Multiple influencers across various interest areas, including Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Crystal Kung Minkoff and Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, were paid indirectly by China to push propaganda about the Bejing Olympics and promote relations with the country, according to new documents released by the Justice Department. The posts evaded detection by not being labeled to convey the nature of the partnerships.
The Chinese Consulate in New York reportedly paid $300,000 to Vippi Media, a New Jersey-based firm, to acquire social media influencers. The subsequent posts did not meet the required standards for partnerships and advertisements on apps such as Instagram and TikTok.
According to a report, Vippi Media’s ad campaign targeted social media users in the United States and ultimately reached around 4 million people through different types of posts across various platforms.
The Associated Press reported that the company registered its campaign under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which is a 1938 law that requires companies to inform Americans when foreign entities could be attempting to influence them. According to the Associated Press, Vippi Media has yet to file updates regarding its influencer campaign, which it is required by law to do within 24 hours of dissemination.
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Roughly a dozen recruited social media influencers used the #Beijing2022, #partner, and #ad hashtags in several posts promoting the Games.
Ryan Dubs, a TikTok user with more than half of a million followers, was one of the paid promoters. Dubs interviewed China’s consul general in New York, Huang Ping, in a three-minute video in early March 2022.
“This was such a cool opportunity to learn more about doing business with China! #entrepreneur #businesscheck #hustlecheck #china #business #beijing2022 #partner,” he captioned the post.
The two discussed relations between Chinese and U.S. businesses and encouraged Americans to do business in the country.
While the post featured the #partner hashtag, it was not properly registered as a paid partnership on the app, according to a report, which noted that multiple other influencers improperly marked and registered these posts in favor of China.
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It is unknown how much influencers were compensated for the posts.
