World

‘We Are Very Free’: Multiple Clips From China’s Xinjiang Region Appear To Be Eerily Similar

(Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Varun Hukeri General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
Font Size:

Thousands of videos of Uyghurs in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, all denying that China’s government is responsible for human rights violations in the region, are appearing on platforms such as YouTube and Twitter in what could be a propaganda campaign by Chinese officials to counter scrutiny over human rights, The New York Times and ProPublica reported Wednesday.

Among the people featured in the videos included a small business owner, taxi driver and textile factory worker. Many of them attacked former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who designated China’s actions in Xinjiang as a genocide in late January, and almost all them repeated the same line: “We are very free.”

The videos are meant to depict ordinary life in Xinjiang, but there is evidence to indicate broader coordination carried out by China’s government, according to an analysis of more than 3,000 clips and social media posts by The Times and ProPublica.

China’s government is ramping up domestic and international propaganda efforts, ranging from musicals and documentaries to disinformation campaigns on social media, to counter scrutiny over its reported human rights violations in Xinjiang.

Current estimates indicate China in recent years has detained at least 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in re-education camps, according to Axios. Beijing has specifically targeted the Muslim-majority population in the region and is committing “demographic genocide” through forced abortions and sterilization, according to multiple reports and testimonies.

The people featured in more than 1,000 videos said they recently came across Pompeo’s remarks criticizing China’s actions in Xinjiang, mainly “on the internet” or on Chinese social media platforms like Douyin.

WATCH:

The same words and phrases are also repeated in hundreds of the videos. A four-character Chinese phrase meaning “born and raised” is mentioned in more than 280 videos. Another four-character Chinese phrase meaning “complete nonsense” is mentioned in more than 600 videos to dismiss Pompeo’s criticism of China’s human rights violations. (RELATED: More Women Describe Forced IUD’s, Sterilizations, Sexual Violence In China)

WATCH:

Many of the videos first appeared on a regional news app run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) earlier this year, according to The Times. But then they began appearing on Western social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter, which are notably banned in China.

The owner of a used car dealership in Xinjiang who was featured in one of the videos later admitted to The Times and ProPublica that local propaganda authorities were responsible for the clip. The man, who’s name is being withheld, mentioned a local official identified only as Mr. He, though the official did not respond to calls from The Times and ProPublica.

There is also evidence to suggest that Twitter accounts sharing the videos on the platform were part of a coordinated operation, according to The Times. Almost all of the accounts were created recently and their posts included identical messages, with a random string of Roman letters or Chinese characters included at the end, presumably to bypass anti-spam filters.

Chinese state-backed media outlets and government officials on Western social media platforms even shared clips earlier this year to dismiss accusations of forced labor in Xinjiang. Chinese foreign ministry spokespeople Zhao Lijian and Hua Chunying both shared clips of a Xinjiang cotton farmer in February. (RELATED: Independent Report Finds Evidence Of Beijing’s ‘Intent To Destroy’ Uighurs In Xinjiang Genocide)

WATCH:

In a related video, a Uyghur woman sitting on a couch presumably with her husband and son attacked the clothing brand H&M for raising concerns about forced labor in Xinjiang’s cotton and textile industries. A similar coordinated campaign against H&M had been carried out earlier in March.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel