China state TV channel CGTN enlists UK student influencers

China’s state TV station is offering British students the chance to win thousands of dollars by becoming pro-Beijing social media influencers.

CGTN is offering British students the chance to win cash by becoming pro-Beijing social media influencers. Picture: Getty Images

China’s state TV station has been targeting British university campuses and offering students the chance to win thousands of dollars by becoming pro-Beijing social media influencers.

CGTN had its broadcasting licence revoked and was taken off the air in Britain in February after an investigation by Ofcom, the media regulator, found that it was editorially controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

The network has since launched a “media challengers” campaign to recruit internet influencers and vloggers globally, some of whom will promote China and counter Western narratives that damage its image.

Successful applicants can win up to $US10,000 ($13,000) and secure part-time or full-time jobs at CGTN, according to promotional documents.

At least six students at the University of Leeds and one at the University of Manchester have signed up to the campaign, The Times has found.

The Leeds group filmed a video in which they said: “Join us at CGTN!” In Manchester Zhuang Shangzi, a 24-year-old postgraduate student, also made a video saying she was inspired to “promote China” by pro-Beijing British vloggers who “eliminate the bias Western media has towards China”. She said she was a “huge fan” of Lee and Oli, referring to Lee Barrett and his son Oli, two expatriates who have been criticised for making propaganda for China.

The Barretts, who operate a YouTube channel that has 29 million total views, and Jason Lightfoot, another British vlogger, also feature in promotional content. The YouTubers, who all live in China, have created videos praising the communist system and variously defending mass surveillance, condemning “Western media lies” and denying that human rights abuses occur in Chinese concentration camps.

The UK, US, Canada and the EU all imposed sanctions on Chinese officials this year over the mass detention of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, citing evidence that the minority group had been subjected to forced labour, sterilisation and re-education. President Joe Biden’s administration said that genocide was occurring.

CGTN has published videos of Lightfoot and the Barretts attacking the West on its main YouTube channel, which has 2.5 million subscribers, but adds a disclaimer saying their opinions “do not necessarily reflect” the station’s views.

Hannah Bailey, an expert on Chinese digital disinformation at the Oxford Internet Institute, said: “If we have Western social media influencers reading out China’s official line on particular issues, then domestic audiences might believe the Chinese Communist Party is admired by international audiences.”

She said the CGTN campaign was “part of a broader trend that we’ve seen of China trying to increase its influence among university campuses”.

Sam Armstrong, of the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said: “CGTN’s vloggers are modern Lord Haw-Haws from a regime that parliament has judged to be engaging in a genocide against the Uighurs. No self-respecting university should allow such a propaganda outfit to recruit on its campus.”

After CGTN was taken off air it approached French regulators to confirm that it was to be under their jurisdiction and European law, a loophole that allows it to broadcast in the UK regardless of the Ofcom ruling.

Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader who has been sanctioned by China, called on Britain to “crack down” on CGTN. “This is a national danger and an insidious little communist plot,” he said.

CGTN, the Barretts, Lightfoot and Manchester and Leeds universities did not respond to requests for comment.

THE TIMES