Chinese state-run outlets that have been implicated in global propaganda schemes are actively paying Meta to promote their content, a Washington Examiner review of advertising records has found.
China Global Television Network, China Daily, The People’s Daily, Global Times, China Youth Daily, and China Xinhua News, all of which are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, collectively have hundreds of active advertisements running on Facebook and Instagram. The advertisements range from the outlets promoting their stories to prompting users to visit their websites or social media pages. These advertisements are not set to target Americans, with the bulk seeking to sway European and Latin American audiences — a development that comes amid reports that China is working to expand its influence in those regions as America works to reduce foreign aid spending.
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Meta is aware that it is accepting funding from the Chinese government, as disclaimers on advertisements from these outlets note that they are “China state-controlled media.” The labeling, however, informs social media users that they are being influenced by a foreign power, a luxury that users are not always afforded when browsing platforms such as X.
Before the Washington Examiner reached out to Meta for comment, China Youth Daily, the media outlet of the CCP’s youth wing, was not labeled as “state-controlled media.” The publication’s page was updated to note its government control after the Washington Examiner flagged its advertising activity to Meta. Organizations Meta identifies as state-controlled media are not allowed to run ads in the United States.
The tech giant’s continued decision to accept payments from CCP-controlled entities could raise eyebrows, as Meta moved in 2024 to ban Russian state media networks from its platforms for engaging in “foreign interference activity,” an action that established a precedent at the company for blocking adversarial state-run news.
CGTN, one of the most prolific Chinese state-run media operations purchasing advertising space on Meta’s platforms, has a well-documented history of pushing pro-CCP propaganda. The conglomerate, which operates under the Central Propaganda Department of the CCP, works diligently to portray China as “well governed, benign, stable, and as a rising superpower,” according to a 2022 academic paper published by scholars at King’s College in London.
In line with the findings of English scholars, the stories CGTN is paying Meta to promote highlighted China’s purported “commitment to an open market,” stated that “China’s development insight has to be taken seriously,” portrayed China as a positive force for environmental conservation, and dismissed claims that China is constructing artificial islands to expand its territorial waters — blaming the natural accumulation of dead coral for the appearance of new land formations off the Chinese coast.
CGTN has previously faced criticism for running advertisements that downplayed China’s genocide of the Uyghur people and pushed pro-Russia talking points following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The state-run outlet has also broadcast coerced confessions and published disinformation about anti-CCP dissidents, most notably in its coverage of the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, for which the outlet portrayed pro-democracy activists as violent terrorists.
Beyond academics and journalists, the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States have identified CGTN as an arm of the CCP despite its claims of editorial independence.
Taking the CCP’s cash in exchange for ad space isn’t the sole domain of social media platforms. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, alongside an array of other major newspapers, took millions of dollars from China Daily to run advertisements designed to look like legitimate news articles that reported on world events with a pro-China spin.
The other CCP-run outlets paying Meta for exposure have track records comparable to CGTN. Xinhua News, which is paying to boost its coverage of China’s “ethnic unity and religious harmony” and strong rice harvests, is China’s official state-run news outlet. Xinhua, which has about 100 active advertisements across Meta’s platforms, has downplayed the Uyghur genocide and published disinformation related to the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests. The People’s Daily, which serves as the official newspaper of the CCP, has a comparatively small advertising footprint on Meta, with just five active adverts.
GOOGLE FEEDS ARTICLES FROM CHINESE STATE-RUN PROPAGANDA OUTLETS TO AMERICAN READERS
Meta isn’t alone in its ties to Chinese state-run media. Google News, the eponymous tech conglomerate’s flagship news aggregator that attracts north of 100 million users per month, indexes and promotes content produced by CCP-run news outlets like the ones purchasing ad space on Instagram and Facebook. In a similar vein, Amazon facilitates the sale of an array of products manufactured by Pentagon-designated “Chinese military companies” on its online marketplace and has reportedly worked to derail state-level efforts aimed at removing Chinese-manufactured goods from government offices.
Tech companies broadly maintain close ties with Chinese entities, including those with links to the People’s Liberation Army — a dynamic that has sparked concern among some experts.
“American companies need to make a choice: Do they want to put America first or the Chinese Communist Party first?” Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik previously told the Washington Examiner. “If they can’t muster the requisite patriotism to do the right thing, Congress and the Trump administration should step in and establish penalties for doing business with companies affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army.”
Meta declined to comment.