Recently-revealed documents indicate that the American software company Microsoft actively worked with Chinese government-run media outlets to spread Chinese propaganda.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Microsoft – the second-largest corporation in the United States – entered into partnerships with several outlets run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including China Daily and People’s Daily, with the latter being the official newspaper of the CCP’s Central Committee, while the former is published by the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department. In 2020, the U.S. State Department declared that the parent company of People’s Daily was “substantially owned or effectively controlled” by the CCP.
As part of the partnerships, Microsoft agreed to provide technology to China Daily that would enable it to target potential readers, while People’s Daily would be given access to an artificial intelligence (AI) bot that was designed to be censored and controlled by the CCP. The deal with China Daily was struck in September of 2016, with China Daily even admitting that the partnership would see Microsoft provide the publication with technology that would…
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