On issues critical to Beijing, including human rights and the origins of Covid-19, Chinese sources dominate top search results on Western search engines and platforms, including Google, Bing, and YouTube. By securing first-page search results on popular U.S. websites, Chinese narratives on sensitive topics are expanding beyond its borders to reach Western audiences.
“Western media and think tanks aren’t producing content every day about Xinjiang,” said Bret Schafer, another lead author of the report who runs information-manipulation research at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. “Chinese state media outlets are.”