When Belgian users of Google News searched for the keyword “Xinjiang,” part of the content they were presented with was produced by Chinese state-controlled actors. These stories were overwhelmingly positive, with little to no mention of the Uyghur community and no mention of human rights issues in the region.
This study shows which outlets were promoted when querying a selection of keywords monitored by CrossOver, and which ones were pushed before the eyes of Belgian users.
Read the CrossOver study here.
Watch Guillaume Kuster, CEO of CheckFirst, presenting the outputs of the study:
Check First is a leading Finnish software and methodologies company, spearheading adversarial research techniques. We believe that everyone should be able to understand how and why content is presented to them. We advocate for online clarity and accountability, building solutions to attain this goal. Partnering with leading institutions, regulators, NGOs and educators, we aim at curbing the spread of disinformation and foreign influence manipulations.
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