Over the past several years, YouTube has become a powerful tool in China’s global propaganda playbook. Although the platform is blocked inside China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using it aggressively to influence audiences abroad, especially in the United States. Through paid influencers, sponsored travel, shadowy offers, algorithm manipulation, and aggressive narrative control, Beijing is now spreading messages that serve its interests while drowning out critical voices.
Experts, content creators, and researchers are warning that this campaign is not just about soft power—it is a coordinated attempt to reshape how Americans view China, the CCP, and global affairs.
Foreign Faces, Hidden Motives
The CCP’s influence campaign has evolved from simple comment trolling into a highly organized, strategic operation. David Zhang, who runs the YouTube channel China Insider, explained that China’s propaganda strategy now involves recruiting Western content creators to disguise official messaging as independent opinion.
“The CCP has manipulated the public opinion space, especially on YouTube, in the past two, three years, to really focus on using foreign faces, and not people from China… to try to legitimize their claims,” said Zhang, who has over 1.3 million subscribers.
Rather than using obvious Chinese state media outlets, much of this content is presented through popular vloggers, travel influencers, or so-called independent commentators. These videos often portray China in an overwhelmingly positive light while attacking the country’s critics and suppressing attention to human rights abuses.
Chris Chappell, host of the channel China Uncensored, has seen the transformation firsthand. “Generally, there’d be an obvious CCP troll saying something ridiculous, and all the other commenters would jump on them,” he said, describing earlier tactics as clumsy and ineffective. But the newer efforts, he warned, are “much more sophisticated and dangerous.”
Attacks on Dissidents and Religious Minorities
One of the key goals of China’s YouTube campaign is to discredit individuals and groups seen as threats to the regime. This includes democracy activists, Tibetan and Uyghur advocates, Taiwan independence supporters, and members of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned and violently persecuted in China.
According to internal communications disclosed by whistleblowers and reported by The Epoch Times, Chinese officials have been organizing campaigns to feed defamatory information to Western media and social platforms. These efforts target groups like Shen Yun Performing Arts, Falun Gong-affiliated news outlets, and even individuals within the Falun Gong diaspora. The Ministry of Public Security reportedly instructed staff to support YouTubers who attacked Falun Gong, including specific anti-Falun Gong creators who were rewarded for their participation.
Tim Pool, a U.S.-based commentator, revealed that he had received a strange offer via email. “We’ll give you $200 to post this video to your YouTube channel,” the email said, referring to an anti-Falun Gong video. Pool declined, stating on his podcast, “It was like a mini doc that was like 5 to 10 minutes long from some white dude complaining about this group… I ain’t posting that to my channel.”
Other influencers reported being contacted through social media with offers of cryptocurrency in exchange for confidential information about Falun Gong practitioners or businesses. One person claimed to be a journalist but used a stock photo as their profile picture and appeared to be part of a disinformation operation.
YouTube’s Role in the Algorithm War
Content creators who have been critical of the Chinese government report a pattern of unexplained viewership declines, removal from recommended lists, and even mass unsubscriptions.
Chappell said that around November 2024, his channel experienced a sudden drop in traffic by up to 90 percent. “Obviously, this was not something organic,” he said. Viewers began reporting that his videos no longer appeared in their subscription feeds or search results. Some said they were unsubscribed without doing anything.
Zhang ran a test. When he made videos that appeared to praise China, his view counts surged and the videos were pushed out to more users. But when he returned to critical topics, the views plummeted. “Those [pro-China videos] get immediately pushed out to be notified to subscribers… Then, when I switched back to regular titles, I noticed that my views and reach suddenly dropped.”
Chappell tried a different strategy. He encouraged viewers to like, comment, and watch his videos to boost engagement. Eventually, his audience began to recover. However, a survey of over 6,000 of his subscribers revealed that 25 percent had been unsubscribed, and 40 percent said they rarely saw his videos in their recommendations.
Yet many reported seeing pro-CCP content promoted by YouTube. “YouTube would not tell them when we had new videos,” said Chappell. “But these same subscribers… said YouTube was recommending pro-CCP videos, including videos from state-run media.”
Sponsored Trips and Scripted Praise
Part of China’s strategy includes flying influencers into China for all-expense-paid tours and encouraging them to create flattering content. Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan admitted he received thousands of dollars to produce pro-CCP songs and had worked with various Chinese government offices. “They would send materials to me, and I would create content based on my own style,” he said.
Wen Tzu-yu, a Taiwanese YouTuber who co-produced a documentary about these influence efforts, confirmed that vloggers were being targeted with offers of trips to cities like Chongqing. Some were told they could choose their own itinerary, but the real goal was to guide them into making propaganda videos.
Many of the resulting videos showed nearly identical footage and made similar remarks about China’s cleanliness, safety, and modern infrastructure. In one video, a vlogger even recited the CCP propaganda slogan “telling the China story well,” a phrase often used by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Chappell said it became clear that influencers were following “the same exact script.” Some went as far as claiming that no religious oppression existed in Xinjiang, despite overwhelming evidence of internment camps and forced labor targeting Uyghur Muslims.
Pushing Propaganda, Suppressing Dissent
Former YouTubers like Matthew Tye and Winston Sterzel, both of whom lived in China for over a decade, have provided detailed accounts of Beijing’s influence efforts. After they left China, their content became more critical of the regime. But soon after the 2024 U.S. election, their viewership suddenly collapsed.
Tye said, “In a sample of six videos prior to November 2024, my channel was averaging 448,000 views per video. After the election, that dropped to 125,000. Winston’s views fell 67 percent.”
To test the theory, Sterzel began giving his videos misleading titles that seemed to support China and criticize the U.S. Videos like “I Changed my Mind about America” and “China’s Robots Have Shocked the World” immediately performed five times better than his usual posts.
In his words, “Almost overnight, Winston’s channel had been resurrected… but only when he posted what appeared to be pro-Chinese Communist and anti-American content.”
These experiences are not isolated. A 2021 report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute revealed how Chinese authorities used foreign influencers to promote the CCP’s narrative about Xinjiang, denying genocide and human rights abuses. In 2023, another coordinated campaign on YouTube pushed pro-China, anti-U.S. content. According to The Guardian, Google removed over 400 videos at the request of the Chinese government—many of which accused officials of corruption.
Eric Liu, a former content moderator, described the strategy plainly: “The goal is not to win, but to cause chaos and suspicion until there is no real truth.”
Government Support Behind the Scenes
Many influencers deny that they are part of a propaganda machine. But reporting from The New York Times found that government-organized trips, free accommodations, and access to off-limits areas of China were often provided by state-run media outlets. Some influencers had financial ties to Chinese government-backed companies.
Videos from creators like Raz Galor, who filmed himself picking cotton in Xinjiang while denying forced labor, were reposted by Chinese embassies and state media across Twitter and Facebook. These reposts reached hundreds of millions of followers, dramatically increasing the videos’ exposure.
Researchers at Yale University found that out of nearly 290,000 tweets mentioning Xinjiang in early 2021, six of the ten most-shared YouTube videos were from pro-China influencers.
Guillaume Chaslot, a former Google engineer, explained why this works. “Dictatorial countries can centralize their understanding of the algorithm and use it to boost all their channels,” he said.
A Global Propaganda Operation
Ultimately, Beijing is using platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to amplify messages that it cannot promote domestically. China blocks these platforms inside its borders to prevent the spread of uncontrolled information. But outside of China, it sees them as perfect vehicles for spreading its version of the truth.
“YouTube is actively promoting pro-Chinese government, anti-American content while suppressing voices critical of China’s communist regime,” said Tye.
YouTube has stated that it regularly removes coordinated propaganda campaigns and requires creators to disclose paid relationships. However, it admitted that it does not label personal channels of employees working for state media, making it difficult for viewers to understand who is behind the content they are watching.
For now, creators like Chappell, Zhang, Tye, and Sterzel continue to fight for visibility against an algorithm and global influence campaign that seems increasingly stacked against them. As Sterzel said, “This is not just about YouTube—it’s about truth, freedom, and whether foreign governments get to decide what Americans see.”
ACZ Editor: China’s spies out number us by more than 50 to 1 inside America. Nobody know how many spies they have inside China working against us. Hopefully we can at least get his on the radar.
Over the past several years, YouTube has become a powerful tool in China’s global propaganda playbook. Although the platform is blocked inside China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using it aggressively to influence audiences abroad, especially in the United States. Through paid influencers, sponsored travel, shadowy offers, algorithm manipulation, and aggressive narrative control, Beijing is now spreading messages that serve its interests while drowning out critical voices.Experts, content creators, and researchers are warning that this campaign is not just about soft power—it is a coordinated attempt to reshape how Americans view China, the CCP, and global affairs.
Foreign Faces, Hidden Motives
The CCP’s influence campaign has evolved from simple comment trolling into a highly organized, strategic operation. David Zhang, who runs the YouTube channel China Insider, explained that China’s propaganda strategy now involves recruiting Western content creators to disguise official messaging as independent opinion.“The CCP has manipulated the public opinion space, especially on YouTube, in the past two, three years, to really focus on using foreign faces, and not people from China… to try to legitimize their claims,” said Zhang, who has over 1.3 million subscribers.Rather than using obvious Chinese state media outlets, much of this content is presented through popular vloggers, travel influencers, or so-called independent commentators. These videos often portray China in an overwhelmingly positive light while attacking the country’s critics and suppressing attention to human rights abuses.Chris Chappell, host of the channel China Uncensored, has seen the transformation firsthand. “Generally, there’d be an obvious CCP troll saying something ridiculous, and all the other commenters would jump on them,” he said, describing earlier tactics as clumsy and ineffective. But the newer efforts, he warned, are “much more sophisticated and dangerous.”
Attacks on Dissidents and Religious Minorities
One of the key goals of China’s YouTube campaign is to discredit individuals and groups seen as threats to the regime. This includes democracy activists, Tibetan and Uyghur advocates, Taiwan independence supporters, and members of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned and violently persecuted in China.According to internal communications disclosed by whistleblowers and reported by The Epoch Times, Chinese officials have been organizing campaigns to feed defamatory information to Western media and social platforms. These efforts target groups like Shen Yun Performing Arts, Falun Gong-affiliated news outlets, and even individuals within the Falun Gong diaspora. The Ministry of Public Security reportedly instructed staff to support YouTubers who attacked Falun Gong, including specific anti-Falun Gong creators who were rewarded for their participation.Tim Pool, a U.S.-based commentator, revealed that he had received a strange offer via email. “We’ll give you $200 to post this video to your YouTube channel,” the email said, referring to an anti-Falun Gong video. Pool declined, stating on his podcast, “It was like a mini doc that was like 5 to 10 minutes long from some white dude complaining about this group… I ain’t posting that to my channel.”Other influencers reported being contacted through social media with offers of cryptocurrency in exchange for confidential information about Falun Gong practitioners or businesses. One person claimed to be a journalist but used a stock photo as their profile picture and appeared to be part of a disinformation operation.
YouTube’s Role in the Algorithm War
Content creators who have been critical of the Chinese government report a pattern of unexplained viewership declines, removal from recommended lists, and even mass unsubscriptions.Chappell said that around November 2024, his channel experienced a sudden drop in traffic by up to 90 percent. “Obviously, this was not something organic,” he said. Viewers began reporting that his videos no longer appeared in their subscription feeds or search results. Some said they were unsubscribed without doing anything.Zhang ran a test. When he made videos that appeared to praise China, his view counts surged and the videos were pushed out to more users. But when he returned to critical topics, the views plummeted. “Those [pro-China videos] get immediately pushed out to be notified to subscribers… Then, when I switched back to regular titles, I noticed that my views and reach suddenly dropped.”Chappell tried a different strategy. He encouraged viewers to like, comment, and watch his videos to boost engagement. Eventually, his audience began to recover. However, a survey of over 6,000 of his subscribers revealed that 25 percent had been unsubscribed, and 40 percent said they rarely saw his videos in their recommendations.Yet many reported seeing pro-CCP content promoted by YouTube. “YouTube would not tell them when we had new videos,” said Chappell. “But these same subscribers… said YouTube was recommending pro-CCP videos, including videos from state-run media.”
Sponsored Trips and Scripted Praise
Part of China’s strategy includes flying influencers into China for all-expense-paid tours and encouraging them to create flattering content. Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan admitted he received thousands of dollars to produce pro-CCP songs and had worked with various Chinese government offices. “They would send materials to me, and I would create content based on my own style,” he said.Wen Tzu-yu, a Taiwanese YouTuber who co-produced a documentary about these influence efforts, confirmed that vloggers were being targeted with offers of trips to cities like Chongqing. Some were told they could choose their own itinerary, but the real goal was to guide them into making propaganda videos.Many of the resulting videos showed nearly identical footage and made similar remarks about China’s cleanliness, safety, and modern infrastructure. In one video, a vlogger even recited the CCP propaganda slogan “telling the China story well,” a phrase often used by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.Chappell said it became clear that influencers were following “the same exact script.” Some went as far as claiming that no religious oppression existed in Xinjiang, despite overwhelming evidence of internment camps and forced labor targeting Uyghur Muslims.
Pushing Propaganda, Suppressing Dissent
Former YouTubers like Matthew Tye and Winston Sterzel, both of whom lived in China for over a decade, have provided detailed accounts of Beijing’s influence efforts. After they left China, their content became more critical of the regime. But soon after the 2024 U.S. election, their viewership suddenly collapsed.Tye said, “In a sample of six videos prior to November 2024, my channel was averaging 448,000 views per video. After the election, that dropped to 125,000. Winston’s views fell 67 percent.”To test the theory, Sterzel began giving his videos misleading titles that seemed to support China and criticize the U.S. Videos like “I Changed my Mind about America” and “China’s Robots Have Shocked the World” immediately performed five times better than his usual posts.In his words, “Almost overnight, Winston’s channel had been resurrected… but only when he posted what appeared to be pro-Chinese Communist and anti-American content.”These experiences are not isolated. A 2021 report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute revealed how Chinese authorities used foreign influencers to promote the CCP’s narrative about Xinjiang, denying genocide and human rights abuses. In 2023, another coordinated campaign on YouTube pushed pro-China, anti-U.S. content. According to The Guardian, Google removed over 400 videos at the request of the Chinese government—many of which accused officials of corruption.Eric Liu, a former content moderator, described the strategy plainly: “The goal is not to win, but to cause chaos and suspicion until there is no real truth.”
Government Support Behind the Scenes
Many influencers deny that they are part of a propaganda machine. But reporting from The New York Times found that government-organized trips, free accommodations, and access to off-limits areas of China were often provided by state-run media outlets. Some influencers had financial ties to Chinese government-backed companies.Videos from creators like Raz Galor, who filmed himself picking cotton in Xinjiang while denying forced labor, were reposted by Chinese embassies and state media across Twitter and Facebook. These reposts reached hundreds of millions of followers, dramatically increasing the videos’ exposure.Researchers at Yale University found that out of nearly 290,000 tweets mentioning Xinjiang in early 2021, six of the ten most-shared YouTube videos were from pro-China influencers.Guillaume Chaslot, a former Google engineer, explained why this works. “Dictatorial countries can centralize their understanding of the algorithm and use it to boost all their channels,” he said.
A Global Propaganda Operation
Ultimately, Beijing is using platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to amplify messages that it cannot promote domestically. China blocks these platforms inside its borders to prevent the spread of uncontrolled information. But outside of China, it sees them as perfect vehicles for spreading its version of the truth.“YouTube is actively promoting pro-Chinese government, anti-American content while suppressing voices critical of China’s communist regime,” said Tye.YouTube has stated that it regularly removes coordinated propaganda campaigns and requires creators to disclose paid relationships. However, it admitted that it does not label personal channels of employees working for state media, making it difficult for viewers to understand who is behind the content they are watching.For now, creators like Chappell, Zhang, Tye, and Sterzel continue to fight for visibility against an algorithm and global influence campaign that seems increasingly stacked against them. As Sterzel said, “This is not just about YouTube—it’s about truth, freedom, and whether foreign governments get to decide what Americans see.”ACZ Editor: China’s spies out number us by more than 50 to 1 inside America. Nobody know how many spies they have inside China working against us. Hopefully we can at least get his on the radar.
