During Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, China spread propaganda about alleged damage to the Indian fighter jet, Rafael. Now, China has initiated a new campaign aimed at harming India's tourism.
India Today's Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) team uncovered at least 100 accounts on Chinese social media platforms, Weibo and YouTube, portraying India as dirty, unappealing, and unsafe for foreign travelers through video content.
These Chinese accounts selectively pick parts from travel blogs by Western influencers to support their agenda, usually showing instances where the influencers are seen complaining about India.
Source: aajtak
The campaign includes five edited videos with influencers criticizing various aspects of India such as sanitation, public transportation, urban road traffic management, and women's safety.
The Chinese campaign against India began on July 17 with a video clip shared on Weibo by a British influencer, who had traveled to India after visiting China. The clip, which had a hashtag translating to - 'British internet celebrity who complained about China cried in India,' showed her tearfully stating 'complaining about China now seems foolish.'
Source: aajtak
The clips in this propaganda campaign were selectively edited by China to show Western influencers criticizing India and praising China.
This campaign includes video clips from influencers who have traveled to both India and China. These edited videos are shared with Chinese subtitles and voice-overs for better understanding among the Chinese audience.
Source: aajtak
However, the reality is different. While foreign tourists may criticize India's cleanliness and women's safety, the exaggerated portrayal by Chinese propaganda is not accurate.
Original influencer videos often show that they point out both shortcomings and the positive experiences they have in India. For instance, an Australian YouTube channel, 'Travel for Phoebe,' praised the cuisine and sights of Udaipur, Rajasthan, while also mentioning an incident of harassment.
Source: aajtak
In contrast, the Chinese propaganda only highlighted the part where the influencer complained about harassment.
Chinese Campaign Also on YouTube
This campaign is not limited to the Chinese messaging platform Weibo. At least four Chinese YouTube channels have uploaded similar influencer videos. Dozens of uploaded propaganda videos on YouTube use derogatory titles about India such as - 'Are Chinese toilets cleaner than Indian restaurants?', 'The worst country on Earth,' and 'Bloggers went to India happily and returned crying.'
China is known for targeting other countries using social media influencers to improve its image, promote its narratives, and advance its interests.
According to Bloomberg, earlier this month, China announced a program inviting American content creators for a fully sponsored 10-day trip to promote its positive image.
Last year, Indian security agencies identified numerous influencers whose travel and video production expenses were reportedly covered by China. Investigations revealed that China was paying these Indian influencers to promote China-supportive narratives.
