China seems to be successful in search engine optimization.
According to the report, China is flooding the search results with propaganda. Adobe Stock / AOP
China is taking advantage of search engine optimization on Google and Bing in an attempt to influence the opinions of non-Chinese residents by publishing state-sponsored content on the arrests of Uighur Muslims and the origins of the coronavirus.
Cnet reports to the Brookings Institution and the Alliance for Securing Democracy in the United States reportwhere researchers say they found how Chinese sources end up at the top of search results when search engines searched for information about the Xinjiang region where Uighurs live.
Brookings collected data for 120 days related to twelve Xinjiang-related terms. The survey found that state-sponsored material rose to the top ten search results in 88 percent of all cases on Google search and news, Bing search and news, and Youtube.
According to the report, Chinese propaganda will also be encountered in searches of Fort Detrick. Fort Detrick is the U.S. Army’s main biological weapons base from 1943 to 1969. The search results have included conspiracy the results that the coronavirus originated from that location.
Google’s search engine and Youtube are banned in China, while Bing has limited operations in the country. Cnet notes that China is willing to use Western tools in an attempt to influence outside the country. According to the report, through search engine optimization, China is seeking to “strengthen its narrative dominance” by using “propaganda aimed at foreign audiences”.
Google’s communications reported that Google is trying to “fight coordinated influence and censorship operations” while balancing to preserve freedom of speech. Google noted that some of the terms used in the report were rarer, which may have contributed to China’s government sources being included in the top results. Microsoft said it would review the report.