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Comment by Barrin92 | Hacker News Reader

sorry, but how do we know that this is an 'infiltration' or paid for content and not just angry Chinese people shitposting on youtube? Because I can go to just about any political video and find comments like this from any nationality.

I don't think anyone doubts that there is a large contingent of nationalistic internet users in China which is very often on display, but going from that to asserting that this is coordinated is quite a leap.

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This is not an obvious example of 50 cent army; in fact you're unlikely to find anything that you can incontrovertibly call the CCP. This was an example of Chinese nationalism in general. I watch a ton of US China trade war stuff, the closest thing I could give you to an example of what legitimately appears to be a state actor was triggered by something like this: 'yeah China might be good but gdp per capita america = 60k gdp per capita china = 9k'

Followed by an 8 paragraph monologue about American imperialism, the prison industry, etc.

Of course this isn't verifiable, and maybe you're right, perhaps it is just one angry guy in China. I do not really care who it is, I am just trying to point out how we're quick to flip out about Facebook ads bought in Rubles, yet when it comes to Chinese troll artistry we are completely silent meanwhile Russia is a declining power and China is a mercantilist adversary.

You said "The level of infiltration of the 50 cent army on YouTube is absurd" and gave an example which you now say "is not an obvious example of 50 cent army". If the infiltration level is absurd, and you and your friend have been analyzing it for a long time, why not give a clear example in the first place?

Sorry you are right, I refer to the 50 cent army as Chinese nationalists in general. Given that there is no way to literally verify, to me it’s all the same. My definition would be closer to “those who go out of the way to champion the ccp party line.” For example, going on a multi paragraph rant about the glories of the chinese communist party, or complete non sequiters.

So yes by absurd infiltration I’m talking about Chinese nationalists in general. Why not give a clear example? Because there is no verification of identity on YouTube or any social media

But then why call it "infiltration"? Infiltration implies a plan and sinister intent.

> I am just trying to point out how we're quick to flip out about Facebook ads bought in Rubles, yet when it comes to Chinese troll artistry we are completely silent meanwhile Russia is a declining power and China is a mercantilist adversary.

You don't have to worried about things that are "obviously propaganda." If you even mention a nuanced take on what the CCP is doing in Xinjiang, you'll instantly get downvoted to oblivion (like this comment) and branded a shill, so the same would happen to legitimate disinformation. The Russian propaganda used in the US was designed to create more divides in order to weaken democracy. For example, an fake advertisement may advocate to "teach the controversy" of evolution in a blue state to encourage atheists to be hostile to Christians and vice versa.

Smarter every day has an interesting miniseries about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PGm8LslEb4&vl=tr

It's both. A combination of propaganda and propaganda doing its job

Isn't Youtube banned in China?

pretty trivial to get around with a VPN, or might be Chinese expats I suppose given that they're commenting in English.

Not as easy as you might think as most vpn servers are banned in China too.

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