Users searching for information in Xinjiang or Covid see articles published by Chinese state-media outlets.

New Delhi: A recent study by the Washington-based Brookings Institution found that China manipulates search engine results to spread propaganda and to prevent negative news related to the country from appearing in search results.
The study titled, “How China uses search engines to spread propaganda”, states that China uses search engines as an important tool in their information war. The study, conducted over a four-month time period, found that China greatly exploited search engine results on two topics, “Xinjiang” and “Covid 19”, topics that were highly sensitive to its political leadership.
According to Brookings researchers — focusing on five different sources Google Search, Google News, Bing Search, Bing News and YouTube — users will use any of these mediums to search for information related to Xinjiang or the source of the Covid pandemic, is likely. to “find articles on these topics published by Chinese state-media outlets”.
To examine the spread of content produced by Chinese state media appearing in search results, the researchers compiled a list of 12 key terms related to “Xinjiang” and “Covid-19” and then tracked the extent to which those this term returns search results curated from Chinese state media.
The result was analyzed for the period between November 1, 2021, and February 8, 2022. During these 120 days, approximately 21.5% of engine results for the terms linked to Xinjiang and Covid-19 were showed content from Chinese state media. A quarter of the top results on YouTube, also featured Chinese state -backed accounts.
“For users looking to educate themselves on events in Xinjiang or about Covid-19, this means it’s likely that some of the information they’ve used will come from Chinese state media.
By prominently releasing this type of content, search engines can play an important role in Beijing’s efforts to shape external perspectives, making platforms that are important — including authoritative outlets that state-supported content syndicates without explicit labeling — have done more to meet their role. in disseminating these narratives, ”said the researchers.
According to them, Beijing exploited the search engine results to promote state-backed media that fueled the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda. The researchers found that even bad, neutral terms for a search query resulted in the leak of Chinese state media.
“Beijing has been very effective in influencing content coming out for the neutral and widely used term‘ Xinjiang ’. Within 120 days, the term returned Chinese-state media to the top results in 88% of News searches and 98% of YouTube searches. These results show how easy it is for users to stumble upon state -supported content even when conducting a seemingly neutral search. “
Even search results for conspiracy terms yielded a high volume of state -driven content. Terms like “Xinjiang debuned” and “Xinjiang terrorism” returned at least one first page result from Chinese state media web, news, and YouTube searches almost daily.
“On average, more than half of all search results for the term‘ Xinjiang debuned ’and a third of all search results for the term‘ Xinjiang terrorism ’come from Chinese-state media every day. In each of these cases, the search results are dominated by state -supported propaganda that regularly provides content specific to the loaded terms for this search, ”the researchers found.
The Chinese agencies behind the manipulation of this content, have not limited themselves to “defensive actions”, but have achieved the mastery of pushing content to the detriment of their strategic competitors such as the United States. “On YouTube, searches for the term‘ Fort Detrick ’, a U.S. military research laboratory claimed by CCP propaganda to be the source of the Covid-19 virus, regularly returns state-supported content. In total, 619 videos from Chinese state media appeared in the top 10 results. Similarly, Chinese state media appeared on the first page of search results for news searches for the term ‘Unit 731’ — a biological research unit located in Japan-occupied China during WWII and a subplot to the efforts of China to connect Covid-19 sources to Fort Detrick — every single day of data collection, ”the report said.
Brookings Institution experts suggested that to counter this propaganda war, search platforms should provide users with more information about search results, including clear labels for state domains. .
“Search engines may expand the use of warning labels in situations where the quality of results may be lacking, including for example, when a small number of sources dominate the search results. To meet the challenges inherent in hosting, re-posting, and syndication of state-backed media, publications engaging in these practices must enhance disclosures and labels to better inform audiences about the sources of this syndicated information. Authoritative outlets should also reconsider arrangements with state-supported media outlets that lack editorial freedom. Search engines should expand the practice of labeling state media, agency, and official websites in search results, providing valuable context to users, ”the report recommends.
“Provide notification to users when result quality is suspected, as Google does for breaking news events, including searches for disputed terms or topics that are a battleground for search result dominance. Provide information on how ranking decisions about state content are assessed and made — including whether factors leading to deranking (such as the case of Russian state media and Google) may have implications for content produced by other states. “