50 Cent Party
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The 50 Cent Party, or 50 Cent Army (Template:Zh), is the colloquial term for Internet commentators (Template:Zh), hired by Chinese authorities in an attempt to manipulate public opinion to the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party. It was created during the early phases of Internet's rollout to the wider public in China. The name derives from the allegation that commentators were said to be paid fifty cents (in Renminbi) for every post, though some speculate that they are probably not paid anything for the posts, instead being required to do so as a part of their official Party duties. They created favourable comments or articles on popular Chinese social media networks, intended to derail discussions that are unhelpful to the Communist Party and promoted narratives that served the government's interests, together with disparaging comments and misinformation about political opponents and critics of the Chinese government, both domestic and abroad. It is also used as a derogatory term against people with perceived pro-CPC or Chinese nationalist views.
A 2016 Harvard University paper found that in contrast to common assumptions, Chinese Internet commentators are mostly paid government bureaucrats, responding to government directives in times of crisis, and flood Chinese social media with pro-government comments. They also rarely engage in direct arguments, and around 80% of the analysed posts involve pro-China cheerleading with inspirational slogans, and 13% involve general praise and suggestions on governmental policies.
As of 2016, this practice seems to have largely ceased, and propagandist participation in Internet discussions has become part of the Communist party officials' normal work. Also the nature of participation has become more nuanced and less aggressive. Research indicated a "massive secretive operation" to fill China's Internet with propaganda has resulted in some 488 million posts carried out by fake social media accounts, out of the 80 billion posts generated on Chinese social media. To maximize their influence, their pro-government comments are made largely during times of intense online debate, and when online protests have a possibility of transforming into real life actions.
See also
- Internet Water Army, private astroturfing from paid Chinese writers paralleling the 50 Cent Party
- Great Firewall of China, a Chinese "national firewall" Internet censorship system
- Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China
- PLA Unit 61398, Chinese PLA online hacking & malware implantation unit
- Astroturfing, a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement
- State-sponsored Internet sockpuppetry, a list of other similar programs internationally
- Trolls from Olgino and Web brigades, Russian Internet propaganda troll army paid by the Kremlin
- Public opinion brigades, similar troll party working for Vietnam's Communist Party
- Force 47, Vietnamese military unit charged with pro-regime propaganda trolling, Internet police and hacking of dissident anti-government websites. A combination of public opinion brigades/50 Cent Party and PLA Unit 61398.
