Beijing Uses Fake Western News Sites to Attack Falun Gong, Report Finds

Dozens of websites linked to Chinese companies have been used to push Beijing’s propaganda overseas while pretending to be legacy Western outlets, according to a report by Graphika, which specializes in research into foreign influence.

The websites copied design elements in order to fraudulently present themselves as such outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and others. Aside from commercial and pro-China content, they also ran articles attacking Falun Gong, a faith group brutally persecuted by the regime of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the report said.

“We identified evidence that these companies and/or individuals leveraged these domains in contracts to promote the activities undertaken by [CCP-linked] entities,” the report said.

Warning From a Minneapolis Meeting

The New York Times reported:

 

When 12,000 public health professionals gathered in Minneapolis last week for the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in the first administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, issued a pointed warning about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“If R.F.K. has a significant influence on the next administration, that could further erode people’s willingness to get up to date with recommended vaccines,” Dr. Adams said. “I am worried about the impact that could have on our nation’s health, on our nation’s economy, on our global security.”

Now, Mr. Kennedy, a vocal skeptic of vaccines, is in a position to have significant influence, and over a broad range of policy. Mr. Trump’s sweeping electoral victory, with Mr. Kennedy at his side, is — in the eyes of their supporters — not only a mandate but also a repudiation of the public health establishment that has long kept Mr. Kennedy at bay.