Features of fake news in Chinese social networks

Yan Ikhua Postgraduate Student; Faculty of Philology; Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6, Moscow, 117198, Russia woshiyana120@gmail.com

Introduction

Social networks and messengers in many countries of the world, both in the West and in the East, in developed and developing countries, have long established themselves not only as a means of messaging, but also as a source of daily relevant news and opinions ^{[7; 14; 11, p. 1]}, which are intensively published under the under the auspices of freedom of speech, as a result, they become, in the opinion of the audience, more interesting and "reliable" material. However, these platforms equally contribute to the dissemination of not only relevant information, but also fake news, i.e. fake news ^{[11, p. 1]}, also referred to by some scientists as "digital disinformation" ^{[4, p. 99]}.

Fake news or fake news is "disinformation and hoax published on websites for political purposes or to control web traffic" ^{[4, p. 100]}, which can potentially shape public opinion, ideology and beliefs, as well as influence decision-making.

Research methodology

The article used such methods as theoretical analysis of scientific literature on the indicated issues, descriptive method, data aggregation (tabular method), component analysis, as well as systematization and interpretation of the obtained material.

China's Social Media as a media distribution platform for news content (Mass media)

As of January 2023, based on statistical data from A. Petrosyan (Petrosyan 2024), there were approximately 1.05 billion virtual space users in China, while the estimated number of Internet audiences in all countries in December 2024 was 5.5 billion people ^[11]. According to estimates by L.L. Tomala (Thomala 2024), the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the PRC) has the world's largest digital community, comprising about 1.09 billion users, 80% of whom are residents of megacities (Beijing, Shanghai, etc.), and 67% are people from rural and remote areas. regions of the country. Moreover, the Chinese network is currently the largest in the world, with an ultra-high and stable data transfer rate (5G) ^[16].

According to statistics obtained by A. Watson (Watson 2024), social media is the main source of fake news. For example, since 2016, more than 50% of the surveyed Internet users from 23 countries have used online platform data to familiarize themselves with news events taking place within the state and in the world ^[19].

Nevertheless, the results of A. Watson's research in 2018 showed that "social networks are the least reliable source of news in the world" ^[20]. Despite the fact that the official mass media have repeatedly informed people about the unreliability of this kind of resources, thousands of citizens are still exposed to the negative influence of fake news every day. Due to the fact that young Chinese people regularly use online platforms, they are more likely to be misinformed on social media, unlike the older generation ^[19].

The research of A.O. Tretyakov, D.V. Filatov, D.V. Zhuk, N.N. Gorlushkina, A.A. Puchkovskaya (2018) also confirms that "viral fake news attracts more attention on social networks than real news" ^{[4, p. 99]}.

As a result, consciously or unconsciously, many consumers of information content, seeing fake news, actively pass them on to others (make a repost^[1]), thereby putting even the most knowledgeable readers at risk ^[19]. Below is a table of the most popular messengers and social networks officially operating in China (see table 1).

Table 1 – The most popular social networks in China^[2]

Based on table 1, it is obvious how many users have accounts on social networks in China. The green arrows in the table indicate the active growth of registered accounts and the number of active users of social networks, while the red arrows indicate a decrease in their number, due not so much to a decrease in audience interest in the platform as to the prohibitions of foreign countries on the operation of a particular network on their territory due to certain ideological or political views.

The problem of fake news representation on social media

From the research of O.D. Apuke and B. Omar (Apuke, Omar 2021a), it follows that the spread of fake news has become a major trend among Weibo users [Mistake! The source of the link has not been found.; 7, p. 284], formerly known as Sina Weibo and separated from Sina, is a popular Chinese social network similar in functionality to Twitter. As of 2022, the number of active users of the former amounted to 573 million people (94% of whom communicate via mobile devices) ^[13]. At the moment, Weibo is one of the leading social platforms in China with 462 million monthly active users ^[21].

According to the China News Service, according to the "We are the Media Industry White Paper", issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, almost 60% of fake news is always published first on Weibo ^{[4; 10, p. 4]}, and then there is a peak in the spread of rumors and misinformation in the popular multifunctional social network WeChat ^[10]. At the same time, the increase in the number of fake news depends on public sentiment.

Almost every Chinese user accesses the network from mobile devices.  In the last decade, Tencent's WeChat has become the leading app among Chinese geeks and gadget users. Facebook, WeChat also serves as an alternative to Amazon, PayPal, Uber, and Expedia ^[16] and provides extensive opportunities for posting news. However, searching for information and receiving news from unreliable sources or described in language that exaggerates some problems as much as possible and ignores other facts and aspects that correlate with them have a negative impact on situational motivation and audience behavior ^{[7, p. 284]}, discredit and "undermine" trust in certain individuals and organizations that are significant to the state. which is significantly aggravated through the prism of social crises or dissonances.

The phenomenon of fake news representation is due to the ease of access to various sources of information, as well as the desire of readers to receive more sensational stories. When trying to counter the spread of false data, it is important to understand how fake news is published and reposted, for example, on Weibo, which will help mitigate its effects and protect users from irrelevant manipulation and misinformation. After conducting a comparative study of the factors influencing the spread of news among Weibo users in China, H. Pang, J. Liu, J. Lu (Pang, Liu, Lu 2022), D. Lua, H.M. Norm, K.G. Bei, A.M. Azmi, S.S.A. Rais (Lua, Norm, By, Adzmi, Rays 2023) it was found that the audience of this social network is more likely to share false information when the content appeals to their beliefs or political views. Moreover, Weibo users are more likely to share fake news that contains emotional overtones, exaggerated formulations and inaccurate facts ^{[10; 7, p. 284]} than dry, but accurate and reliable material.

The phenomenon of active fake news repost is largely due to the illiteracy of the population, which generates the inability to correctly interpret the information received, analyze what is happening, and draw relevant conclusions from their own actions and their consequences, supported by a lack of skills to distinguish real facts from fictional ones ^{[7, p. 285]}. In addition to the above aspects, the unconscious dissemination of false information occurs due to the lack of basic knowledge in the field of hygiene, medicine, psychology, sociology, political science and other interdisciplinary fields of human activity, aggravated by superstition and credulity.

These measures are determined by the influence of social media on public discourse, which is becoming increasingly visible, therefore, in order to prevent negative consequences, any coverage of events should be controlled by the state. Otherwise, for example, in 2015, the spread of misinforming news among Weibo users in China became quite problematic, and this had numerous negative consequences for the country ^{[7, p. 285]}. This online platform is a major source of digital misinformation due to its openness to any author who deems it necessary to publish or repost news material there.

Fake news created by developing generative AI technologies such as ChatGPT or GigaChat is dangerous. For example, on May 10, 2023, in Gansu Province, China, the first attacker was arrested who used the above–mentioned tool to introduce imitated, i.e. fake reality into public space - a fake story using deepfakes about a train crash that "killed" nine construction workers in the city of Pingliang, after its publication on social networks in a few hours gained more than 15,000 views ^{[9; 3]}, after which it plunged the Chinese public into panic and indignation, provoking communicative conflicts.

In order to combat fake news everywhere, in May 2023, the State Chancellery of Internet Information of the People's Republic of China (Cyberspace Administration of China - CAC) announced that since April 06, the organization has been closing more than 107,000 accounts of fake news agencies and platforms on social networks, as well as removing 835,000 sources of digital misinformation.. In particular, the Office has taken additional measures to strengthen the fight against false content that distorts information published by leading Chinese media ^[9].

In addition to the above-mentioned measures, in order to limit the spread of false materials, CAC carried out in 2023 a check of all accounts posing as reputable media outlets that not only distorted textual information, but also imitated renowned professional presenters, experts and specialists, creating their speeches using artificial intelligence (AI), i.e. deepfakes.

Deepfakes are hyper–realistic videos, namely: "synthetic multimedia content created through AI technologies for an unconscious audience to substitute biometric or auditory characteristics of a real person for other fake ones on the final video/audio" ^{[1, p. 32]}). That is, video or audio created by a neural network that it is almost impossible to distinguish from reality.

The fake channels discovered and eliminated by the Office of the SAS mainly misinformed about events such as public emergencies, as well as mass riots and crisis social phenomena on an international scale.

At the moment, China regularly moderates materials and comments that are considered inappropriate by the Office, are explicitly or implicitly offensive or threatening, including damaging the reputation of Chinese and foreign companies and entrepreneurs ^[9].

Conclusion

Social media has always been the least reliable news resource. However, the freedom of speech to which the authors of fake news appeal creates the impression of the authenticity of the information, which, in the opinion of an unintelligible audience, official sources are silent for some reason. The representation of fake materials is implemented taking into account the psycho-emotional characteristics of the audience (the tendency of consciousness to hedonism and the habit of reacting to vivid events, the age-specific perception of information, the way to remember negative news in more detail and for longer, which cause cognitive dissonance and distress). The brightness and extraordinariness of fake news with the above-mentioned characteristics motivates account owners to repost media content on social networks and messengers, as a result of which several thousand people cover fake news in a few minutes or hours.

The problem of representing fake news is compounded by the fact that artificial intelligence is used to generate news information – the content it creates is almost impossible to distinguish from reality, which is why fake news is perceived by the audience as reliable and truthful.

^[1] A repost is a secondary publication of news from one online page to another or in private messages.

^[2] Author's table.