Google has blocked a huge network of pro-China propaganda news websites

Date:
Mon, 25 Nov 2024 14:02:00 +0000

Description:
The Glassbridge network has been blocked by Google for spreading Chinese propaganda in search results.

FULL STORY

Googles Threat Intelligence Group has revealed it has blocked over 1,000
sites belonging to a small number of PR firms that spread pro-China
propaganda through inauthentic news sites.

The sites posed as local news networks, even publishing authentic localized content alongside state sponsored press releases to deceive readers.

The network, dubbed Glassbridge, was made up of four companies who
bulk-created and operated hundreds of domains which posed as independent news sites. These sites published content which emphasizes narratives aligned to
the political interests of the Peoples Republic of China, said Google.

A new kind of influence campaign

The Glassbridge network used private PR firms to gain plausible deniability
and obscured their role in the spreading of coordinated misinformation. The sites violated Googles policies which prohibit deceptive behavior and require editorial transparency, and will no longer appear in Google News Features and Google Discover.

The four firms, Shanghai Haixun Technology, Times Newswire, Durinbridge, and Shenzhen Bowen media. The most prolific, Shanghai Haixun Technology, was
found to be operating over 600 policy-violating domains, all of which have since been removed.

By posing as independent, and often local news outlets, IO (information operations) actors are able to tailor their content to specific regional audiences and present their narratives as seemingly legitimate news and editorial content, said Vanessa Molter.

Google believes this is an evolution of previously observed mass produced social media disinformation campaigns , which have targeted western states
and US voters in particular, aiming to spread discourse and divide public opinion.

Most of us can spot the social media bot accounts with relative ease, and
most bots generate very little authentic engagement, which highlights the difficulties states like China, Russia, and Iran have had in producing convincing political content through social media.

Whilst its unlikely that foreign actors will abandon social media campaigns, its clear that new tactics are being adopted to try and sew distrust in
western political systems and spread favorable narratives for Beijing.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/google-has-blocked-a-huge-network-of-pr o-china-propaganda-news-websites

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Google has blocked a huge network of pro-China propaganda news websites

I can see what the writer of this story is saying about this: the writer wants us to credit Google for standing up against China, and for "stopping the spread of disinformation."

But of course that's not what the story says to me. It sounds to me like Google is reinforcing their grip on authority; the authority to dictate what constitutes "propaganda."

Here in the USA, propaganda is legal, and Google knows that very well. But the more they invest in the narrative of "we're the experts at what's propaganda and what's not," the more likely Democrats will be able to convince the American public of it.

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