China's social media propaganda machine has tried to shift the country's image from a source of COVID-19 to a global leader in fighting it, research reveals
China has sought to portray itself on English-language social media as the global leader in the fight against COVID-19 rather than as the origin of the novel coronavirus, new research reveals.
"I really see China as embracing this seminal moment to take control on the narrative," the lead researcher on the report told Business Insider. The report finds that the messaging around the coronavirus follows China's familiar crisis-response pattern: In the early days, "social media posts from state-run organizations are likely at their most transparent and accurate," but the messaging tends to "degrade over time as the propaganda machine kicks in to influence the message being sent abroad."
"China has a very specific set of strategic goals related to their ascendancy on the global stage," she told Business Insider. "Their primary goal is to make other countries comfortable with the role they want to play in the world."
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