]'' in 2018,<ref>https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/23/fake-news-rattles-taiwan-ahead-of-elections/</ref>
{{quotebox-float|"We received propaganda warfare coming from China for years, but this is taking a very different form,. It’s coming in not from newspapers or their propaganda machine but through our social media, online chat groups, [[Facebook]], the zombie accounts set up, somewhere, by the Chinese government....It’s a more serious problem because China is so close to Taiwan, language-wise. They don’t have the cultural or language barrier and can easily fabricate news and they know the mentality of Chinese thinking, so it’s easier for them to orchestrate this misinformation.”}}
{{quotebox-float|"We received propaganda warfare coming from China for years, but this is taking a very different form,. It’s coming in not from newspapers or their propaganda machine but through our social media, online chat groups, [[Facebook]], the zombie accounts set up, somewhere, by the Chinese government....It’s a more serious problem because China is so close to Taiwan, language-wise. They don’t have the cultural or language barrier and can easily fabricate news and they know the mentality of Chinese thinking, so it’s easier for them to orchestrate this misinformation.”}}
False stories were traced to servers in the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party and it’s 50 Cent Army. Beijing has reached deep into Taiwan, sowing division and confusion through online disinformation, recruiting business figures, and funneling cash to pro-Beijing politicians.
False stories were traced to servers in the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party and it’s 50 Cent Army. Beijing has reached deep into Taiwan, sowing division and confusion through online disinformation, recruiting business figures, and funneling cash to pro-Beijing politicians.
==Harvard study==
==Harvard study==
Researchers from [[Harvard University]] and the [[University of California]] [[San Diego]] published a study in 2017 entitled ''How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social
Researchers from [[Harvard University]] and the [[University of California]] [[San Diego]] published a study in 2017 entitled ''How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, not Engaged Argument'' based on an archive of 43,757 emails [[leak]]ed from the Internet Propaganda Office of Zhanggong,<ref>https://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/50c.pdf</ref> a district of Ganzhou City in Jiangxi province. The emails were copies of 50c army member posts to the Zhanggong Internet Propaganda Office claiming credit for completing their assignments. The study received funding from [[DARPA]] and the [[National Science Foundation]].
Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, not Engaged Argument'' based on an archive of 43,757 emails [[leak]]ed from the Internet Propaganda Office of Zhanggong,
a district of Ganzhou City in Jiangxi province. The study received funding from [[DARPA]] and the [[National Science Foundation]].
The study found 99.3% of the 50c army are government employees posting from government websites and not, as is commonly believed, ordinary citizens paid piecemeal for their work. Of the 43,757 posts, only 281 were made by individuals or groups that could not be identified. The content of these posts was very similar to those that could be identified. The remaining were contributed from servers of over 200 government agencies throughout the district. This included 9,159 posts or 20.9% made directly by the Zhanggong Internet Propaganda Office and 2,343 (5.4%) by the Zhanggong district Bureau of Commerce. Others come from bureaus in the district (e.g., Sports Bureau, Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, Bureau of Taxation, Zhanggong district court, and government offices of Zhanggong’s sub-districts and townships. The researchers hypothesize that the activity is a requirement of the government workers' existing job or possibly rewarded in performance reviews.
The postings were divided into six categories for the purposes of the study, (1) cheerleading and distraction, (2) factual news, (3) non-argumentative praise or suggestions, (4) argumentative praise or criticism (5) taunting of foreign countries (6) other personal posts, jokes, etc.
More than half of all posts were cheerleading for China and party leaders as a distraction to other bad news. Factual news was about 18%. The remainder was non-argumentative praise or suggestions, such as improving housing and public welfare. Argumentative praise or criticism on controversial issues as part of a debate; praise (usually of the government) or criticism (usually of opponents of the government) taking a position or explaining why a particular viewpoint is correct or (more often) wrong. And taunting of foreign countries; favorable comparisons of China to other countries; insults to other countries; taunting of pro-democracy, pro-West, pro-individual liberties, or pro-capitalist opinions within China.
==Further reading==
==Further reading==