Xinhua News, China’s largest state-run news agency, is currently buying ads on Facebook where Bill Gates talks about China. The video ad is a fascinating example of the way the Chinese government is using mainland-prohibited Facebook to spread online propaganda as headlines around the world focus more on Beijing’s horrific human rights abuses.
The ad, previously seen in the Facebook Ad Library but deleted, features a nearly seven-minute video interview with Bill Gates, covering topics such as public health, education, and technological innovation. China’s rise is something that the rest of the world should imitate to hear from Gates.
“The success of China in many ways is amazing,” says Gates in the Facebook video ad . “Starting with agricultural productivity, improving health, a very strong education system with some of the best universities in the world and now innovations that will help us not only with health but also with climate change.”
Gates continued that China could help other countries “based on the lessons learned from China”. Gates also talks about the work of the Gates Foundation in China to eradicate TB and fight poverty.
The ad is a joke piece of propaganda that stands in sharp contrast to today’s reality in China ̵
1; a place where there are concentration camps for Uighurs in Xinjiang and violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
] “Now we are involved in poverty alleviation, where China has an impressive goal of completely eradicating extreme poverty in the country, and a dedicated group is working to keep track of the pros” says Gates the video.
Gates also speaks highly of China’s political engagement with the rest of the world.
“Since 1980 the growth of the economy, including many innovations – now China’s one of the two largest economies in the world. Many countries trade with China. Many Chinese companies are giving birth to their products, “says Gates.
“On the political side, the conference with the African countries (19459024) is a great example of how China today plays a major role in dealing with the UN institutions and institutions and considering foreign aid from countries Working Together “he explained.
Currently, 1 to 3 million predominantly Muslim Uighurs are held in concentration camps in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, which is never mentioned in the video. There are also reports of forced marriages and even about Han Chinese allotted to Uighur families and sleeping in the same bed as Uighur women while their husbands are in custody.
Beijing is also involved in suppressing democracy-friendly protesters in Hong Kong who have been protesting police brutality and China’s influence in the semi-autonomous region since June . And just today, a new report appeared on a former worker at the British Consulate in Hong Kong, who was tortured for 15 days by Chinese authorities .
The Gates Foundation did not answer a request for statement tomorrow on Wednesday. The Xinhua ad was available in the Facebook ad library before Gizmodo contacted the Gates Foundation by email and deleted it shortly after we sent our request. Gizmodo uploaded the ad to YouTube so readers can see it for themselves.
In particular, the Xinhua ads are not shown in the US, where they are likely to be very skeptical of China’s role in promoting a positive Agenda on the world stage.
Politically, there is a rare bipartisan agreement in the United States, according to which China’s current human rights violations are reprehensible. The only people who seem to speak of China’s authoritarian aggression are those with a strong financial stake in the region – whether it’s the NBA that punishes the Houston Rockets Director-General for supporting freedom in Hong Kong . or Apple deletes apps in Hong Kong that the Chinese government does not like .
Xinhua has previously purchased ads on Facebook to pollute demonstrators in Hong Kong and Facebook is not a great record when it comes to politics and authoritarian governments. Domestically, Facebook is also working with sites such as the far-right Breitbart to spread “trustworthy” messages to Americans who may not be aware of Breitbart’s History ,
China will continue to spread propaganda to divert attention from its human rights abuses to virtually every corner of its domain, but it’s a bit bizarre to see this on Facebook, a platform that’s banned in China, let alone Bill’s involvement Gates. But that’s just the world we live in. Any platform on which so-called “soft power” (19459005) can be exercised in liberal democracies will be used by the authoritarians if they have the opportunity.
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