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The 50 Cent Party, also known as the 50 Cent Army or ( ), are
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
commentators who are paid by the authorities of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
to spread the propaganda of the governing
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...
(CCP). It was created during the early phases of the Internet's rollout to the wider public in China. The name is derived from the fact that such commentators are paid RMB¥0.50 for every post. These commentators create comments or articles on popular Chinese
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...
networks that are intended to derail discussions which are critical of the CCP, promoting
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional ( memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc ...
s that serve the government's interests and insulting or spreading misinformation about political opponents of the Chinese government, both domestic and abroad. Some of these commentators have labeled themselves ( zh, s=自干五, short for , , ), claiming they are not paid by authorities and express their support for the Chinese government out of their own volition. Authors of a paper published in 2017 in the ''
American Political Science Review The ''American Political Science Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of political science. It is an official journal of the American Political Science Association and is published on their behalf by Cambri ...
'' estimate that the Chinese government fabricates 488 million social media posts per year. In contrast to common assumptions, the 50 Cent Party consists mostly of paid bureaucrats who respond to government directives and rarely defend their government from criticism or engage in direct arguments because "... the goal of this massive secretive operation is instead to distract the public and change the subject." Around 80% of the analysed posts involve pro-China cheerleading with inspirational slogans, and 13% involve general praise and suggestions on governmental policies. Despite the common allegation of the commentators getting paid for their posts, the paper suggested there was "no evidence" that they are paid anything for their posts, instead being required to do so as a part of their official party duties. Research by professors at Harvard, Stanford, and UC San Diego indicated a "massive secretive operation" to fill China's Internet with propaganda, and has resulted in some 488 million posts written by fake social media accounts, representing about 0.6% of the 80 billion posts generated on Chinese social media. To maximize their influence, such pro-government comments are made largely during times of intense online debate, and when online protests have a possibility of transforming into real life actions. The colloquial term has also been used by some English speakers outside of China as an insult against people with perceived pro-CCP bias.


History

In October 2004, the local CCP Propaganda Department of
Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, and ...
started hiring Internet commentators, in one of the earliest known uses of professional Internet commentators. In March 2005, the
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is a cabinet-level department under the State Council responsible for basic education, vocational education, higher education, and other educational affairs across the country. The Mi ...
enacted a systematic censorship of Chinese college bulletin board systems. The popular "Little Lily" BBS, run by
Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xian ...
, was forced to close. As a new system was prepared to be launched, school officials hired students as part-time web commentators, paid from the university's work-study funds, to search the forum for undesirable information and actively counter it with Party-friendly viewpoints. In the following months, party leaders from
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...
began hiring their own teams. By mid-2007, web commentator teams recruited by schools, and party organizations were common across China.
Shanghai Normal University Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) ( Chinese: 上海师范大学) is a public research university in Shanghai, China. SHNU is one of the three Key Universities (上海市重点大学) (Along with Shanghai University and University of Shanghai fo ...
employed undergraduates to monitor for signs of dissent and post on university forums. These commentators not only operate within political discussions, but also in general discussions. Afterwards, some schools and local governments also started to build similar teams. On 23 January 2007, Chinese leader
Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, and ...
demanded a "reinforcement of ideological and public opinion front construction and positive publicity" at the 38th collective learning of
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contracti ...
. Large Chinese websites and local governments have been requested to publish the sayings of Hu, and select "comrades with good political quality" to form "teams of Internet commentators" by the CCP Central Committee () and
General Office of the State Council General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China () is an administrative agency of the State Council which assists the leaders with the day to day administrative operations of the Chinese government The Government of the ...
(). Negative reporting of local authorities has increased on the Internet since then. In one instance described on the China Digital Times, the
Jiaozuo Jiaozuo ( ; postal: Tsiaotso) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Henan province, China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yellow River, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the south, Xinxiang to the east, Jiyuan to th ...
(Henan) City
Public Security Bureau A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...
established a mechanism to analyse public opinion after criticism of the police handling of a traffic incident appeared on the Internet. The Bureau responded with 120 staff calling for the truth to be revealed in line with the public opinion, which gradually shifted and eventually supported the police position, denouncing the original poster. In the aftermath of the 2008 Guizhou riot, Internet forums were filled with posts critical of the local authorities; the ''
China News Weekly ''China Newsweek'' () is a Chinese weekly magazine since 2000 based in Beijing, China, and one of China's most well-known periodicals. Published by China News Service, the magazine provides extensive reports on current affairs Current affairs may ...
'' later reported that "the major task of the propaganda group was to organize commentators to past icposts on websites to guide online public opinions." In 2010, the Shanghai
Communist Youth League The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...
's official website published a summary, saying that there were more than 200 topics by Shanghai Municipal Authorities' Internet commentators posted at ''
People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'',
Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
, Eastday (),
Sina Sina may refer to: Relating to China * Chin (China), or Sina (), old Chinese form of the Sanskrit name Cina () ** Shina (word), or Sina ( ja, 支那, links=no), archaic Japanese word for China ** Sinae, Latin name for China Places * Sina, Al ...
and Tianya after many incidents in 2009, including the Lotus Riverside incident, the forced installation of
Green Dam Youth Escort Green Dam Youth Escort () is content-control software for Windows developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC) which, under a directive from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), was to take effect on 1 July 2009, as ...
software, the Putuo Urban Administrative incident, the control of
H1N1 In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxoviru ...
, the Shanghai entrapment incident (), the
self-immolation The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself ...
of Pan Rong (), etc. It was praised by the Shanghai Internet Publicity Office. In December 2014, a Chinese blogger hacked into and published email archives for the Internet Propaganda Department of
Zhanggong District Zhanggong District () is the administrative center of the prefecture-level city of Ganzhou in the south of Jiangxi Province, China. The oldest part of Ganzhou's ancient sewage system named Fushou Gou (), which was built during the eleventh century ...
in
Ganzhou Ganzhou (), alternately romanized as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jiangxi province, China, bordering Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, and Hunan to the west. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong District. Hist ...
, including over 2,700 emails of 50 Cent Party Internet commentators. For instance, on 16 January 2014, Shi Wenqing, secretary of the Ganzhou branch of the CCP, held a televised "Internet exchange" in which he answered questions from a local news website forum; 50 Cent Party commentators were instructed to post seven discussion points, such as (translated) "I really admire Party Secretary Shi, what a capable and effective Party Secretary! I hope he can be the father of Ganzhou for years to come."


Range of operation

The Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China now holds regular training sessions, where participants are required to pass an exam after which they are issued a job certification. As of 2008, the total number of 50-cent operatives was estimated to be in the tens of thousands, and possibly as high as 280,000–300,000. Every large Chinese website is instructed by the Information Office to create a trained team of Internet commentators. According to the ''Chinese Communists' opinions of the recruitment of university Work Committee (tentative)'', the university Internet commentators are mainly selected from cadres or student cadres at the local CCP Publicity Department of universities, Youth League, Office of Academic Affairs, Network Center, Admissions Employment Department, Political Theory Department, Teaching Department and other units. The court of Qinghe District, Huai'an organized a team of 12 commentators.
Gansu Province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
hired 650 commentators, sorted by their writing abilities. Suqian Municipal Publicity Department's first 26 commentators' team were reported by ''
Yangtse Evening Post The ''Yangtse Evening Post'' or ''Yangtze Evening Post'' (), also known as ''Yangtse Evening News'' or ''Yangtze Evening News'', is a Nanjing-based Chinese language state newspaper published in China. It is one of world's most circulated newspa ...
'' in April 2005. According to high-profile
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
Chinese blogger Li Ming, the pro-Chinese government web commentators must number "at least in the tens of thousands". A 2016
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
study estimated that the group posts about 488 million
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...
comments per year. According to an article published by
Xiao Qiang Xiao Qiang (, born November 19, 1961) is the Director and Research Scientist of the Counter-Power Lab, an interdisciplinary faculty-student research group focusing on digital rights and internet freedom, based in the School of Information, Univ ...
on his website China Digital Times, a leaked propaganda directive, sent to 50 Cent Party Internet commentators, stated their objective was the following:
In order to circumscribe the influence of Taiwanese democracy, in order to progress further in the work of guiding public opinion, and in accordance with the requirements established by higher authorities to "be strategic, be skilled," we hope that internet commentators conscientiously study the mindset of netizens, grasp international developments, and better perform the work of being an internet commentator. For this purpose, this notice is promulgated as set forth below: :(1) To the extent possible make America the target of criticism. Play down the existence of Taiwan. :(2) Do not directly confront he idea ofdemocracy; rather, frame the argument in terms of "what kind of system can truly implement democracy.” :(3) To the extent possible, choose various examples in
Western countries The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
of violence and unreasonable circumstances to explain how democracy is not well-suited to capitalism. :(4) Use America's and other countries' interference in international affairs to explain how Western democracy is actually an invasion of other countries and ow the Westis forcibly pushing n other countriesWestern values. :(5) Use the bloody and tear-stained history of a nceweak people .e., Chinato stir up pro-Party and patriotic emotions. :(6) Increase the exposure that positive developments inside China receive; further accommodate the work of maintaining ocialstability.


Terms

There is an alternate official term for the Internet Commentator, as well as several unofficial terms coined by
netizen The term netizen is a portmanteau of the English words ''internet'' and ''citizen'', as in a "citizen of the net" or "net citizen". It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general.
s for them: Among those names, "50 Cent Party" () was the most common and pejorative unofficial term. The term is applied by Chinese netizens to any person who blatantly expresses pro-CCP thoughts online. According to ''Foreign Policy'', Chinese cyberspace is also noted for its ideological contests between "rightists" – reformists who advocate Western-style democratic reforms, versus "leftists" – conservatives and neo-Confucianists who advocate Chinese nationalism and restructured socialism. In this backdrop, rightists sometimes refer to leftists derogatorily as "50 Centers", regardless of their actual employment background. The Hong Kong-based ''
Apple Daily ''Apple Daily'' ( zh, link=no, 蘋果日報) was a popular tabloid published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Founded by Jimmy Lai, it was one of the best-selling Chinese language newspapers in Hong Kong.
'' reported that although a search for "" ("50 Cent Party" in Chinese) on a search engine produces results, most were inaccessible and had been deleted.


Effects and opinions

The Internet commentator/50 Cent Party's activities were described by CCP general secretary and Chinese president
Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, and ...
as "a new pattern of public-opinion guidance"; they represent a shift from simply erasing dissenting opinions to guiding dialogue. In 2010, a contributor to ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' stated that some comments she received on one of her posts were from the 50 Cent Party; she also stated that the 50 Cent Party monitors popular US websites, news sites and blogs and posts comments that advance Chinese governmental interests. David Wertime of ''
Foreign Policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...
'' argued that the narrative where a large army of paid Internet commentators are behind China's poor public dialogue with its critics is "Orwellian, yet strangely comforting". Rather, many of the Chinese netizens spreading nationalist sentiment online are not paid, but often mean what they say. The colloquial term ''wumao'', from the Chinese pronunciation of the term, has been used as an insult by some English speakers against people with perceived pro-CCP or pro-Chinese views, and has been cited in discussions of Sinophobia. An analyst at the Wilson Center has noted that
ethnic Chinese The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...
are more likely to be called ''wumao'' than other groups of people in the
English-speaking world Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...
; she attributed some of this to racism. In Australia, the term has been used as an insult amidst the rise of anti-Asian and anti-Chinese sentiments and the ongoing debate over increasing "Chinese influence" in the country.


Counter measures

Facebook and Twitter have been removing accounts and pages that are of "coordinated state-backed operation". In June 2020, Twitter has removed 170,000 accounts which targeted 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.


See also


In China

*
Internet censorship in China Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) affects both publishing and viewing online material. Many controversial events are censored from news coverage, preventing many Chinese citizens from knowing about the actions of th ...
* Internet Water Army, private astroturfing from paid Chinese writers paralleling the 50 Cent Party *
Great Firewall The Great Firewall (''GFW''; ) is the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate the Internet domestically. Its role in internet censorship in China is to block access to selected for ...
, a Chinese system to censor and regulate the Internet *
Little Pink Little Pink () or Pinkie is a term used to describe young jingoistic Chinese nationalists on the internet. The term Little Pink originated on the website (), when a group of users kept strongly criticizing people who published posts containing n ...
, Chinese nationalist
netizen The term netizen is a portmanteau of the English words ''internet'' and ''citizen'', as in a "citizen of the net" or "net citizen". It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general.
s *
PLA Unit 61398 PLA Unit 61398 (also known as APT 1, Comment Crew, Comment Panda, GIF89a, and Byzantine Candor) (, Pinyin: 61398 ''bùduì'') is the Military Unit Cover Designator (MUCD) of a People's Liberation Army advanced persistent threat unit that has be ...
, the hacking and
malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depr ...
implantation unit of the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...


Elsewhere

*
Astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a ...
, a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement *
State-sponsored Internet sockpuppetry State-sponsored Internet propaganda is Internet manipulation and propaganda that is sponsored by a state. Asia-Pacific *: The former government of Afghanistan used a state-sponsored Internet troll army to push their narrative and exaggerate Afghan ...
, a list of other similar programs internationally ** U.S. government edits of Wikipedia *
Operation Earnest Voice Operation Earnest Voice (OEV) is a communications program by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). Initially, the program was developed as a psychological weapon and later thought to have been directed at jihadists across Pakistan, Afghanis ...
, U.S. government program aimed at spreading pro-U.S. propaganda on websites frequented in the Middle East * Russian web brigades, Russian state-sponsored propaganda trolls **
Internet Research Agency The Internet Research Agency (IRA; russian: Агентство интернет-исследований, translit=Agentstvo internet-issledovaniy), also known as ''Glavset'' (russian: link=no, Главсеть) and known in Russian Internet sla ...
, a Russian-owned company engaged in online influence operations * AK Trolls, Turkish state-sponsored propaganda trolls *
Public opinion brigades The public opinion brigades ( vi, Dư luận viên) is a state-sponsored web brigade of the Communist Party of Vietnam or linked to the Communist Government of Vietnam. Similar to Russia's web brigades and China's 50 Cent Army, participants repo ...
, state-sponsored propaganda party working for the
Communist Party of Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of No ...
* Force 47, Vietnamese military unit that disseminates pro-regime propaganda and hacks anti-government websites


References


Further reading

*
PDF
*
Article PDFsupplementary appendix
an
symposium info


External links


''China Digital Times'' articles related to the 50 Cent Party
{{Disinformation Chinese Internet slang Disinformation operations Internet censorship in China Internet manipulation and propaganda Internet trolling Political slurs Propaganda in China Propaganda techniques Public relations techniques