In July, one Chinese employee was allegedly reported to the police by his colleagues after failing to remember the lyrics to a popular Chinese song at a karaoke night aroused their suspicion.
“He turned out to be a you-know-what,” one user who knew the group wrote on social media app Xiaohongshu, named after Mao’s Little Red Book that was used to compel the nation’s population to inform on each other. China offers up to 500,000 yuan ($68,160) to citizens who successfully report spies.
That post, which Bloomberg hasn’t been able to verify, garnered some 16,000 likes as users enthusiastically exchanged tips for spotting spies. Not knowing slang popularized by the annual spring gala broadcast or mnemonic devices taught in math class could all be hallmarks of a spook, they said.
Are things like this happening in the West?