This article is purely innuendo and quotes from reddit posts that insist that there is an army of Chinese trolls specifically arguing against things that they are personally opinionated about. This article contains no actual information or evidence about what people in China may or may not be actually doing.
I don't mean to imply that there are any fewer than 50 people being paid by the Chinese government to post on English-language websites full time, but Reddit is a cesspool of paid posters.
It's just a particularly US/Western neo-cold war paranoia that it's somehow mostly or even largely the Chinese and Russian governments. The evidence usually cited is that somebody is agreeing with the Chinese or Russian government, and since no one could possibly agree with the Russian or Chinese government Q.E.D.. For Russia, it doesn't even matter whether the poster agrees with the Russian government, because what the Russian government wants to do is foment strife and confusion in order to weaken the West, therefore both sides must be Russian.
I also don't mean to imply that there any fewer than 50 people being paid by the Russian government to post on English-language websites full time.
I'd just put those into perspective by trying to imagine the number of people employed by the governments of English-speaking countries to post on English-language websites full time; then add the number of full-time posting shills from private companies, including that person about 3 cubes down from you.
China's published propaganda is improving, though; they're starting to get that Anglo-American reasonable liberal tone down. That sometimes make me think that a lot of posters who are pounced on for being Chinese shills are just Chinese people expressing Chinese opinions, but without the trained skill of wrapping them in some circular argument about practicality and respect.
I don't mean to imply that there are any fewer than 50 people being paid by the Chinese government to post on English-language websites full time, but Reddit is a cesspool of paid posters.
It's just a particularly US/Western neo-cold war paranoia that it's somehow mostly or even largely the Chinese and Russian governments. The evidence usually cited is that somebody is agreeing with the Chinese or Russian government, and since no one could possibly agree with the Russian or Chinese government Q.E.D.. For Russia, it doesn't even matter whether the poster agrees with the Russian government, because what the Russian government wants to do is foment strife and confusion in order to weaken the West, therefore both sides must be Russian.
I also don't mean to imply that there any fewer than 50 people being paid by the Russian government to post on English-language websites full time.
I'd just put those into perspective by trying to imagine the number of people employed by the governments of English-speaking countries to post on English-language websites full time; then add the number of full-time posting shills from private companies, including that person about 3 cubes down from you.
China's published propaganda is improving, though; they're starting to get that Anglo-American reasonable liberal tone down. That sometimes make me think that a lot of posters who are pounced on for being Chinese shills are just Chinese people expressing Chinese opinions, but without the trained skill of wrapping them in some circular argument about practicality and respect.